A necessary evolution

New standards ease personal and business transitions to unified communications.

In the early 1990s, adoption of e-mail communication–first internally, then externally–grew with increased Internet usage. Use of voice mail and fax messages also continued to grow. Amalgamating the three message types was first attempted by large e-mail providers, which saw an opportunity to capture all an organization’s messaging requirements and to simplify the message-management process. Threatened, voice-mail manufacturers began to develop their own unified messaging (UM) solutions. 

Among the reasons why UM was never widely adopted, was that product development was largely driven by e-mail and voice-mail vendors, not by customer needs. In large enterprises, telecom experts looked after voice mail, and IT staff handled e-mail. Neither wanted to lose “turf,” and both had legacy platforms that worked. Why invest more capital into new systems when enterprise customers were not asking for it? With 1998’s Y2K concern, any consideration of new services went to the back burner.

Fast forward to 2001. Message volume continues to rise; rapid adoption of wireless created a mobile workforce from whom demand for responsiveness is growing, and the workday is encroaching into home life. Manufacturers still think that enterprises will be early adopters of UM; however, the UM products of the 1990s no longer fit business needs. The need for real-time connectivity to meet demands of a mobile workforce led to new product development under the name unified communications (UC). Meanwhile, market drivers are changing, as well. 

Manufacturers are building solutions based on open standards, as are traditional voice-mail vendors now abandoning proprietary ones. As mobility increases and business and personal communications overlap, marketers must focus on the needs of the individual vs. the whole enterprise. Evolving Internet protocol (IP) is being integrated into messaging and telecom solutions. Wireless communication is integrating with the Internet. Bandwidth continues to rise in wired and wireless domains. 

In this fast-changing environment, a sensible definition for unified communications is necessary. The Telemessaging Industry Assn.’s (TMIA) UC committee, with experts from many vendors and service providers, concluded that there should be no single product called unified communications. 

UC is to be considered a vision rather than a product, focusing on providing users with an environment for maximum communication flexibility. Such an environment would include all aspects of unified messaging, with the added benefit of real-time call control, accessibility by multiple devices and many combinations of benefits targeted at a variety of markets.

TMIA research indicates that both consumers and enterprises are ready to adopt UC-type services. Interestingly, consumers want services focused on the ability to know rather than to act. They need to maintain privacy and prevent certain messages and callers from accessing them. 

Conversely, enterprise workers want to be able to act on their messages from anywhere, including managing messages from their laptops or mobile devices while on the road, or ensuring that important callers can reach them. What the reseach shows is the increasing attachment that individuals have to their connectivity as our society becomes ever more mobile. 

Next-generation platforms are capable of supplying an array of UC benefits to enterprises. Service provider Sprint PCS introduced “Wireless Office;” others like Verizon, TELUS and TDS Telecom are introducing their own UC-type products. Application service providers accelerate introductions by reducing the need for capital expenditures. 

As bandwidth increases with adoption of 3G in the wireless market and broadband in wireline, multimedia messaging is gradually replacing the term unified communications. Technology now allows video, pictures, music and other media to enhance messaging products. 

Incorporating many technologies into messaging products, users will be able to find people from online directories wherever they might be, with presence management determine their accessibility for a live call, implement voice instead of buttons to make the call and manage all types of messages, access Internet information from any device, and personalize all of these services to communicate how, when and where they want. 

For more information from TMIA:
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Harper is executive director of the Telemessaging Industry Assn., Simpsonville, SC.