Modern technology is a glorious thing, always changing and bringing us the next best thing that consumers and business clamour over, looking to add interest, convenience and efficiency into our lives.
A big part of the direction technology is headed is means to communicate, and with that the development and implementation of unified communications.
What are Unified Communications?
Unified communication is a term used to describe a large variety of products and software relating to real time communication techniques that allow parties to participate in instant, or almost instant interaction with people in various geographical locations, even if they are on opposite sides of the world from each other.
Unified communications involves the use of many things, used both in personal and professional applications, such as, presence information, instant messaging and chat, IP telephony, data and desktop sharing, web and video conferencing and fixed mobile convergence.
The whole of unified communications provides users with a set of products that offers a consistent and unified user interface and experience regardless of the types of media and device being used to access it.
In the broadest of definitions, unified communications encompass every form of communications exchanged via a network, even including Internet Protocol Television and digital signage. They become an integrated part of network communications deployment.
Unified communications allows users to send a message on one medium, and receive the communication from a different medium.
Unified communications is an ever evolving set of technologies that is useful to everyday communications, providing the ability to manage personal as well as business processes by allowing for seamless communication using a wide range of integrated components, allowing users to reduce latency, manage flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies.
Unified Communications and Emergency Response
Over time, unified communications has become a very important part of emergency response systems, and is not the basis for modern emergency communications systems, making it much easier for responders and dispatchers to information share throughout the crisis response stage.
Unified communications are essential in an emergency situation because they provide the ability to convey damage mitigating and life saving information and instructions in real time, and the integrated and wide range of communication methods offer great benefit for emergency communications.
How Modern Technology Relates to Unified Communications
As modern technology evolves and advances over time more products and platforms for implementing unified communications become available for use.
Technology progresses at an extremely fast rate, constantly improving on, and initiating new devices and processes to accommodate unified communications. For example, with the arrival of smartphones into everyday life, users are able to have the ability to communicate instantly, from the device tucked into their pockets, using methods such as voice calling, email, voicemail, instant messaging and social media notifications.
On the business forefront is the area in which modern technology and unified communications has had the most impact. Business meetings and interactions have moved away from the face-to-face nature of days past. Today’s communications are reliant on conference and video calling, email chains and instant messaging to communicate and collaborate in large groups.
Some may feel taking the personal approach out of professional meetings and conferences as a drawback, but in actuality, unified communications enables large groups and individuals geographically spread out to come together and be productive.
Meeting Zone acts as a medium to propagate business ideas and promoting collaborations among the leading businesses, through unified communications. Unified communications allows for easier collaboration and streamlining of the decision making process. Decisions are easily made, therefore progress is fast tracked and is easily made, therefore progress is fast tracked and companies are able to achieve their goals and realise success sooner.
On a personal level, unified communications combined with modern technology allows for individuals to remain in constant contact with friends and family, interacting on a cheap and instant basis with anyone they desire, regardless of where they are.