UC "A Long Way Off"UC "A Long Way Off"

Just responding to the above e-newsletter; I have to say I entirely agree with you. My research (www.ventanaresearch.com) shows that the take up of VoIP - key to UC - is slow but steady and it will probably be the dominant platform for CC's within the next few years. BUT the take up is almost entirely about saving communication costs and there is little evidence that companies are making the most of enhanced features. Even before the so called "credit crunch" our research also shows there has to be a very pragmatic, immediate business problem to be solved before companies purchase systems and as yet, like you, I can't see one that UC solves.

I do believe that collaboration is one of the up and coming communication channels, along with mobile text messaging. This is driven by changes in consumer behaviour where increasingly people (especially the younger generations) are happy to communicate electronically rather than actually speaking to someone--my daughter seems capable of holding 10 or more IM "conversations" at once. Companies will have to support IM or they will miss out--quite a solid business driver.

So I suspect a minority of innovative companies will experiment with UC but I think it is a long way off--if ever--that it will be in common use.

Will it be SaaS or on premise? If you listen to Mr Benioff then soon all "software" will be purchased as a service. But I have lived through the death of the main frame, client/server technology and several other technologies that became obsolete--they all survive in some form. So it will be "horses for courses" and both will survive.