UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS

In today's ever changing environment it is important for businesses to leverage advanced technology to improve efficiencies and drive down costs. Technology plays no small part in reducing the overall TCO and increasing efficiency, particular IP telephony which is changing the face of how we communicate at work. At Converge One we ensure we are at the cutting edge of this revolution but are careful not to adopt new IP Telephony technology for technology's sake. Ultracoms provide a variety of IP telephony systems to suite your needs from the basic entry level systems to solutions that incorporate the latest Unified Communications and collaborations technology.

Parts of the jigsaw

Unified communications is not one product but a suite of different applications that can be deployed to suite a business requirement. Unfortunately with the advent of this technology revolution in IP Telephony and Unified Communications it has generated many new acronyms and buzz words which can at first seem perplexing. At ConvergeOne we try and simplify things as much as possible and explain solutions based on customer needs rather than adopting technology per se. Our unified product portfolio is based around this ethos of simplicity and we can therefore provide a rich portfolio of telephony solutions to suit all needs using our key partner alliances with vendors such as Cisco, Linksys, NEC and Avaya.

The Unified Communications portfolio of voice and IP communications products and applications enables businesses to communicate more effectively by helping them to:

• Streamline business processes and reduce costs
• Consolidate disparate systems into one unified environment
• Improve productivity and create business efficiencies

From a telephony perspective this changes the landscape of traditional telephony implementations. Handsets are not simply used to make and receive calls, IP Phones have XML based application support various applications such as viewing your Exchange Calendar, view CCTV footage, news feeds etc. Instead of having additional PCs performing some simple tasks, and a separate phone to make phone calls, you can do all this straight from the phone, immediately lowering your IT spend.

Our products cover a range of technologies to help streamline business process and create efficient working practises such as:

• Presence - Research has shows t he average business employee uses 6 communication devices or tools in their daily lives. Everyone has his/her own preferred method of being contacted and this often changes depending on the priority of the message. Trying to find the person you are looking for can often result in wasted time - leaving a message on the office land line, leaving a message on the mobile, sending a text message and sending an email. The result is that many people find this information overload inefficient. Presence allows you to access and manage any type of communication from any device wherever you are. It allows people to see whether you are free, and on which device you are available.

• Video Conferencing - Adding on Video conferencing is easy with Cisco. All you need is a webcam and the right software and you can use it in combination with your Cisco phone to make video calls.

• Collaboration tools - help to reduce the costs of travelling and enable powerful communication between people in different areas of the country or even different parts of the world. Not only can you see who has joined the meeting and combine it with Video Conferencing, but you can also see who is talking and share information for joined editing.
• Unified Communications - brings many new and old facets of communications together to provide new ways in which to interact. It unifies technologies such as IP Telephony, email, voicemail, fax and presence to create an efficient method of communication. A successful implementation can automate and integration all forms of human and device communications into a common user experience. Gains in efficiency can result through an optimization of business processes and enhancing human communications, reducing latency, managing flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies.