The Unified Communications Civil War

In the American Civil War, many combatants shared a common background of having attended the Unites States 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 unified communications (UC). The end result is a fractured set of investments, UC user experience, and limited user adoption in the enterprise. To a certain extent, part of the problem is the lack of maturity of true UC suites that deliver on the promise of this technology. This has resulted in an installed base of best-of-breed solutions, with each deployment having unique sets of inefficiencies. But the industry is moving toward more integrated suites, which is further fueled by vendor consolidation. It's time for infrastructure and operations executives to resolve the UC "civil war," drive better ROI, and foster broader UC adoption. This document will highlight the various "skill camps" that are battling in this UC war as well as provide a simple checklist framework to help get everyone marching toward a unified UC strategy and road map.