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To: Straight Up who wrote (7475)	12/16/1999 12:14:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10081

Is unified messaging the cure for message overload? Yes By VINNIE DESCHAMPS Network World, 12/13/99 In today's fast-paced business environment, users need to be able to access and respond to messages quickly. Unified messaging saves time and money, and increases productivity by storing all voice mail, fax and e-mail messages in a single mailbox. Users can then seamlessly access, manage and respond to messages using a computer or telephone, regardless of the media in which the messages were created. Faced with the challenge of accomplishing more work in less time (and with fewer resources), knowledge workers in particular are primed for a product that will allow them to manage the ever-growing flow of information they receive. In fact, a recent study published in The Wall Street Journal showed that on average, U.S. employees now handle more than 200 incoming and outgoing messages per day. When a technology enables businesses to save hard dollars - and contributes to a dramatic rise in employee productivity - it's not a matter of if it will catch on, but rather when it will be adopted. A study conducted last December by The Radicati Group, an independent research firm in Palo Alto, found that organizations recovered their investments in unified messaging products in less than four months. In addition, unified messaging slashed ongoing IT support and administrative costs by 70%. At the same time, these organizations realized approximately 30 minutes of daily productivity gain per user when compared to environments with nonunified voice, e-mail and fax messaging systems. This study surveyed a broad cross-section of U.S. and international firms from a variety of industries that were using Lucent's Unified Messenger for Microsoft Exchange. The total cost of ownership was measured in terms of acquisition, installation, support and training costs, as well as support savings and productivity gains. The study credited this specific unified messaging architecture with helping organizations of all sizes reduce costs through the use of a single directory, single message store, single point of administration and single messaging network infrastructure. As a direct consequence, annual administrative and support costs dropped from an average of $708 per user in their previous environments to $204 per user in the new unified messaging environment. Cost savings aside, unified messaging is successful because it minimizes the number of interfaces a user must learn and navigate to manage messages. No longer do users have to deal exclusively with the telephone for voice mail, the computer for e-mail and the fax machine for imaging. They are free to focus on what to do, not how to do it. nwfusion.com