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Streamling communications systems and cost savings are driving the education sector to explore unified communications according to a new tracking poll from CDW (News - Alert) Government Inc.

Fifty-four percent of school IT executives said reducing operating costs is the top benefit of unified communications, followed by increased productivity, which came in at 50 percent, and more reliable communication at 44 percent.

K-12 institutions, new to the tracking poll in 2010, see emergency notification as a key benefit of unified communications technology.

Public higher education institutions are more likely to have prepared a business case or strategic plan for unified communications than their private counterparts, according to the survey.

Twenty-three percent of higher-education respondents said they have deployed a unified communications solution or are in the process of doing so. Another 29 percent are planning an implementation, and 48 percent are assessing unified communications and its role in their own university.

Unified communications also allows students to connect to classmates and teachers without having to be in the physical classroom.