Authors include: - Connect-World

Business communications
their freedom. Second, the marketplacehadforcedcompetitorstostandardise,
so that even with different
suppliers in different departments,
incompatibleislandsoftechnologyno
longerexisted.TelephonesandPABXs
from different suppliers worked
together,anyPCrananysoftwareand
networking components could be
selected upon price and performance
ratherthanbrand.
This was the first wave of convergence,
and it was spectacularly successful
in cutting costs and boosting
performance,butfromtheenduser’s
pointofview,therewerestilltwobig
issuesunresolved.First,eachapplicationandservicewasstillisolatedfrom
theothers.Anemailcontactlistcould
notdialphonecalls.Aword-processing
address database could not send
emails. A website could not enable
customers to call a contact centre. A
PC could not play back voice mail
messages.
Thesecondissuewasavailability.The
costofthehardwareandbandwidthto
support separate networks and systems
meant that people needed to
work near the centralised hardware.
Thosewhoworkedatalargeofficesite
were well served, but those in small
branches,workingathomeortravellingwerenot.
Mobileandlaptop
The next wave of convergence was
much quicker. Only five years ago, a
typicalmobileemployeehadamobile
phone and a laptop PC. The mobile
phonewassomewhatintegratedwith
theofficenetwork,butthatwasabout
all.
Similarly, with dial-up networking,
travellingemployeescouldconnectto
the corporate network to collect and
send emails, but large PowerPoint
attachments had to wait until they
returnedtotheoffice.
Frequent business travellers found
thattechnologicallimitationsnotonly
affected them, but the work of their
teamandofotherswhoneededtocontactthemforinformationorfastdecisions.
Today, technology has transformed
thewaymanagerswork.TheuseofIP
and Ethernet for communications
applications and services has freed
communications from the tyranny of
multiplenetworksandprovidedlevels
of integration between applications
unachievablejustfiveyearsago.
Broadband is no longer restricted to
majorcorporatesites;relativelyhighspeedconnectivityisnowavailableto
home-basedworkers,tobranchoffice
workers, to travelling workers in
hotels, airports and convention centres.
Travelling workers can now set up a
securebroadbandIPconnectiontothe
corporate network from most places
and use an integrated VoIP and
MultimediaSIPclientontheirlaptop
to see which members of their teams
areavailable,onthephoneoroutwith
customers.
They can send secure Instant
Messages to address minor issues or
set-upaVoIPphonecallwithasingle
click. When they need to address a
groupofpeoplequickly,anaudioor
videoconferencebridgeisimmediately
available. During the conference,
they can refer to emails or download
documents from the corporate
Intranet.
Whentheyarenotonline,urgentvoice
calls or emails are directed to their
smart-phone or PDA. In short, they
can work in exactly the same way,
irrespectiveofwheretheyarelocated.
When travelling they can use previously
dead time to make sure that
theirworkdoesnotgrindtoahalt.
Higherproductivity
Widespread use of technology gives
employeesmorechoiceoverwhenand
howtheydotheirwork,andimproves
their productivity. Many corporate
workers are now permanently homebased.
Therearesignificantbenefitsforboth
employers and employees for these
arrangements.Surveysofteleworkers
showthat15percentreportimproved
productivity and that 11 per cent are
moresatisfiedwiththeirjobsthanthe
overallworkforce.
One Market Development manager
explained the benefits like this: "for
me, it’s the feeling you get when you
candoeverythingyouneedto,talkto
anyone you need to, from wherever
youhappentobe,whenyourworking
dayactuallystartsatnineandactually
finishesatfive-thirty.
“Not wasting time trying to get in
touchwithpeople,orgetholdofinformation,meansyoucanconcentrateon
the job in hand. And that, in turn,
means you don’t have to put in the
extrahourstofinishyourday’swork.I
enjoymyjob,butwhenyoucanactuallyfinishontime,itfeelsreallyliberating,
like somehow you’ve stolen
someofyourlifeback."
Significantsavings
Ahome-basedworkforcecanbringbig
realestatesavingstolargecompanies,
andVoIPcanprovideadditional,very
significant,savings.
Governmentsarealsopromotingflexibleworking.SinceApril2003,allUK
parentsofchildrenundersix,anddisabledchildrenunder18,havehadthe
righttoapplytoworkflexibly,aright
thatmustbefairlyconsideredbyany
employer,andamovebeingreplicated
throughout Europe and beyond. In
Germany, employees of six months
servicecanapplytoworkonaflexible
basis.In1996,Hollandpassedlawsto
encourage flexible working agreementsandseveralScandinaviancountriesaremovinginthesamedirection.
Itisunderstandablethatsomeorganisationsseethisasjustonemoreregulatory
stick with which to beat business.Many,though,believethattobe
competitive in a globalised market a
company must use this kind of technologyeffectively–orriskbeingovertakenbythosewhodo.
Progresswillaccelerateoverthenext
five years. Broadband will become
more widespread and speeds will
increase as costs come down. Fixed
andmobilenetworkswillcontinueto
converge. New wireless technologies
suchasWi-Maxandfaster3Gmobile
data with HSDPA will make it easier
andcheapertoworkonline,irrespectiveoflocation.
Despitetheinnovationoftoday’smultimedia
products, we have barely
scratchedthesurfacewhenitcomesto
combining presence, instant messaging,VoIPandvideoconferencinginto
specialised vertical applications for
education, healthcare, retailers,
banks, engineering and manufacturing
industry. The possibilities are
almostendless.
More and more, business is about
groupsofpeoplecollaboratingacross
traditionalboundaries,betweencompanies,acrossnationalborders,across
timezones.Thewinnerswillbethose
who successfully match the capabilities
of the technology with the skills
and aspirations of their employees.
The rest, like the text on that old fax
paper,willsimplyfadeaway.
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