Unified communications systems have undergone leaps in evolution to match the growing needs of the business world. A good unified communications system can bring together multiple applications like telephone, voicemail, email, instant messaging, and video into a single, seamless user experience. These dynamic features assist employees in completing tasks more effectively and efficiently, accelerating work flow, improving decision making, and creating a functional in- and out-of-office network. A well-orchestrated unified communications system can help collaboration across multiple locations, times, and mediums to accelerate business results. Unified communications can also improve customer service by simplifying interaction between company and customer, and by making workers easily reachable, available, and responsive.

These benefits are easily recognized by businesses, but attaining a truly unified communications system can be quite a task. A complete communications system is achieved through the convergence of "real-time, near-real-time, and non-real-time business communication applications," but implementation and the specific needs of individual users are different for every business. Because of this, there is no one single answer or strategy for achieving a functional unified communications system.

There are, however, steps a business can take to begin its move toward a unified communications system. First, a business must fully assess their communication patterns and identify lags in productivity and clarity. This assessment phase is critical. It evaluates patterns and gaps in communication and is the base for any successful communication platform. Every company will have uniquely different communicative needs and issues that this assessment phase will help identify. Once problem areas have been determined, steps can be taken to improve overall communication quality.

A business will next need to decide which features to add, remove, or up-date to ensure better communication. Some companies will opt to work on converging their phone and e-mail needs, while others will need to add features to create a more complete communication experience. Some additional features, like audio-video systems, can add value to most office telecommunications system. More than 50 percent of typical communication is non-verbal, because of this much of what a person is saying can be lost if their body language is not seen. By taking advantage of current audio-video technology, users can communicate more naturally with anyone, anywhere.

Whatever decision is made about unified communication needs, it is likely the system solution will be a multiple step process. As each step is taken, problems can be noticed and corrected before another step is begun. To ensure that the steps taken are the best for your business, you should always contact an expert. A company, like Cross Telecom, has the experience to help you build the right unified communication system for your company.

Cross Telecom offers a comprehensive level of service that has garnered them respect and recognition from others in the business. They understand the need to optimize the performance of your organization with the right technology and offer a variety of solutions to fit every unified communications need. Cross Telecom can develop a start-to-finish system blueprint to help your business take advantage of an integrated, unified communications system. Ensure your employees are connected at every possible level with a Cross Telecom unified communications system.