The computer starts to work like a phone
To call someone, you just click on his or her name. The computer places the call. It doesn’t matter if you see their name in an e-mail, inside Microsoft Office Word, or on a Windows SharePoint Services site: their contact information and the ability to reach them is always present.
Presence is one of the key benefits of unified communications because it unites all the contact information stored in Active Directory with all the ways people communicate: phone, conferencing, instant messaging, e-mail, calendaring. People’s availability, their contact information, and the ability to communicate with them are integrated and always just a click away.
Try this with a standard office phone: call someone, then add someone else to the call. Okay, now add ten people. Now, turn it into a live video call. Could you do it? Is it even possible?
With Microsoft unified communications technologies, you click to call. Click again and you can launch a conference call. Need video? It’s a click away. It’s that easy.
Voice mail arrives in your Microsoft Office Outlook inbox, right beside your e-mail. That might not sound impressive, but have you ever tried to forward a voice mail using the touchtone keypad on a telephone? When voice mail becomes e-mail, you can forward it just like any e-mail: to one person, a work team, or an entire department.
On the back end, things are even better
Change like this usually means a lot of new hardware, extra work for IT, and a vastly more complex infrastructure. But not with Microsoft unified communications technologies.
VoIP as you are
You don’t need a forklift to install Microsoft unified communications technologies because Microsoft uses software instead of hardware. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007--the server that delivers presence, instant messaging, and audio- and videoconferencing--integrates seamlessly with your existing telecommunications infrastructure, including your current PBX.
Unified communications streamline infrastructure
Microsoft unified communications technologies use Active Directory to unify the entire corporate directory--names, PBX extensions, e-mail addresses, and logons. This simplifies IT administration.
Phone calls become digital assets
Just like e-mail. Which means they can be logged, reviewed, published, and archived. Having a complete record and recording of every phone call is increasingly critical as businesses struggle to comply with stricter federal and international regulations.
Flexible and future-ready
By using a software solution to deliver unified communications, your business can stay flexible and embrace innovations as they come. When emerging technologies and changing business needs require your communications infrastructure to adapt, all you have to do is upgrade your software, not your hardware.
