Goal for UC: Business Collaboration or Communication?

The measurement of returns is a key concern with any IT investment. The most noteworthy ROI publicly documented as resulting from unified communications (UC) is a reduction in travel created by video conferencing and telepresence. In fact, that has been a driving force for much of the adoption of UC solutions to date. In order for CIOs to move from considering an increase of their investments in UC to taking action, they need to see additional tangible avenues for measuring ROI.

Nailing the business case is often the issue that keeps companies from moving forward with UC.  Perhaps a shift in perspective will help. What if the goal for UC is really a matter of increasing collaboration with the enablement of rich communications as the means to support that outcome?

Unarguably, in a knowledge-based business environment, the need to improve worker productivity is growing. Whether due to less budget for new hires or the requirements to meet strategic company objectives, the need to do more with less is a refrain that continues into 2010. 

As a result, companies need to address hindrances to productivity such as:

• A lack of access to information and colleagues.


• Delays to decisions based on the ability to locate and connect with subject-matter experts.


• Limited participation by geographically dispersed or traveling team members.

Collaboration capabilities can lessen or even eliminate those limitations. This often means the difference between hitting milestones and managing customer needs or dealing with delays and pushing deadlines that result in diminished customer satisfaction.

When companies enable collaboration for project teams, they are applying UC to an activity that can be measured; for instance, start and end dates, milestone goals, and deliverable requirements. If CIOs measure the ability of their company's teams to complete tasks and projects faster while delivering satisfying customer results—instead of trying to measure returns based on the technology alone—they can prove the ROI of their investment in UC by turning their focus to collaboration as the goal.

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