Assess Your Need for a Unified Communications Strategy

Just recently, I wrote about the importance of business continuity planning, risk management and disaster recovery strategies. I also shined a spotlight on IT Business Edge, Knowledge Network and our other Network sites to reveal checklists, slideshows and other related resources for addressing these areas. Have you taken a look and taken advantage? You might just lighten your load as an IT manager to have your piece of the business covered.

However, one important area I didn't cover is Unified Communications. Wondering what that means? As Carl Weinschenk described it in his Knowledge Network definition document:

Unified communications is the linking of communications applications within business processes. It features the ability to reach any devices on any network and includes a presence element that lets parties know who is available and unavailable on each device.

Among other obvious benefits to business communication, this collection of linked, pre-existing technologies has enormous potential for assessing the status and capabilities of your organization's IT department in the event of a disaster. This potential makes it perplexing that UC adoption isn't more widespread in business IT.

Take a look at what the Knowledge Network and IT Business Edge have to offer. We have what you need to develop a functional understanding of unified communications and what it can do for IT when the "unthinkable" happens.

More about Unified Communications on the Knowledge Network

• Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications Excerpt
• Unified Communications Checklist

More from IT Business Edge

• Unified Communications: Expansion and Contraction
• Do SMBs Need to Care About Unified Communications?

More from Our Network

• Unified Communications Is a Success. Now Comes the Hard Part
• Unifying Unified Communications