Pulling It All Together with Unified Communications

November 2, 2009

Savvy companies are doing something about the disparate communication silos that have long dominated the workplace, such as voice, instant messaging, audio/video conferencing, and e-mail, by adopting unified communications. That's because unified communications bridge the communications divide, enabling a natural progression in the way individuals, groups, and companies do business—from the desktop.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 are Microsoft's cornerstone products for unified communications, helping businesses streamline the way they work while improving productivity and efficiency and reducing costs.

For some companies, unified communications is a lifeline.

Serving 11 community-based, not-for-profit clinics in Southern California and facing catastrophic budget cuts, Behavioral Health Services (BHS) had to change the way it did business in order to survive. The healthcare organization, operating since 1973, provides substance abuse, mental health, older adult services, and other related health services.

A change in leadership allowed the organization to put in place a five-year plan to consolidate its disparate IT infrastructure, improve communications, and provide 300-plus employees the ability to share resources.

A Microsoft-centric shop, BHS was already invested in Exchange 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Office SharePoint Server. The not-for-profit organization had also partnered with Nortel for a VoIP infrastructure.

"We needed a partner who could help us meet our goals—efficiency and reduced travel time and costs," says Demetrious Dansby, CIO at BHS.

BHS turned to Gilham Consulting, a Solana Beach, Calif.-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Gilham brought in Hyper-V Server for server virtualization, upgraded to Exchange Server 2007 from 2003, and brought in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for unified communications. Gilham is in the process of integrating OCS with the Nortel VoIP.

Today, using unified messaging and Live Meeting BHS staff can fire up impromptu meetings and utilize SharePoint to share and edit documents, which Dansby points out, beats driving two to three hours on the congested California highways.

"It frees up staff time, which is better spent doing other things," he says. There are about one to two staff meetings weekly and upper level meetings four to six times per week.

Three of the BHS facilities are also using Microsoft RoundTable for 360-degree video conferencing, which is preferred for board meetings or larger organizational meetings.

BHS is saving time and money, about $180,000 in all, by utilizing the conferencing tools and SharePoint to collaborate on documents. Employee collaboration, which in the past took up to from three to five weeks, has been pared down to an hour. Translated into dollars, "that's a saving at least three times as great as the cost of the conferencing tools," says Danby.

Baltimore Aquarium Adopts UC
Working smarter with unified communications didn't escape decision makers at the Baltimore Aquarium.

With a legacy PBX system draining its budget and intrigued by IM/presence services, as well as collaboration and improved communications, Baltimore Aquarium recently moved ahead with a greenfield Microsoft unified communications project.

Today, approximately 30 percent of the Aquariums 300 employees have upped their productivity using unified communications capabilities such as IM/presence, integration with Microsoft Office 2007, and Live Meeting.

With the help of Enabling Technologies Corp., a Glen Arm, Md.-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and 2009 Unified Communications Solutions IM/Presence Partner of the Year winner, BHS will transition off its outdated PBX completely in 2010.

OCS R2 integrates well with the Aquarium's rich Microsoft portfolio that includes Office 2007, Exchange 2007, SharePoint 2005, SQL 2005, and Windows Vista desktops.

"Our interest in OCS is cost, manageability, and the integrated feature sets for OCS all in an IP infrastructure," says Brady Decker, CTO at the Baltimore Aquarium, adding that "anything that integrates smoothly into our environment is a point of interest."

Decker reports that IM is a big hit with users who are trading it in for phone calls, as is picking up voice messages via e-mail or using voice to listen to e-mail, hear their calendar, or to access Outlook contacts. He notes that marketing and HR groups are working more efficiently and integrated communications that allow group conversations has improved IT support for troubleshooting and provisioning.

"The integration between communications and the desktop is key and gets us to the right people faster, easier, and better," says Decker.

The Aquarium also hosted its first Live Meeting and going forward will eliminate third-party costs that run between $100 and $300 for a single audio bridge. In mid-November 2009 Baltimore Aquarium will host the first virtual conference for approximately 60 Aquarium and Zoo IT professionals using unified communications capabilities.

In the next six to 12 months, the Aquarium has plans to tap deeper into the integration and application capabilities of Microsoft's unified communications and bring the experience to its external customers via integration with its voice messaging system and Web experience.

While organizations like BHS and the Baltimore Aquarium are reaping the benefits of Microsoft Unified Communications today, the vendor has grabbed the mindshare of many more.

In fact, 70 percent of enterprises that recently participated in a survey on unified communications by Wainhouse Research indicated that they are either currently using OCS or are considering doing so.

That's head and shoulders above the competition, according to Brent Kelly, senior analyst and partner at the Duxbury, Mass.-based company.

Why turn to Microsoft for unified communications?

Because the vendor offers a compelling solution, analysts say. "Tight integration with other Microsoft infrastructure, deployment is not too difficult, and it provides useful capabilities such as IM/presence and conferencing," says Kelly.

Today's successes with unified communications span across industries with the common need to accelerate a business process that requires human interaction by working more effectively and efficiently.

Anlyan & Hively Asset Management in Wilmington, N.C., an independent investment advisory firm for individuals, institutions, and private foundations, uses Microsoft unified communications to provide an extra level of client service.

"Unified communications allows us to be more mobile and available anytime for our clients, which is critical in our time-sensitive business" says Ashley Doyle, financial advisor.

Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner GeniSys Networks, also located in Wilmington, the financial services firm will roll out video conferencing to further up the ante for providing superior client service, improve productivity, as well as save time and money.