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Unified Communications - Is Your Network Ready?

Beatrice Piquer-Durand

Through offering enterprises greater efficiency, connectedness and flexibility, Unified Communications (UC) software has become one of the most readily adopted technologies of the past five years. The growing millennial workforce expects remote-working and mobile connectivity as a standard component of the modern workplace, and UC presents a prime opportunity for management to supply their tech-savvy employees with the tools they need for maximum productivity.

UC technology promises to cut down on business travel; further reducing telecommunication costs and maximizing employees’ productivity and collaboration to enhance companies’ competitive edge. A recent survey from Network Instruments confirmed that since 2009 enterprise use of UC applications has roughly doubled, with the greatest growth being the utilization of video conferencing (27% - 63%).

However, the allure of connectedness and high definition video-conferencing technology comes at the cost of huge strain on the business network, often to the extent that many networks are simply not equipped to deal with the demands.
The millennial workforce that business leaders looked to inspire and motivate become exasperated by slow, inefficient delivery of UC applications; particularly bandwidth-heavy features such as audio & video conferencing, screen sharing and instant messaging. This ultimately leads them to give up on the service altogether and bring their own applications onto the network to get the job done, potentially slowing down the network even further.

Dreams of lightning-fast videoconferences with the Hong Kong office are marred by poor image quality and lag, making the whole experience unproductive and awkward.

Although this could be solved through the acquisition of more bandwidth for the network, this is an expensive, inefficient route, which garners no improvement in network performance, and many IT managers will be understandably wary having already invested in an expensive service. Enterprise-wide UC deployment doesn’t come cheap, and if not fully adopted then the cost-saving benefits won’t outweigh the deployment costs.

The key to ensuring the worthwhile investment in UC is having a network infrastructure with enough automation, flexibility and visibility (on a granular level) to automatically adapt to the shifting demands placed on it by UC applications. IT managers can then see in significant detail which applications are causing the network slow-down and prioritize those bandwidth-hungry, business-critical apps in real-time, ensuring that you get the most out of your UC package.

If your business is looking to deploy a UC service in the future you should act with caution. Look at the state of your network and consult your IT manager. If they don’t have full visibility over the network and the ability to prioritize on a granular level, then you may be investing in an expensive headache.

Béatrice Piquer-Durand is VP of Marketing at Ipanema Technologies.

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Unified Communications - Is Your Network Ready?

Beatrice Piquer-Durand

Through offering enterprises greater efficiency, connectedness and flexibility, Unified Communications (UC) software has become one of the most readily adopted technologies of the past five years. The growing millennial workforce expects remote-working and mobile connectivity as a standard component of the modern workplace, and UC presents a prime opportunity for management to supply their tech-savvy employees with the tools they need for maximum productivity.

UC technology promises to cut down on business travel; further reducing telecommunication costs and maximizing employees’ productivity and collaboration to enhance companies’ competitive edge. A recent survey from Network Instruments confirmed that since 2009 enterprise use of UC applications has roughly doubled, with the greatest growth being the utilization of video conferencing (27% - 63%).

However, the allure of connectedness and high definition video-conferencing technology comes at the cost of huge strain on the business network, often to the extent that many networks are simply not equipped to deal with the demands.
The millennial workforce that business leaders looked to inspire and motivate become exasperated by slow, inefficient delivery of UC applications; particularly bandwidth-heavy features such as audio & video conferencing, screen sharing and instant messaging. This ultimately leads them to give up on the service altogether and bring their own applications onto the network to get the job done, potentially slowing down the network even further.

Dreams of lightning-fast videoconferences with the Hong Kong office are marred by poor image quality and lag, making the whole experience unproductive and awkward.

Although this could be solved through the acquisition of more bandwidth for the network, this is an expensive, inefficient route, which garners no improvement in network performance, and many IT managers will be understandably wary having already invested in an expensive service. Enterprise-wide UC deployment doesn’t come cheap, and if not fully adopted then the cost-saving benefits won’t outweigh the deployment costs.

The key to ensuring the worthwhile investment in UC is having a network infrastructure with enough automation, flexibility and visibility (on a granular level) to automatically adapt to the shifting demands placed on it by UC applications. IT managers can then see in significant detail which applications are causing the network slow-down and prioritize those bandwidth-hungry, business-critical apps in real-time, ensuring that you get the most out of your UC package.

If your business is looking to deploy a UC service in the future you should act with caution. Look at the state of your network and consult your IT manager. If they don’t have full visibility over the network and the ability to prioritize on a granular level, then you may be investing in an expensive headache.

Béatrice Piquer-Durand is VP of Marketing at Ipanema Technologies.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...