Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Inc., a provider of IT solutions and services, has introduced a new unified communications and collaboration (UCC) solution that the company claims has the potential to dramatically lower travel costs, increase productivity and reduce the carbon footprints of the customers.
The new UCC technology combines the power of collaboration with voice, video, office business suites and file sharing across all media. It allows people in different physical locations to work productively by eliminating the cost and time demands of travel and allowing geographically dispersed teams to connect instantly.
The integration of voice, video and standard calendar tools dramatically improves collaboration by allowing clients and co-workers to meet, see each other visually, share ideas and simultaneously work on documents and projects.
'We use UCC extensively within Siemens (News - Alert) and it allows you to mimic being there without actually having to travel,' said Ray Crowe, director of portfolio and strategy at Siemens IT Solutions and Services, in a release.
Crowe said that with colleagues in 190 countries, it allows anyone in the organization the freedom to access colleagues anywhere in the world without the hassle and cost of airline travel.
Crowe said that Siemens is realizing substantial savings with UCC in comparison to normal travel or even conference call usage.
'I can work in my office right up until the time of the meeting, see and share documents and get back to my other work upon completion of the meeting. The cost savings and work efficiencies are amazing,' he said.
Crowe said Siemens has realized savings of almost twice what was originally projected.
Siemens offers a suite of technology-agnostic solutions with the best-of-breed technologies. It can be integrated with any telecommunications technology and commonly used office suites to easily schedule availability and share documents for meetings and projects.
'If you want to continue to cut costs without sacrificing quality, improve your collaborative innovation, reduce your environmental impact, and perhaps even improve the quality of life for your employees by reducing the amount of travel required of them, then UCC may be a solution for you,' said Crowe.