Unified Communications (UC), the convergence of business communications applications includes voice and video telephony, conferencing, collaboration, voice and video mail, instant messaging, email, calendaring and contacts.
The key advantage of Unified Communications is its ability to enhance the quality of the interactive experiences across an organisation. As the speed and efficiency of communications between stakeholders is enhanced, significant business benefits are realised including improved customer experience, increased productivity, more frequent collaboration, reduced costs and ultimately, competitive advantage.
As businesses worldwide convert their traditional voice and data communications infrastructures to IP networks, they are eager to leverage the unique capabilities of this technology to improve their operational performance and market differentiation. Unified Communications represents a powerful set of converged network applications that can directly enhance a company’s market advantage.
There is no single strategy by which enterprises move forward with Unified Communications since each customer has a unique set of needs and existing infrastructure Nextel understands this and partners with organisations to develop a Unified Communications strategy which supports complex and flexible work environments. The consultative process begins with a business assessment to understand the communication patterns within the organisation and identify relevant business processes.
A business assessment that evaluates communications patterns of the employee base is critical to successfully planning for Unified Communications. To identify opportunities for Unified Communications, business processes should be evaluated to identify where latencies exist due to human interaction and communication.
IP Telephony
Whether we are delivering an end-to-end solution or layering IP Telephony applications on top of your existing network, Nextel successfully connects your business to an IP world providing you with a more effective way to communicate and collaborate.
The traditional PABX has evolved into a sophisticated communications management platform that supports a wide range of devices including desk phones, wireless handsets, PC-based softphones and video phones and more.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) has emerged as the universal blueprint for IP Telephony and unified communications in general. By supporting a wide range of media sessions, SIP allows users to engage in anytime-anywhere integrated business communications regardless of location, media type or device.
For enterprises, the benefits of SIP can be significant – accelerated business communications, improved information transfer and file sharing, enhanced worker productivity through conferencing and collaboration capabilities, and reduced mobile phone costs through the use of soft clients remotely.
From an IP Telephony perspective, SIP trunking technology can open the door to significant cost savings, while delivering exceptional voice quality and robust features and capabilities.
Unified Messaging
Unified Messaging is the integration of different electronic messaging and communications technologies such as e-mail, SMS, Fax, voicemail, video messaging into a single interface, accessible from a variety of different devices. With Unified Messaging all types of messages are stored in one system. Voicemail messages can be delivered directly into the user’s inbox and played either through a headset or the computer’s speaker. This simplifies the user’s experience and offers new options for workflow such as appending notes or documents to forwarded voicemails.
UM solutions are generally used in the corporate environment to enhance and improve business productivity while decreasing communication issues.
Video Conferencing
The implications of video for business are clear: customers, employees and business partners accept video as a valuable form of communication. Real-time video collaboration can increase team effectiveness, reduce decision cycles, enhance relationship building, and of course, diminish travel costs while limiting your organisation’s carbon footprint.
Two-way video communication encompasses individual and group video conferencing, as well as telepresence and provides interaction among individuals and groups.
By expanding the typical audio and web conferences with video, participants feel much more engaged in the communication activities.