Unified Collaboration: Another UC Key to Future Business Growth

Over the past few years, a lot has been said about unified communications (UC), which can be defined as the integration of real-time and asynchronous communications services to optimize business processes. But, there is another UC impacting business today: unified collaboration.

Unified collaboration is, to put it most simply, the integration of communication tools that allow people to connect and work together from any location. Conferencing services—whether audio and video, or just audio—play a starring role in unified collaboration.

It’s not a stretch to say that InterCall (News - Alert) is at the forefront of this UC. In a recent video interview with TMCnet, the company’s Channel Manager, Kyle Nisenson, said InterCall is the largest conferencing and collaboration service provider in the world. Every year, it handles more than 16 billion minutes of conferencing. It’s also the largest Web conferencing provider, with more than half a billion minutes every year—more than Cisco (News - Alert) Webex.

“We see ourselves as the heart of the unified collaboration movement,” Nisenson said. 

The company is keeping that heart beating strong by tying in with partners and working with customers to drive the unified collaboration market. Rather than viewing other players in the market as competitors, InterCall chooses instead to partner with firms like Microsoft (News - Alert) and Cisco Webex to make sure customers have the support they need to succeed with UC.

Two things are key to successful UC deployments, Nisenson said: helping customers adjust to being able to focus more on their core competencies, and removing the complexities of collaboration through outsourced services.

Nisenson said growth in the steaming market is a very positive development for web conferencing, which businesses are using more and more to reduce travel expenses and improve productivity.

“Just in the past year alone, we’ve seen significant increases in web conferencing across all platforms, and believe this is a trend that will continue through 2011 and beyond,” Nisenson told TMCnet. 

He added that predictions from analyst firms like Wainhouse (News - Alert) Research and Frost & Sullivan are right in light with InterCall’s strategy.

“We want to take the fear and mystery away from unified collaboration,” Nisenson said.

He noted that many organizations feel they don’t have the time, resources or money to support a UC migration. But, businesses can no longer afford to not adopt UC. Unified collaboration is a vital cost efficiency and productivity tool.

Watch the full video interview below for more discussion about the impact of UC, and InterCall’s recent acquisitions of Stream57 (a streaming provider) and SKT Business Communications (a consulting organization that supports UC migration).