The Future of UC+C

I finally got around to writing a white paper on the future of unified communications and collaboration. It took almost 2 years to get around to formalizing it but I am happy with the end result. Please feel free to download a copy. It has a Microsoft UC slant to it but has a lot of industry perspective as well.

Here's the executive summary of the white paper:

Executive Summary
The trend toward enterprise globalization, the infiltration of consumer technology into the workplace, and the growing complexity of networking with suppliers and partners is creating a dramatically increased need for collaboration and communication across lines of business, distributed operations and their external communities. Despite the challenges, Microsoft® and its community of customers and partners have the opportunity to take advantage of the untapped business value associated with unified communications and collaboration. This white paper explores how organizations can respond to these trends and challenges and take advantage of the opportunities they create.

Who Should Read this White Paper
This white paper is intended for Line of Business executives, Information Technology (IT) executives, and managers who are concerned with planning for IT, managing IT, or delivering IT value. Other business decision makers and managers who influence or are directly accountable for IT investments can also benefit from reading this white paper.

Topics Covered in this White Paper
In this white paper, you will find an analysis of the trends shaping the future of enterprise communications. Additionally, it provides insight into how you can respond to these trends by leveraging the opportunities created by unified communications and collaboration. Sections in this white paper include:

• Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities This section presents a broad overview of the trends, challenges, and opportunities that enterprise communications face as organizations struggle to realize measurable and sustainable business value from their investments.

• Universal Collaboration: The Evolution of Unified Communications This section uncovers the opportunity to create new business value by combining two strategic technology groups: unified communications and Web 2.0.

• The Rise of Consumer-Driven IT This section evaluates the impact that consumer-driven technologies are having on enterprise IT and how organizations can embrace this trend to drive innovation by harnessing the collective intelligence of “the consumer as the employee” model.

• Customer Service as an Business Process This section provides an informative business scenario that illustrates the benefits and stages of transforming core processes such as customer service.

• Microsoft Unified Communications as a Web 2.0 Platform This section discusses how to position Microsoft Unified Communications as a Web 2.0 platform that provides horizontal value as a productivity workspace, a platform for creating enterprise mash ups, and a development platform for transforming processes and workflows.

• Cloud Computing: Beyond SaaS to Software+Services This section discusses the flexibility of incorporating cloud computing delivery models, Software as a Service (SaaS) and Software+Services, to maximize investment return and accelerate time to value.

Conclusion
With the Microsoft Unified Communications platform, organizations can easily create a foundation that serves multiple business needs efficiently and cost effectively. By leveraging integrated unified communications and collaboration capabilities, the platform can be utilized to create competitive advantage and improve operational efficiency.