Innovations sometimes take a while to get traction for reasons having less to do with the underlying technology, and more with the ability of human beings to create new behaviors in place of older ones. That may be the case for unified communications.

 

Some 63 percent of respondents to a survey say the main roadblock they face is getting employees accustomed to using unified communications technologies, NetIQ (News - Alert) Corporation says.

 

Without employee buy-in and usage, organizations do not benefit from integrated email, messaging, phone systems and more, diminishing the returns on UC investments, NetIQ suggests.

 

But there are some deployment issues as well. Some 43 percent of respondents say they have not determined whether their network is ready or able to support real-time communication technologies that are part of UC.

 

About 33 percent of participants indicated concerns with the ability of their network infrastructure to handle the new demands UC would place on it.

 

Half of respondents shy away from management tools due to cost and 47 percent do not believe they have the necessary skill sets to maintain and deploy management technology.

 

About 87 percent of respondents report that email and messaging are primary components of their UC deployment, while 65 percent say voice features are key. About 64 percent said mobile devices were major parts of the deployment plans.

 

Of survey respondents, only six percent noted their intent to monitor and measure usage trends and 19 percent have no plans in place to ensure internal adoption, leaving administrators unable to collect productivity metrics and optimize quality of experience.