Poll: Unified communications systems on the rise

The prospect of unified communications has been slow to fulfill its promise, but a recent study released by CDW Corp. indicates that the dream lives on.

CDW-G’s 2009 Unified Communications Tracking Poll found that more than half of government and private-sector organizations have either begun implementing a unified communications program or are planning to do so.

CDW’s survey of 766 IT professionals – evenly split among federal, state and local governments, private businesses, higher education, and health care – revealed that 41 percent of organizations are currently assessing unified communications, 33 percent are planning for implementation, 20 percent have already begun implementing and 6 percent have fully deployed a unified communications system.

The numbers are similar when restricted to federal agencies and departments, with 40 percent assessing, 30 percent planning, 24 percent implementing and 6 percent already having deployed a unified communications system.

The primary drivers for adopting unified communications appear to be increased productivity and reducing operating costs.

Interestingly, respondents report that once implementation had begun the organizations concerns about costs and network security was significantly reduced.

The report can be downloaded here.