Three years ago unified communications (UC) was touted as having the potential to be the next thing since sliced bread and, today, it certainly seems to be living up to its promise – offering users a plethora of streamlined communications and accelerated business processes.
Johann Evans, chief technical officer at Cherry Olive, the unified data management specialists, says, “Unified communications used to be known as the means to offer little more than instant messaging for workers, or point and click dialing for contact centres.
“But it has morphed way beyond this, and, today, offers companies what some believe is the holy grail of productivity benefits, streamlined communications and accelerated business processes.
“The evolution of unified communications has been pretty staggering and, today, thanks to this technology – advanced conferencing capabilities, presence technology and highly sophisticated internal networking technologies –are becoming part and parcel of day-to-day business life. The latest reports show that over 85% of Fortune 500 companies have deployed some version of unified communications.
“Indeed, unified communications is not just a nice to have, it is a must have technology. Businesses are always looking at ways to improve their bottom lines, especially those who have to report to shareholders – and it is now generally believed that unified communications is the ‘technology glue’ of choice. It is no longer a technology of the future….it is a technology that is happening now.”
Thanks to unified communications companies can now communicate far more effortlessly across numerous branches – even across vast distances, as though face-to-face. The easy access to desktop sharing and on-tap video conferencing is significantly boosting productivity.
Additionally, vastly improved presence and messaging functionality is removing needless latency and – thanks to the additional features and functionality – enables remote workers to be more efficient, and boost per-head bottom-lines. “At the end of the day it is all about data management,” says Evans. “Something which we focus extensively on. By managing data properly the net outcome is the insight or intelligence gained from all the ‘noise’ out there. Everything in our modern world creates data, and we can change the world we live in if we listen and learn from this data.”
One example of managing data is how the American Wildlife Institute (AWWI) plans to use big data to manage the effects wind farm installations have on our planet.
According to a press article in a local technology newspaper, as fossil fuel becomes depleted, the world is increasingly focusing on looking for alternative sources of energy.
Unfortunately, even the cleanest renewable energy developments can have a negative impact on the environment. The AWWI aims to facilitate the responsible development and harnessing of wind energy, while, at the same time, protecting wildlife.
According to Inhabitat, the team from AWWI is planning to paint a clearer picture of the wind/wildlife impact by collecting and analysing decades of data from the wind industry and ultimately passing these findings onto the industry, government and wildlife advocates.
The institute will use its Research Information System (RIS) – a centralised database – to help interested parties evaluate the impact of operating wind projects. According to the AWWI, it will be “the most comprehensive wind-wildlife data management tool available”.
