Universal Collaboration: The New "UC"

[Podcast]
Unified Communications (UC) has been commoditized. But have no fear, Web 2.0 is enabling the next generation of UC, called Universal Collaboration. Of course, calling it UC 2.0 would be too cliche. Universal Collaboration really captures the essence of both UC and Web 2.0 and the value of bringing them together.

Unified Communications' purpose is to optimize business processes, enhance human communications and eliminate device and media dependencies. Web 2.0 is about using the network to harness the collective intelligence of all the users to drive innovation. When you combine the two and apply it to the workplace you come up with a powerful new value proposition. One that involves the creation of virtual workspaces that enable employees to collaborate using their own customized set of tools, from anywhere - even across firewalls and trust boundaries. A la, Universal Collaboration.

PROOF POINT:
Any idea how many people use Facebook (without looking it up)? 67 million registered members. No lie (I was shocked when I found out). If the Facebook user community was just made up of kids then it would have little relevance in a workplace conversation. But, next time you are in Facebook look up some of the groups that are listed (as a quick sidebar, the largest group is the city of Toronto, Canada which has 1/2 million members. Those Canadians know their Web 2.0!).

Here are some notable workplace groups and number of associated Facebook members:

• IBM - 34,000
  
• Microsoft - 30,000
  
• Cisco - 10,500
  
• P&G - 10,000
  
• Shell Oil - 7,500
• Wescon Credit Union - 38 (I included them just to show that it's not all about multinationals)
  

Also consider that the professional networking site LinkedIn (what I fondly refer to as Facebook for grown-ups) has 20 million members. Now let that all sink in and think about it for a minute...

34,000 IBM employees created their own customized workspace on Facebook. A workspace that is highly accessible, is easy to use, enables participation and of course collaboration with their peers. More impressive is that 34,000 of them self organized to create their own IBM community. No one told them to do it or how to do it. They just did it.

Now, what if you could harness that same collaborative power within your organization? Think of the competitive advantage that could be created. Think about the impact on: innovation; a Six Sigma initiative; a customer service strategy; driving more profit/attorney; speeding a merger and acquisition process.

Universal Collaboration is the next generation of UC, driven by the combination of Unified Communications and Web 2.0.