The ability to access anything, any time, any place seems to be every enthusiastic wireless user’s ultimate dream. But many seem unaware that the technology that might make that goal a reality is not just around the corner, it’s already here.
Several factors have kept unified messaging and its enhanced counterpart, unified communications, from becoming mainstream. However, according to many experts in the UM/UC space, the dam that has been holding the technology back is on the verge of breaking.
In short, unified messaging connects users to e-mail, voice mail and fax through one mailbox, which can be accessed via phone or Web site. Unified communications elaborates on this one-number concept by incorporating features like call management, calendar, address book, and real-time call connection.
Although the technologies have been around since the Internet became essential to communication, they have been largely overlooked, perhaps mainly because they have not yet been pushed enough. But telecom experts, from industry analysts to UM providers, seem to think unified messaging’s big break is about to come. A refined marketing strategy will play a key role in getting unified communications off the ground, commented Troy Bryant, an analyst at IDC.
Smaller and younger wireless solution providers-like eGIX, a privately held company that focuses on providing unified-communication services to subscribers and telecommunications carriers-will lead the surge because its main focus is unified communications, according to IDC. Although some larger telecom companies, including Cingular Wireless, Sprint PCS, and SBC Communications Inc., offer various UM solutions, for now they are just that-more offerings. Bryant suggested the telecom giants will wait to see how the technology takes off among the smaller players before focusing on and investing in it.
Meanwhile, other companies are emerging to indirectly promote unified-messaging systems by offering providers technologies that promise the system’s success. Mirapoint Inc., for example, offers enabling technologies to UM service providers that eliminate the risks that companies and individuals associate with unified messaging networks.
Mirapoint’s Larry Frank, vice president of solution provider business, cited Internet viruses, cookies, and spam as risks to which UM users are vulnerable. Mirapoint’s solutions are incorporated into UM systems to scan for viruses, provide security and block spam. Mirapoint’s Message Director and Message Server solutions have received “incredible responses” according to Frank, which he said is mostly due to their ability to support heterogeneous markets.
The complexity of the systems has also stood in the way of their success. In fact, Bob Gallup, senior vice president of marketing at eGIX, said the “most valid and troubling challenge” companies like his face is actually explaining unified communications to the customer.
eGIX has attempted to solve this marketing dilemma by breaking its offerings down into two customer-friendly options it calls ICE: Instant Communications by eGIX. The custom ICE edition allows users to access voice mail, e-mail and fax over the phone or Web. ICE’s enhanced version adds a real-time call connect feature that informs the subscriber who is trying to reach them and then allows them to decide whether and how to respond to the caller, a feature Gallup believes will push unified messaging and communications forward in the marketplace.
Another challenge facing the growing technology is confusion regarding exactly who makes up the target market. Potential markets include: individual consumers, small to medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, and each requires different offerings and different guarantees.
eGIX expects the majority of early adopters of unified messaging to be high-powered mobile professionals who always need to be in touch, Gallup said. Real estate brokers waiting to close deals while they are out showing properties, for example, or investment bankers who want to receive up-to-the-minute news regardless of where they are.
And eGIX is marketing its technology to attract these individual consumers. The ICE solutions are available in pre-packaged, prepaid minute packs that offer 250, 500 or 1,000 minutes of messaging time for $35 to $99 per month. Bundling is another marketing strategy considered by the industry essential to future success.
Unlike eGIX, IDC is looking to small to medium-sized business to bring UM to life. The most recent IDC U.S. telecom survey said that of the almost 400 million current users of UM systems, 263.2 million are linked through business while only 134.5 million are individual consumers.
IDC also reported more interest in UM systems among small to medium-sized companies than enterprises. The analyst group pointed out that UM is less expensive for smaller companies to deploy because UM providers can actually host the system via a Web interface, so the company would not need to provide equipment or maintenance. Large enterprises with complex IT systems, on the other hand, are reluctant to deploy UM systems on their networks because of the risks they see to reliability and security, risks companies like Mirapoint are trying to eliminate.
Many companies are actively launching unified-messaging systems and technologies related to it. Last week, wireless-messaging player Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced it is consolidating and restructuring to focus solely on its Enhanced Services Platform/Unified Communications Systems segment.
And as for the growing competition? Gallup says bring it on. “I want competition. It will drive the market.”
