Unified Communications extends the work environment beyond your desktop. Employees, business partners, and customers now conduct business with a combination of voice, video, data, and mobility applications. They also conduct business across multiple workspaces:

• From their desks
• In conference rooms
• In airports
• In warehouses
• In vehicles

Without unified communications, disparate voice, video, data, and mobility applications are not as effective as they could be. The result is information overload and misdirected communications that delay decisions, slow down processes, and reduce productivity.

Cisco Unified Communications Streamlines Communications

Cisco Unified Communications integrates applications to create a unified workspace that clears communications roadblocks by empowering people to choose when, how, where and with whom they wish to communicate. Cisco Unified Communications also:

• Ensures that information reaches recipients quickly: Through the most appropriate medium, no matter where they may be working or what device they may be using. This results in more efficient decision-making, and cost savings through personal productivity improvements.
• Helps organizations align communications more closely with business processes: By integrating unified communications functionality directly into business processes such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM), companies can transform processes and build bottom line benefits that are an order of magnitude greater than personal productivity improvements alone.

Comstor's Voice Positioning Guide:

Be Productive Everywhere 

Cisco Unified Communications uses the network as a platform for integrating communications with business processes. It drives business productivity and profitability with:

• Instant connections: IP phones, unified clients, soft phones, and mobile unified communications give employees access to services everywhere there is a network connection.
• More effective communications: Tools such as instant messaging, presence, mobility, preference, and unified messaging streamline communications and allow users to choose how, when, and where they can be reached.
• On-demand collaborations: User-controlled audio, Web and video conferencing are integrated into Outlook calendar..This integration eliminates communication bottlenecks and facilitates collaboration across every workspace.

Integrated Applications for Ease of Use

Migrating to a unified communications system improves competitiveness while providing a substantial return on investment (ROI) and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO.) Cisco Unified Communications uses the pervasive reach of an intelligent network to align communications with business processes. As a result, employees can:

• Access information easily: Your team can connect in many different ways, whether they're at their desks, in conference rooms, airports, warehouses, or in vehicles.
• Reach mobile colleagues and key decision-makers quickly: Being able to see which colleagues are available means that employees can reach the right resource the first time.
• Communicate spontaneously: Communication applications are integrated with collaboration systems to enable point-and-click data, voice, and video conferencing sessions that use advanced collaboration tools like white boards and application sharing, all from a single, Web-based interface.

A Complete Unified Communications Solution

Cisco Unified Communications Solutions include network-powered solutions for:

• IP telephony: Cisco IP Telephony allows companies to realize the benefits of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology with a suite of media control and IP phone solutions.
• Rich media conferencing: Cisco Unified MeetingPlace provides a complete multimedia conferencing solution for meetings, training sessions, and presentations.
• Unified messaging: Cisco Unified Messaging integrates all types of messages so they can be easily accessed from a single user interface regardless of location or device.
• Unified communications clients: Cisco Unified Personal Communicator offers voice, video, instant messaging, conferencing, and presence information through a single application on a PC or Mac.
• Mobility solutions: Cisco Mobile Solutions for Unified Communications combine the convenience, flexibility, and reach of mobile communications with the benefits of Cisco Unified Communications, making it possible for people to communicate the way they want, whether at home, at work, or on the road.
• Collaborative work spaces: WebEx and Cisco TelePresence bring people together in a way that's never been done before while reducing travel expenses and carbon footprint.
• Contact center: Cisco Unified Contact Center solutions integrate databases and workflow applications with advanced contact center applications, making it possible to create a virtual contact center where customers can be matched to the most appropriate agents.