Get Organized To Stop The Communications And Collaboration Infrastructure Civil War

In the American Civil War, many combatants on both sides had attended the US Military Academy at West Point as cadets. The war pitted not only brother against brother but also cadet against cadet, with disastrous results. Similarly, many IT organizations are at war against each other in trying to plot out a coordinated strategy and road map for communications and collaboration infrastructure (CCI). The end result is a fractured set of investments and CCI user experience and limited user adoption in the enterprise. While unified communications software is on the move to more tightly integrated suites, the introduction of social networking capabilities has added complexity to infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals' overall CCI architecture. It's time for infrastructure and operations executives to resolve the CCI "civil war," drive better ROI, and foster broader CCI adoption. This document highlights the various skill camps that are battling in this CCI war and provides a simple checklist to help get everyone marching toward a unified CCI strategy and road map. This report was originally published on July 25, 2013; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.