A new IDC report contends that businesses across Asia Pacific (AP) consider communication more imperative than ever today and are turning to Unified Communications (UC) technology to ensure that their executives are being responsive to both customers and co-workers thus ensuring they meet critical business timelines.
The study, which was commissioned by Avaya and conducted throughout the region excluding Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand, revealed that 80 % of respondents in the survey agree or strongly agree that UC--the convergence of real-time and no-real time business communications applications-- improves the productivity of telecommuters.
The report highlighted that managers across AP are keen to deploy UC in their operations, with video conferencing and mobility being the top two capabilities being considered.
Managers in India are most in favor of deploying video conferencing while their counterparts in Singapore see mobility as the most likely element of UC to be implemented in their organizations.
81% of respondents in the study agreed or strongly agreed that telecommuting improves productivity, compared to only 61% in 2005. The increase in positive attitude towards telecommuting as a means to improve productivity was most apparent in Hong Kong, Australia and India.
While the attitude towards work/life balance was largely unchanged when the region is viewed as a whole, in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Singapore specifically, 76 and 78 percent of those surveyed in 2008 respectively saw telecommuting as a means of improving work/life balance among their employees.
“The survey results show that communication issues could potentially snowball into a crisis within many enterprises, if basic communication issues are not resolved at the outset. UC containing a strong dose of mobility could be the prescribed medicine for enterprises afflicted with these communication problems,” said Shalini Verma, IDC’s Research Manager for Asia Pacific Communications Research.
In India and Malaysia, knowing when and how to reach co-workers is the top benefit for UC users while those in the PRC indicated cost savings. Overall, the survey showed that increased productivity, finding contact information and cost savings are the top three benefits among both UC users and non-users.
Across Asia Pacific, 27 % of respondents surveyed are already using and deriving the benefits from implementing elements of UC in their operations.
In terms of UC utilization, Australia leads the pack with more than 50 percent of its managers already using some form of UC applications. In Singapore, the ability to do spontaneous conferencing is seen as the biggest impact of UC, while most managers in Malaysia see communicating after office hours as the biggest change that UC has brought to their work style.
While an overwhelming majority of managers surveyed agree that UC will lead to improvements in productivity and quality of work, enterprises also perceived that the biggest challenge in deploying a UC solution involves the upgrading of applications and equipment. Inadequate in-house expertise is also a big challenge in countries like Australia and India while those in Malaysia believe complex implementation across geographies will be their biggest hurdle in adopting UC.
“In today’s competitive business environment, enterprises are faced with the pressure to deliver superior services that will retain existing customers and attract new ones. A large part of this is the ability to respond to customers’ needs in real-time. This is what mobility and unified communications seek to achieve. In addition to being able to provide customers with information and services on demand, mobility and unified communications ensure that employees are connected to their co-workers so that collaboration and decision-making become more efficient,” said James Haensly, VP Strategy & Unified Communications, Avaya Asia Pacific.
“From the results of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Mobility and UC Survey 2008 Avaya believes that businesses today are demanding better collaboration among co-workers and partners. Enterprise mobility tools will continue to play a vital role in supporting the growth of enterprises, leading to enhanced client services and overall productivity. Companies will need to think not only about using clear management thinking and flexible structures but also the right technology for the job.” |
