Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results 1Info-Tech Research Group Develop a Unified Communications Strategy

Executive Summary Info-Tech Research Group2 UC is not a product; it’s an integrated approach to managing multimodal user collaboration and accelerating business processes. UC is evolutionary, not revolutionary. Enterprises and vendors are moving in this direction but given the considerable investment required to deliver UC, very strong business rationale is necessary. Enterprise IT leaders must examine key vertical applications and business use cases to underpin their UC strategy and gain the executive and end user buy-in required to move forward. Prepare for a phased implementation to help ensure user acceptance and to maximize the opportunities associated with specific UC features and integrations. Plan your roadmap accordingly.

Organizations pursue UC to drive improved collaboration, productivity and operational flexibility Info-Tech Research Group3 Top UC DriversExamples 1 Enhance user and team collaboration. Ability to launch ad hoc team meetings using reservationless desktop audio/video/Web conferencing tools and capabilities 2 Improve overall employee productivity. Sharing presence information across distributed teams, allowing individuals to connect appropriately based on user status and avoid “phone tag” loops 3 Improve operational flexibility. Bridging disconnected systems and consolidating IT administrative tasks and support requests for multiple business communications tools 4 Enhance specific business processes. Adding click-to-call functionality within CRM application in order to remove cycles from routine customer contact processes 5 Improve enterprise mobility. Extending standard communications feature sets (extension dialing, presence) to remote staff and mobile device users to improve reachability Having all the communication components that I need all in one place – and having one tool to do all the communicating. - Director of Information Management, Healthcare “ ”

UC is evolutionary, not revolutionary – enterprises are slowly, but steadily, moving in this direction Info-Tech Research Group4 Overall, 28% of enterprises surveyed are currently executing on their UC strategy. But the majority are still evaluating UC as part of their communications roadmap. Since 2008, the market for UC has steadily progressed and the majority of organizations are now evaluating and planning UC strategies to help improve business communications. n = 249

UC Leaders: Cisco expands on infrastructure strengths and aggressively enters new software segments Cisco’s overall UC approach is underpinned by Unified Communications Manager (formerly CallManager), its central call processing platform and the main integration point for Cisco and third party UC applications and components. The vendor’s dominant positions in network infrastructure and IP telephony lend it a favorable position in the UC market and have also given it the latitude to now expand into enterprise social software. Info-Tech Research Group5 With its expanding software-based collaboration portfolio, Cisco is beyond just hardware. But carefully evaluate its ability to integrate across the existing application environment. Info-Tech Insight Cisco UC Portfolio Highlights Unified Communications Manager  Typically deployed on the vendor’s Media Convergence Servers and paired with the Unity messaging solution, the platform is supported by the Cisco Unified Presence server and XMPP-based Unified Personal Communicator desktop client. Cisco WebEx  The online collaboration service has been expanded to better support flexible premise- cloud delivery and now includes a full featured Web-based service, WebEx Mail, with native MAPI support. Video  The acquisition of TANDBERG to join the Cisco TelePresence line gives it an extensive video infrastructure and endpoint portfolio.

Interoperability is critical: Recognize potential tradeoffs between integrated and best-of-breed approaches Info-Tech Research Group6 Vendors need to quickly understand that we’re not going to – especially large enterprises – go with one solution from one vendor to satisfy all our needs. We really need them to focus on interoperability. - IT Director, Real Estate “ ” All vendors list UC interoperability as a priority – but proprietary SIP elements are still common. Despite industry partnerships and vendor assurances, the ability to integrate elements from different vendors is not a given. Integrated Best-of-Breed

Explore vertical applications for UC when evaluating suitability Info-Tech Research Group7 IndustryCommon ChallengeUC Opportunities Healthcare Managing and efficiently routing a high volume of calls from internal and external parties to hospital switchboard Providing live reception with real-time visibility into staff availability to optimize call routing and reduce missed transfers Manufacturing Communicating production issues to resolve defects or other problems affecting the manufacturing process Enabling floor personnel to collaborate more directly with counterparts, such as by using real- time video over push-to-talk radio Government Securely sharing information between individuals at various federal, state and municipal agencies Enhancing inter-agency collaboration by federating communications capabilities (presence, IM) across typical boundaries Education Inability to rapidly and reliably alert students and faculty in the event of an emergency or cancellation Deploying multimodal (phone, , SMS) mass notification capabilities linked to on-premise infrastructure and applications Professional Services High volume of employee travel between office locations in order to participate in internal meetings Providing rich conferencing (video, Web) tools and simplified user interfaces to promote online collaboration over travel Transportation /Utilities Communicating with remote field staff and receiving status updates in a timely and consistent manner Extending a set of standard communications capabilities (e.g. presence-enabled contact list) to mobile device users via unified client

Integration Delivers: Targeted UC benefits are widely realized Info-Tech Research Group8

Determine UC fit and appropriateness using the Info-Tech assessment tool Info-Tech Research Group9 The Unified Communications Fit Assessment Tool is designed to help organizations determine their fit for a UC approach.Unified Communications Fit Assessment Tool On completing the questionnaire, specific feedback is generated for the following areas: Overall UC Fit UC Benefits UC Challenges Useful UC Features Use this tool to determine if the time is right to pursue a UC strategy.

UC features facilitate knowledge sharing at Healthcare org Info-Tech Research Group10 Company Profile at a Glance IndustryHealthcare Total Users10,000 Total FTE in IT80 (including 25 telecom) UC Vendor(s) Microsoft Office Communications Server CostN/A Top 3 UC Motivations for Healthcare “We see the need for presence and IM - and ultimately collaboration and conferencing - as being key business drivers for us. We’re a multi-site organization so it is certainly tough for us to go site to site. We see this as a way of alleviating some of those costs and inefficiencies.” - CIO, Health Sciences Organization Current Communications Profile Current stage: Implementing UC Presently running a fully functional UC pilot to 250 users. Beginning to explore the integration of mobile devices. Industry Drivers Better collaboration for knowledge sharing Supporting remote offices and agencies Functionalities Improving collaboration with presence and instant messaging Driving efficiency with new conferencing technologies for executives UC Experiences Upgrades were initially driven by aging and unsupported PBX systems. Technology push from both directions: executives looking at cost drivers and staff looking for improved functionality. The telecom team was merged into IT operations; IT is still finding it challenging to realign staff. IT training is on hold as management strives to determine what level of cross-training is needed. Key Benefits Improved communication and efficiencies between distributed sites Key Challenges Product evaluation - each vendor had a different interpretation of UC Greater need for external expertise and staff realignment than expected

Appendix I – Solution Set Resources Info-Tech Research Group11 TaskResources Communicate the UC opportunity Develop a UC Strategy (this storyboard) Identify potential challenges Unified Communications Fit Assessment Tool Move the UC initiative forward Get Your Unified Communications Initiative StartedGet Your Unified Communications Initiative Started (video)

Appendix II - Implementers Rate Key Challenges Info-Tech Research Group12 Key Findings LEVEL OF EXPERTISE REQUIRED TO DEPLOY: The majority of implementers (52%) report that actual IT expertise required was more than expected. TOTAL COST OF IMPLEMENTATION: The majority of implementers (74%) rate total cost of implementation as within planning expectations. TIMELINE FOR DEPLOYMENT: Over 40% agreed that the timeline taken to roll out and/or phase in the technology was more than expected. BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE: Nearly 60% agreed that the timeline needed to develop the business case matched initial expectations. INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES TIMELINE: Mixed results confirm that organizations differ greatly in terms of the upgrades required to access UC capabilities. IT TRAINING TIMELINE: Timelines for IT training were within expectations for the vast majority (70%) of survey respondents. VENDOR EVALUATION TIMELINE: Almost 30% report that the actual timelines for vendor evaluation exceeded initial expectations. USER TRAINING TIMELINE: A substantial group of implementers (35%) rated end user training as taking more time than expected. Significantly Less Than Expected Less Than Expected As Expected More Than Expected Significantly More Than Expected