This is an interesting report. While commissioned by Cisco, it was conducted by independent consulting firm, Forrester Research, and did not specify product or vendor in the survey.
Here is the executive summary which is well-written:
Forrester Research conducted surveys of more than 420 key business decision-makers in retail banking, manufacturing, and education in six countries to identify areas in which their organizations experienced communications difficulties, and to quantify the extent to which these issues could be improved with UC. Survey respondents were given a description of how UC would function in certain situations and asked if these new capabilities would affect their ability to communicate more effectively. The situations described typical scenarios that were specific to each vertical industry. The survey did not identify any specific product or vendor.
The survey evaluated key communication situations common to most organizations: support for mobile employees, delays in business processes, lack of knowledge sharing among a distributed workforce, and slow response times to critical business issues. Although each industry has its own priorities, improving business agility, reducing costs, and increasing employee productivity are common across all industries.
The following sections describe the key findings of these surveys for each of the three vertical markets. Although there were some differences among countries, the survey confirmed the following:
- Organizations around the globe have multiple areas within their lines of business in which workers experience communication challenges.
- A distributed workforce adds more complexity making it necessary for organizations to support effective communications across remote sites and for emergency response.
- Unified communications provides real value in every industry surveyed in terms of cost reductions, increased productivity, rapid problem resolution, improved customer response, and business agility.
View the report (PDF).
Are you finding the same difficulties in your communications? If you are a unified communications customers, have you found the same benefits. Anyone in the retail banking, manufacturing, and education industry want to comment?
Laura
Your Collaboration Community Manager
