* Challenges ahead for mobile unified communications
Keeping with our theme from last week on unified communications, today we’d like to announce the availability of the “2007-2008 Mobile Unified Communications State-of-the-Market Report” written by Peter Brockmann and Steven Taylor. (Yes, the same Steve whose picture appears to the left of this paragraph.) The report, available here for free, reviews the drivers, challenges and 12-month action plans of over 250 users, recommenders and others involved in the purchase and implementation of mobile unified communications.
The report notes that, until recently, mobile unified communications has largely relied on independent infrastructures, services, and devices provided by mobile operators. However, heightened competition for mobile e-mail services, innovations in mobile devices and user interfaces, and lower-cost capabilities of the campus Wi-Fi networks and the mobile carriers’ data network have helped to drive the market.
Key findings of this report include:
* Top drivers: Higher employee productivity is the top driver for 75% of
respondents.
* Top challenges: Cost of implementation of mobile unified communications is the most frequent challenge for 46% of respondents; security and poor multivendor feature transparency loom large too.
* Average benefits from productivity improvements:The report concludes that mobile unified communications is here to stay, that the broader adoption applications and solutions are likely in the coming year, and that integrating the mobile users’ voice and real-time communications services into the fabric of the enterprise communications architecture is an outstanding opportunity to release impressive benefits and to leverage the increasing powers and flexibility of new generations of mobile devices.
– 29% higher customer satisfaction.
– 27% higher employee satisfaction.
– 18% more sales.
