Verizon Business Offers Tips to Building a Successful Unified Communications and Collaboration Plan (1)

BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

-- What to Consider When Making the Move to Unified Communications

Unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) - the use of Internet protocol networks to integrate various systems, media, devices and applications - offers many benefits to businesses and government agencies. UC&C can help streamline business processes, accelerate decision-making, enhance the customer experience and improve the bottom line.

However, for many organizations the challenge of migrating to an enterprisewide UC&C approach can be daunting.

Organizations need to address a range of issues including evaluating and measuring how UC&C will benefit their organizations; determining whether adequate in-house technical resources, personnel and network capacity are available; and integrating UC&C into everyday business processes and aligning its deployment with critical business initiatives.

Industry experts advise enterprises to select a global strategic provider that offers the right mix of professional-consulting-services expertise, broad Internet protocol (IP) capabilities and comprehensive business tools. A global strategic provider should demonstrate a proven ability to understand complex business issues and processes to help organizations identify what needs to be changed to realize the full potential of UC&C and guide them along their UC&C path.

(NOTE: An audio podcast explaining UC&C and how it can help enterprises enhance employee productivity and transform operations is available here: http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources... )

To further help organizations, Verizon Business offers the following tips:

    
    Invest in advanced IP networks. UC&C starts with a capabilities-rich IP
    infrastructure. Flexible and expansive IP networks serve as the
    foundation of a successful UC&C deployment. Networks should be equipped
    to accommodate increased traffic loads and support a high-quality,
    consistent end-user experience.
    Inventory technology and personnel resources. Understand the scope of
    current technology deployments as it relates to UC&C to help identify
    potential network, equipment and application gaps. Perform skills-based
    assessments of technical staff to identify possible new hires and
    individuals requiring additional training.
    Align technology with business objectives. Make purchasing decisions with
    a focus on meeting specific business goals. Verify that vendor platforms
    meet an organization's unique technical and financial requirements.
    Carefully evaluate network, hardware and software options to validate
    ability to meet current and future enterprise objectives. Partner with a
    service provider that can integrate multiple technology platforms for
    best success.
    Establish a benchmark for success. Know the ultimate objectives for a
    UC&C deployment. Survey corporate end users to understand their needs and
    willingness to embrace change. How is business conducted today and how
    can UC&C help empower employees and streamline business processes?
    Understand end-user requirements and develop profiles covering key
    functional areas. Determine current and future requirements and plan
    accordingly.
    Create a comprehensive roadmap. Planning is critical to the success of a
    UC&C deployment. Develop a roadmap that's far reaching and covers areas
    such as technology and finances, as well as detailed deployment and
    implementation plans. Develop a multi-phased plan, focusing on a single,
    key critical-business process or function that will benefit from UC&C. A
    measured approach helps minimize disruptions and provides the opportunity
    to apply lessons learned on future initiatives.
    Maximize impact of UC&C on business processes. The integration of
    presence and automation capabilities inherent in UC&C offers a powerful
    opportunity to enhance enterprisewide business processes to help improve
    employee productivity and accelerate decision making. In addition, UC&C
    can serve as the catalyst to enhance and streamline a wide range of
    activities, including the delivery of customer service, product
    development and human resources.
    Tackle security at the onset. The design of a UC&C platform should
    integrate seamlessly with a business' current network and leverage
    existing technology investments. A network should offer quality-of-
    service capabilities and sound security measures. Proper design and
    testing of a UC&C deployment helps ensure a smooth transition.
    Determine capabilities for ongoing management. The decision to
    self-manage versus out-task is critical. Understand the complexities
    involved in day-to-day management of UC&C platforms. Determine whether
    in-house staff has the skills and time required to effectively manage
    and troubleshoot performance issues. Select a managed services provider
    with the people, tools and processes to help provide consistent
    performance of UC&C applications.
    Develop support systems and processes. Due to the real-time nature of
    UC&C applications, corporate help-desk staff must be prepared to address
    end-user performance issues and questions. Development of automated
    processes to support password resets and other day-to-day maintenance
    activities can help reduce demands on help-desk personnel and improve
    response times and end-user satisfaction.
    Train and educate end users. This is not a case of "deploy it and they
    will come." Corporate end-users should be educated about new UC&C tools
    and capabilities. Develop online training modules to help users adopt
    and embrace these new tools so they can work more efficiently and
    productively.
    Measure and modify. Build success milestones into the UC&C plan. Employ a
    combination of industry best practices and internal benchmarking to
    identify realistic performance-measurement objectives. Go beyond
    reliability and availability measurements to assess the impact of UC&C
    from a financial, customer service, business process and end-user
    satisfaction perspective.

"Employing UC&C requires both a technological and cultural shift," said Kerry Bailey, vice president of global services for Verizon Business. "Verizon Business offers the right combination of network, services, tools and people to help enterprises address growing business requirements for teleworking, eco-responsibility initiatives and business process re-engineering. Verizon Business can help unleash the power of UC&C by offering the framework and consulting expertise to guide enterprises as they develop comprehensive strategies to unlock the potential of advanced IP-enabled collaboration."

Verizon Business delivers a standardized set of more than 50 professional-service capabilities in 30 countries around the globe. The services are delivered through 2,700 specially trained and experienced consultants that specialize in five key areas: contact center services, IT services, IP communications, network integration and engineering services, and security services.

Verizon Business professional-services consultants can help enterprises create a flexible UC&C framework, while providing specific recommendations for deploying of a UC&C solution. Enterprises can tap into the company's comprehensive portfolio of advanced collaboration, conferencing, mobility, voice-over-IP (VoIP), contact center, and managed and hosted services, which leverage the company's global IP network as the foundation.

About Verizon Business

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