By Tom S. Noda
February 1, 2008

“Anything that is too much is bad,” as the saying goes. Yet the result is different in making instant messaging systems be more instant—like in the case of converged mobile communications, a type of modern unified messaging.

Robert Reidenbach, technology manager of UR Solutions, Inc., says unified messaging today has eliminated the need to send information one by one to several of a person’s contact addresses since contacting only one phone number or e-mail shall tap other contact addresses.

“The main benefit would be faster, shorter response time or easy access to decision-makers within the organization,” Reidenbach says, adding it doesn’t matter what type of media a company boss is using, he’s going to get the message as long as the person is accessed.

A so-called “smartphone” is part of a bigger solution like unified messaging, Reidenbach says, referring to a phone with advanced features that has PC functionality, like sending in or opening of email messages.

“Smartphones and unified messaging opens up a lot of opportunities for business,” he says, such as improved customer service, cutting mobile computing costs, business enablement, and streamlining of business processes, among others.

Reidenbach cites, as example, UR Solutions’ implementation of its Zimbra Sync Server to one of its clients Advanced Contact Solutions, Inc. (ACS), a call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) company in the Philippines. Zimbra server is a messaging collaboration suite that helped ACS to reduce cost, compared to Lotus and exchanged solutions. “We were able to integrate it with Blackberry and they are getting their messages from the device.”

The technology manager explains that since unified messaging is independent of the media used, and is based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), it has the ability to be media independent and locates others on whatever device is most appropriate.

“The easier it is for workers and customers to access information and experts, the better they can resolve issues and complete tasks,” he says, identifying flexibility, faster response to customer requests, and avoidance of project delays due to communication silos, as some of its benefits.

Yet there are security risks involved on converged mobile communications, and Reidenbach says if data becomes available remotely, one must make sure that the right tools are in place for authentication and authorization, so that only the right people have access.

Another risk, he says, would be compatibility as different systems such as standard and non-standard ones may not always work together, thus it is essential to first make sure if different systems could work together before implementation.

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