With UC, Connectivity is Key

This week I was speaking to a group of IT executives about the value of unified communications, and best practices for implementation. One person in the audience asked about call quality, and whether users have grown more tolerant of poor voice quality as a result of cell phone use. I think he's right: Most of us have grown accustomed to sketchy connections on our cell phones, which will likely translate to higher tolerance for sketchy voice quality on any device.However, Verizon runs those "can you hear me now?" commercials for a reason: Poor quality isOK, but no dial tone is not. And while it's likely most companies can deliver reliableUC connections on their own networks, the Internet is another story--so anyone dialing in from afar may not get a connection at all. That will impact the value of mobile UC, as well as UC for telecommuters--and companies should consider the consequences asthey integrate UC into business processes, too.