WSTA Ticker - May/June 2008 - (Page 9) rtorial presence-based unified communications technologies why they chose to adopt unified communications solutions. Here are the top four reasons they gave and the percentage of respondents: were accompanied by the factory-like administration of the credit process. During the optimization of the workflow, the top priority was the integration of real-time communications in the process. To ensure success, intensive cooperation of process participants was required. As a first step the customer selected the functionalities of presence management, instant messaging and voice communication to be integrated into the application. The project resulted in considerable economic advantages for the bank including: • Significant reduction of lead time • Improved collaboration during the decision-making process • Standardization • Increased customer satisfaction • Cost reduction Embarking on a new path is never easy. The path to enterprise-wide unified communications starts with building a strategy based on open standards and SOA principals thereby ensuring that you are not locked into a single vendor’s dream of unified communications. You must separate the underlying infrastructure from the tools and services required. And remember, there is no such thing as a single vendor UC solution. Providing SOA-compliant UC enables you to deliver different flavors of UC within your business applications where it provides the real value for your enterprise. 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Productivity gains Faster Communications Reduced time to Market Cost reduction At Siemens Enterprise Communications, we believe that the recognition of business benefits such as lower maintenance, lower operational costs and enhanced efficiency will be paramount. In summary, UC enables a range of benefits: • Better performance from companies’ most valuable asset: Employees Higher efficiency and faster decision-making through better collaboration • Optimized ROI Being agnostic of underlying infrastructure, no wasteful “rip and replace” • UC being delivered as a service in different flavors through a premise or hosted data center All advantages of an IT delivery model apply • Provide better customer service • Remove today’s fragmented communications infrastructure which makes users human middleware What is the “secret sauce” to achieve these benefits and leverage its value for financial service companies? Obviously it is not just the technology itself. Efficiently integrating UC applications into existing business applications and connecting it with workflow engines is what matters most. Let’s clarify this with a customer example. One of our financial customers in Germany wanted to redesign its loan process for corporate customers to differentiate themselves by supplying superior customer service and a highly competitive cost basis. First, a new application and product platform were defined to support all of their credit products with their specific features. Next, a rating platform listed the various conditions and prerequisites involved in the contractual commitments. Finally, an additional platform was set up to include optional conditions and prerequisites which might be relevant during the processing of a credit application. It goes without saying that the seamless cooperation of all participants was necessary due to the separation of market and market results which OpenScape Unified Communication Server A software and services approach to business communications Removes artificial barriers dividing voice, UC and video – Creating a new enterprise communications standard The easiest and most flexible path to UC – operates in any IT or telephony environment with multiple starting points Supports and compliments multi-vendor unified communication solutions Complete UC solutions can now be deployed anywhere without complex, expensive technology stacks Page 19 OUCS Press Briefing, Feb 2008 © 2008, Siemens Enterprise Communications. All rights reserved Tobias Frevel is Director Business Development Global & International Accounts Finance at Siemens Communications, Inc. (www.siemens.com/open). He may be reached at 212-450-7781 or via email at tobias.frevel@siemens.com. WSTA® Ticker - May/June 2008 9 http://www.siemens.com/open http://www.siemens.com/open
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