How can companies go about creating a unified communications (UC) strategy?

The first step in creating a UC strategy is to conduct a business assessment that defines what you are trying to achieve with UC and how that ties into your business strategy. Understand how and with whom your employees communicate, what your mobility and collaboration requirements are, and then prioritize the timelines for delivering those capabilities. Address the needs of the main office, branch or home offices that workers use, as well as remote access from customer sites, hotels and airports.

Next, take stock of your current communications environment. Do you have support staff that can help deploy UC technology and help users? Whether you plan to slowly phase in technologies or move quickly, don't neglect training users and placing support resources in place.

Also, consider security and accessibility policies to accompany UC, such as what information can be sent by email or IM, which data needs to be encrypted, and where information can be stored and accessed. Good solutions providers and VARs can assist with these initiatives.

The third step is to determine the communications capabilities you need to support business objectives. These capabilities could include conferencing, communication solutions such as call routing management and find me/follow me services, and system administration (including seamless mobility, customized settings and application integration).

Finally, develop a timeline that maps to your budget. As the technologies are introduced to your organization, make sure that people can select what is best for their individual situation and allow them to choose from options that will improve their productivity.