Unified Communications Heads Mainstream

The telecom equipment vendors are saying it, the videoconferencing vendors are saying it, and now the headset manufacturers are saying it: Demand for unified communications is heating up.

A recent survey from headset vendor Plantronics confirms that companies are implementing or seriously considering implementing unified communications solutions for their employees, starting with desktop videoconferencing. The Plantronics UC Gatekeeper Study revealed that among integrated unified communications-related applications, videoconferencing is the top application that Fortune 1000 companies plan to integrate within two years. More than half the respondents – 52 percent – already have audioconferencing capability.

Other takeaways from the survey, which polled 345 IT and business decision-makers in the Fortune 1000 about their plans for unified communications:

• Only 2 percent have no plans to implement unified communications;
• 66 percent of employees will have desktop videoconferencing within two years;
• 61 percent of remote workers and 56 percent of contact center workers believe that quality audio is critical to a positive unified communucations experience.

That last point is why Plantronics is making noise (pardon the pun) in unified communications. The company believes so much in the opportunity that it has rolled out a new program for its IT services partners that focuses solely on unified communications.

This survey is one way the company can show its partners – and its customers – that the future of communications is unified. Not that respondents of this survey would need proof.

Would your company benefit from implementing a unified communications solution? Send me a message and let me know if this survey – and the others like it – are real barometers of the business climate, or if they’re still smoke and mirrors.

Click through to see results of a study by Plantronics.

63 percent of the Fortune 1000 work force doesn’t work in the office.

Private office space is at a premium.

Only 2 pecent of the Fortune 1000 are not considering unified communications.

Videoconferencing and Web conferencing are top priorities.

Desktop videoconferencing is on the cusp of going mainstream.

66 percent of Fortune 1000 plans to deploy within two years.

The hard part is just getting started.

End points include the headset equipment.

Training gets almost everybody every time.