BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - November 5, 2009) - The latest research from
Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
(
NYSE:
HHS), titled "
Unified Communications: Gaining a Competitive
Advantage While on the Move," confirms the measurable business value of
Unified Communications (UC). By streamlining internal and external
communications, maximizing telecom spend, increasing productivity through
improved collaboration, and reducing customer churn through increased
customer responsiveness, 79% of the top performers achieved a break-even
return on their UC investment within the first 12 months.
The research study, which surveyed over 150 organizations, also found that
the broad acceptance of mobility in the enterprise has made it the most
reliable way to contact an individual, and the need to integrate mobility
into the larger organization's communications infrastructure emerged as one
of the primary drivers for increased UC adoption.
Unified Communications (UC) is the converged communications environment
that integrates voice communications -- over wireless, wireline, and
wireless LAN -- with email, fax, unified inbox, presence, Instant Messaging
(IM), unified phone number and extension dialing, Web collaboration, and
video conferencing.
Among the study respondents, the top-performing organizations increased
knowledge sharing among the workforce by 35%, increased workplace
flexibility by 35%, improved their organization's competitive performance
by 25%, increased collaboration for decision making by 16%, and accelerated
their speed of conflict resolution by 11%.
"Unified Communications holds enormous promise as a coherent approach to
business communications, as a way to cut through 'communications clutter,'
and more directly connect a customer to a company, employee to employee,
and more tightly bind business partners and suppliers," said Andrew Borg,
senior research analyst, Aberdeen Group. "The challenge of our connected
era is that the greater the number of communications options, the more
difficult it can be to connect with a specific individual when you want to.
UC therefore becomes increasingly important to mend the fractured digital
communications landscape."
To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5804
Visit
Research.Aberdeen.com for
additional access to complimentary
Information Technology Research.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers
demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the
past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving
market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering
meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the
global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that
drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about
Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Andrew Borg
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5378
andrew.borg@aberdeen.com