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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Unified Messaging, Would You Actually Use it?
I've been researching this field a bit lately, so I thought some questions needed to be asked. Unified messaging means taking completely independent communication streams and mix them together to create a unique solution. For example you take phones, mobile phones, emails, chat windows and video conferences and offer them together. So when you log on, as an end user, to the email client offered by such a solution, you are also logged in to your instant messaging client and your phone numbers are also "on line".
Some of the real benefits? When a fax is sent to your phone line, you see it on your email. When you want to fax something, you don't need to go over to the fax, you just send an attachment by email. Or if an important email comes when you're no longer in the office, your mobile phone receives an sms notification. You could also use such a notification to set a meeting late in the evening, when no one reads emails. And the list can go on to right click an phone number in an email and automatically have it dialed, or to have a complete list of missed calls or voicemail on your email client.
Would you actually use such a solution? Do you think it would help make your work more efficient and would it actually save time? How long do you think it would take to get adjusted to all its features?
And now, most important question: do you think such complete and innovative solutions would actually encourage you to work more? Would you take more tasks at home with you?
I think I'm such a user, kind of, mainly because of my phones and the network services. On one hand, on my Zapp terminal I get notifications of new emails by phone, and if I understood correctly, could even send mails from my phone, but I never took the time figure it out. And that's about it, to not much to say here.
On the other hand, there's my newest addition to my geeky gadgets, affectionately called Junior (aka "Ala micu"), a smart phone which I use for brwosing, mail, IMing, multimedia and terminal services (ssh and rdp). One of the things that I like about it is the unified interface - it doesn't matter if it's a mail, sms, mms or file, or how it got on my phone, they're all treated the same, have the same options for all (where applicable, of course). So it generally gets the job done faster, for me at least, to have in one folder everything work related, for example, no matter it's form of presentation - a sms, a notification about a forum thread that I track or a full fledged email with attachment. (This can be the case for any other type of activity, but you wanted something work-related :P)
When I first bought it I felt reluctant about this sort of things, so I didn't buy a model with wifi. But soon after (about a week), when I realized all the possibilities it could actually offer me, I got myself a USB dongle and modded the router so I could connect to the internet through my home network. So, long story short, I for one am totally for unified messaging, and the only drawback that I found for now on this sort of systems is the high bandwidth price if you're using your phone network for connectivity on a mobile device, rather than wifi (or BT PAN in my case).
Hi Ryan, you're quite right, when it's up to your personal life, a complete device is great.
But what about corporate solutions for unified messaging? Having all that at work and then transfered trough sms for example into your private life. Would you find it annoying?
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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I think I'm such a user, kind of, mainly because of my phones and the network services. On one hand, on my Zapp terminal I get notifications of new emails by phone, and if I understood correctly, could even send mails from my phone, but I never took the time figure it out. And that's about it, to not much to say here.
On the other hand, there's my newest addition to my geeky gadgets, affectionately called Junior (aka "Ala micu"), a smart phone which I use for brwosing, mail, IMing, multimedia and terminal services (ssh and rdp). One of the things that I like about it is the unified interface - it doesn't matter if it's a mail, sms, mms or file, or how it got on my phone, they're all treated the same, have the same options for all (where applicable, of course). So it generally gets the job done faster, for me at least, to have in one folder everything work related, for example, no matter it's form of presentation - a sms, a notification about a forum thread that I track or a full fledged email with attachment. (This can be the case for any other type of activity, but you wanted something work-related :P)
When I first bought it I felt reluctant about this sort of things, so I didn't buy a model with wifi. But soon after (about a week), when I realized all the possibilities it could actually offer me, I got myself a USB dongle and modded the router so I could connect to the internet through my home network. So, long story short, I for one am totally for unified messaging, and the only drawback that I found for now on this sort of systems is the high bandwidth price if you're using your phone network for connectivity on a mobile device, rather than wifi (or BT PAN in my case).