Strategy Session: UC And The Cloud

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Strategy: UC and the Cloud

Building a Strong Base For UC in the Cloud

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As trends go, the cloud is big. But this isn't the first time most of us have been around the hype block. It was only a few years ago when the movement to IP-based PBXes promised to let us ride the unified communications wave all the way to efficiency nirvana. Now that cloud services have emerged as the top prospect to reduce IT capital expenditures, expedite delivery of new applications, improve business agility, and minimize IT support costs, we need to explore the impact these services have on existing technologies--including UC.

In our Strategy Session report on unified communications and the cloud, available free for a limited time at informationweek.com/analytics/uccloud, we use UC as a case study of how to make the most of existing investments while also leveraging the best the cloud has to offer.

There are three main points to consider:

1. Build on your existing investment, don't forfeit it.If you've already deployed an IP PBX--or any big, expensive on-premises system--jumping into the cloud for the same functionality will be a difficult proposition to justify. In fact, this is a major inhibitor for cloud services in general.