Businesses investing in Internet-protocol-based collaboration technologies are reaping a large return on investment (ROI), according to a report from Frost & Sullivan.
A report by Frost & Sullivan, sponsored by Verizon
Communications and Cisco found organizations around the world that deploy the
most advanced Internet-protocol-based collaboration technologies achieve more
than twice the return on their collaboration investment and perform better than
their less collaborative peers. The study examined how professionals in
businesses and government agencies get their work done by using advanced
collaboration tools such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), instant
messaging or meeting via high-definition video or Cisco TelePresence.
"Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of
Advanced Collaboration introduced a quantitative model for a return on
collaboration investment called the Return on Collaboration index, which
establishes a progressive impact of deploying advanced unified communications
and collaboration (UC&C) technologies on business performance, and measures improvements in areas such as research
and development, human resources, sales, marketing, investor relations and
public relation.
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The study found that businesses and government agencies
deploying increasingly more sophisticated collaboration tools -- such as VOIP
soft phones, immersive video and fixed mobile convergence -- saw a
corresponding improvement in business results relative to the amount invested.
The overall average Return on Collaboration (ROC) score was 4.2, meaning
organizations received an average return of four times their investment in
deploying collaboration technologies in terms of improvement across
business-critical areas.
Nancy Gofus, senior vice president of global business
products for Verizon, said based on the study, they see an era of advanced
collaboration on the horizon. Organizations embracing unified communications
and collaboration tools in an open, decentralized structure are enabling a more
effective work style and cultivating a fertile ground for success, she said. As
organizations aspire to become advanced collaborators, even small steps taken
along the way can immediately pay off."
Nearly half (44 percent) of all organizations surveyed
(3,662) have deployed UC&C tools -- such as user presence on a device,
document sharing, immersive video or Cisco TelePresence for near-lifelike
visual communications, integrated voice, e-mail and instant messaging, and
telephone features and management capabilities on mobile devices and the
desktop. The study also found that 40 percent of organizations that deploy
UC&C plan to increase spending on this despite current economic conditions.
In addition, more than 80 percent of organizations that have not deployed
UC&C tools plan to deploy some form of them in the next two to three years.
The organizations surveyed by the study, ranging from small
to medium-size businesses (SMBs) to enterprises, reported that advanced
collaboration such as UC&C enhances their ability to produce positive
results. For example, research and development managers in organizations
deploying UC&C reported that advanced collaboration tools enable products
and solutions to be developed more quickly, with an improved chance of market
success, a higher degree of quality, and a lower overall cost of development.
"This latest research shows adopting progressively more
advanced unified communications and collaboration tools can help organizations
achieve a corresponding return on collaboration and improvement across all
business functions, said vice president for information and communications
technologies for Frost & Sullivan, Brian Cotton. This return was most
dramatic in the areas of sales, marketing, and research and development."
