One of the more important benefits of unified messaging - the integration of e-mail, voice and fax communications in a single mailbox - is the time savings that it affords users. Here's a stab at quantifying just the voicemail-related benefits of unified messaging:

• Assume that the typical user receives five voicemails per day. During a 250-day work year, the typical user would receive 1,250 voicemails.

• Further assume that a single voicemail accessed by telephone takes an average of 30 seconds to process, while one in a unified mailbox takes only 10 seconds. In the latter case, there are visual cues (e.g., the identity of the number that called you) that speeds the processing time per message.

Using these assumptions, a user would spend 10 hours 25 minutes per year processing voicemails via telephone, or 3 hours 28 minutes per year processing them in a unified messaging system. At a fully burdened annual salary of $80,000 for that user, the savings of nearly seven hours per year translates to a savings of $267 per user per year. In an organization of 2,500 users, that translates to productivity savings of nearly $670,000 annually.

However, the more significant user benefits from unified messaging may actually be more difficult to quantify. For example, if you’re on the phone and receive a voicemail, you generally can’t listen to it then. But what if you receive the voicemail in your inbox, recognize the number as that of a key client and then forward that voicemail on to a colleague who can respond right away instead of making the customer wait? What if you’re traveling and can receive an order via fax on your mobile device right after it’s sent instead of waiting two days until you get back in the office to read it?

These types of benefits are more difficult to quantify and may occur infrequently, but they can provide significant advantages to individuals who have access to a unified messaging system (Compare Unified Messaging products).

Michael Osterman is principal analyst of Osterman Research.