So Much On Offer

• Further adoption of
  SIP as a common language

• Continue to see
  more powerful applications being used in the network to do things
  easily like speech recognition

• Move away from
  proprietary solutions to increased usage of Linux

• Changes to the
  phones and equipment to support Asian languages

• Use of RSVP
  agent-standard based method works with gateways as one does not have
  to worry about bandwidth management on any VoIP implementation

Unified communications
is more than just an emerging IP application - it represents a new
generation of sophisticated applications and services not previously
available. Unified communications based on SIP ties together multimedia
and collaboration applications onto a single platform. This improves how
business communicates and delivers new capabilities. Unified
communications delivers:

• Greater
  flexibility enabled by media independence: Because SIP is neutral to
  type of media used, it unifies dissimilar applications onto the same
  platform and simplifies the user interface so that workers can easily
  communicate with others any time and any place with any device

• Faster
  integration of new applications: Unified communications is standards
  based, which makes it less complex for integrating multiple
  applications on a single platform. Developers can connect to existing
  applications more easily resulting in low costs for integration

• Improved
  coworker communication interfaces: Unified communications introduces
  new capabilities not found in previous applications. These include
  mixed media that seamlessly blend collaborative and communication
  applications, and advanced desktop capabilities for launching
  applications through intuitive PC interfaces with presence indicators

Source: Forrester Research for Cisco

Unified communications
provides a technical solution that solves real business problems. Worker
productivity is a sign of well-managed business, and companies need to
look more closely at their internal communications to eliminate problems
of lack of growth in employee productivity and customer attrition.

• Improved
  accessibility of information and experts throughout the enterprise:
  The easier it is for workers and customers to access information, the
  better they can resolve issues and complete tasks

• Flexible
  workgroups, which enable faster problem resolution: Collaboration
  among workers accelerates decision-making and provides a faster remedy
  to issues that arise

• Better value from
  existing internal applications: Employees use multiple forms of
  communication but often do not fully use the tools provided due to
  their complexity. As user interfaces becomes simpler, employees will
  better use tools provided to them.

• Faster response to
  customer requests: Customers feel that the company is looking for
  their best interests with an immediate response to their problems

• Avoidance of
  project delays due to communication silos: Companies find their
  workers often hampered by communication silos that are not connected
  to other applications and back-end systems, which often leads to
  projects slipping on their deadlines. By providing a fully integrated
  experience across all applications, workers can more readily respond
  to critical issues

• Greater control
  over work schedules and timeline adherence: Business managers have now
  eliminated one major obstruction in the slowdown of work efforts with
  real-time connectivity among employees