Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Word of the Day: unified communications (UC)

Word of the Day WhatIs.com
Daily updates on the latest technology terms |July 5, 2017
unified communications (UC)
Unified communications (UC) is the integration of communication technologies to help employees exchange ideas and do their jobs more effectively. An effective UC plan can help tie a variety of interoperable communication tools to business processes and applications.

Popular UC components include:

Voice - Most UC offerings are voice-centric because the leading vendors have deep roots in telephony.

Conferencing and collaboration - In addition to audio, video and Web conferencing, these components include collaboration features such as shared virtual workspaces, whiteboarding, file sharing and document sharing.

Presence technology - Presence servers gather presence information from various sources and provide unified presence information to end users or applications.

Instant messaging - Enterprise IM systems offer security and privacy that public IM services cannot.

Speech access and virtual assistants - Virtual assistants provide intelligent screening and allow end users to filter messages and access calendars, contacts, voice and video through voice command.

Mobility - Integrating the mobile users' voice and real-time communications services with core enterprise communications lets them do their jobs regardless of location.

Unified messaging - Unified messaging (UM) integrates voice, fax and email messages and message notification. Most UM products add a variety of advanced call and message management functions, including desktop call screening of inbound calls, find me/follow me, live reply or call return, and cross-media messaging.

An important aspect of every successful UC deployment is the integration of communication and collaboration technology with business processes and workflow applications. In addition to reducing the need for employees to use shadow IT, a unified communication plan can reduce bottlenecks that occur when a person or program must wait for human input. For example, UC technologies can be used to automate contact with the next person in a sequence of steps or facilitate set-up for an ad hoc meeting with geographically-dispersed attendees.

Unified communication systems can be deployed in-house, in the cloud or as hybrid services. In a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) delivery model, communication and collaboration applications and services are outsourced to a third-party provider and delivered over an IP network, usually the internet. UCaaS is known for providing high levels of availability (HA) as well as flexibility and scalability for core business tasks.

Quote of the Day

"The pillars of unified communications -- voice, video, messaging, conferencing and mobility -- help organizations construct well-rounded collaboration plans." - Jon Arnold

 

Trending Terms

IP telephony
presence technology
UCaaS
hyperconnectivity
UCC
click-to-talk

 
Learning Center

How to reap the benefits of unified communications security
Unified communications platforms are more exposed than ever, making UC security a bigger IT priority. Learn how to make UC security a reality.

The five unified communications apps you need
The unified communications apps of voice, video, messaging, conferencing and mobility form the essential pillars of an effective collaboration strategy.

Unified communications platforms get contextual, customizable
While many unified communications platforms offer the same features, some vendors seek product differentiation via customized communications.

How AI services are converging with unified communications
The robot uprising has not quite hit unified communications, but certain AI services could eventually improve collaboration processes.

How to consolidate unified communications platforms
More companies are looking to consolidate their unified communications platforms, as the products now offer a broad array of features.

Writing for Business

No matter how important your message is, if you don't choose the right delivery channel, the point is ____.
a. mute
b. moot
Answer

 

 

 

Stay In Touch
For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com

 

Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed!

 

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