One of the biggest challenges of managing is just keeping a handle on the many people, processes, and projects under your purview. This is especially true if you have employees in multiple locations.
Unified communications makes it easier to keep track of everything and manage your team effectively. Just to recap, here are just some of the key capabilities you get with UC:
- You can see where your employees are (and where they’ll be throughout the day) using real-time presence and calendar information.
- if status is “unavailable”, UC lets you see where someone is unavailable.
- Using Follow Me service (simultaneous ring), you can set your UC client to ring your client, your cell phone, or even your home phone.
- “Meet now” functionality.
- Full audio and video conferencing and document collaboration through Microsoft Live Meeting with external clients.
- Full audio and video conferencing, white boarding and document collaboration through Office Communicator with internal resources.
Just as these tools can help teams connect and collaborate more effectively, they also afford a very high level of transparency and responsiveness for managers.
With UC, you can keep an eye on workflow and productivity – and it’s easier to respond quickly and effectively to problems. From a management standpoint, the “wide angle” view you get with unified communications has several big benefits:
- Quicker decisions.
One of the most frustrating situations is when you need to make an informed decision but don’t have all the information you need. While you try to track down the resources that have the answers or the employee who knows where the files you need are hiding, you’re losing time. You’re probably losing money. You might be on the verge of losing a customer.
With unified communications, I know where I need to go to access people and information. I spend less time tracking down answers and arrive at decisions faster.
- Greater accountability.
The transparency afforded by UC means it’s easy to see where your employees are and what they are accomplishing each day. This helps cultivate a culture of accountability. You don’t have to be a private eye to know what your employees are doing – it’s all right there for the team to see, and this transparency puts the emphasis on productivity.
Not only can you see when employees are working inefficiently or falling short of expectations, but it’s also easier to recognize your unsung heroes – the people who are working most effectively and efficiently (plus, UC tools will help them do their jobs better, too).
- More peace of mind.
Being a manager isn’t always about problem solving and putting out fires. Many times, I just want to know that everything is running smoothly.
Let’s say I’m not scheduled to show up at the office until 8 a.m., but the night before, I ran some updates I’m worried could cause a glitch in the day’s operations. I want to be sure the two employees who are scheduled to start work at 6:30 a.m. are there and that everything is OK. Did the employees show up on time? Are they logged in? If so – and if I haven’t heard from them – then I’ll know that everything is under control. With UC, I can easily check in on the situation – just by logging in on my laptop at home, or from my Microsoft enabled cell phone or PDA.
If I see a problem, then I can choose whether or not to react. I might need to call in to investigate or plan on going in a little early. If everything is under control, then I can take a deep breath and enjoy my breakfast.
