Making the Case for Unified Communication In Today's Economy

Although Bernanke has stated that the economy is on the "cusp" of recovery, the harsh reality of day to day business in 2009 puts a lot of pressure corporate IT budgets. Unified Communications (UC) offers real productivity gains; however IT managers face the daunting task of making the case that the spending for unified communications really justifies the benefits especially with the current state of the economy. One problem is identifying the real cost base line for non-integrated solutions that are already deployed, along with the support required for these services. It is common for IT managers to under estimate the cost of the current solution because it is difficult to gather all of the information on the separate tools, processes, and support costs.

Some IT managers have found it beneficial to present information on building a unified communication solution as part an overall effort to provide business process automation. UC solutions that encompass the breadth of an enterprise's need for integrated solutions can save money over separate solutions in numerous ways. The effort required to use, integrate and support communications from various sources requires time (i.e. money) for the users as well as the IT staff. In addition to productivity gains for the whole enterprise, moving to an integrated solution simplifies the support process and reduces support costs.