Enterprises To Extend Investment in Collaboration and Communication Technologies

According to research commissioned by Avanade Inc., a global IT consultancy, less than half of U.S. and Canadian enterprises surveyed are satisfied with the impact of current collaborative and communication technologies including email, intranets and video conferencing. However, nearly all of these companies see significant benefits in the new wave of collaboration and communication technologies and, over the next two years, plan to invest in such technologies as enterprise search tools, virtual workspaces, and voice over IP (VoIP).

According to the study, U.S. and Canadian respondents associate digital collaboration first and foremost with email and Intranets. Video conferencing and extranets also were cited as collaboration tools, but enterprise search and presence were missing altogether in the collective response. Avanade defines digital collaboration as the convergence of traditional collaboration technologies--such as email and portals--with emerging unified communications technologies—such as presence and VoIP--to provide access to data and voice services anywhere, anytime on any device.

In the next two years, these companies expect to extend their existing investments in collaboration and communication technologies as well as make new investments to integrate existing investments with the emerging digital collaboration technologies. Among the U.S. companies surveyed:

80 percent will have implemented VoIP in two years, up from 50 percent who say they have VoIP implemented today

79 percent will have implemented enterprise search tools, compared to 59 percent who say they have enterprise search implemented today.

68 percent will have implemented virtual workspaces, compared to 48 percent who say they already use the technology.

Similarly, the digital collaboration technologies to be adopted most aggressively in Canada in two years are enterprise search, virtual workspaces, video conferencing and VoIP.

Though most U.S. and Canadian enterprises are not fully satisfied with their collaboration and communication technologies, their planned investment in this area signifies a growing awareness of the impact digital collaboration has on key performance factors. Chief among these is employee productivity. The research shows that 95 percent of U.S. and 98 percent of Canadian respondents see productivity as a key reason for further investment. Another important factor cited by 88 percent of U.S. and 95 percent of Canadian respondents is information management.


More information can be found at www.CRMIndustry.com