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How Can Unified Communications and Social Networking Work Together?

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The idea of unified communications and social networking partnering up might not seem like the obvious choice at first. Mixing social media, which is quite casual and filled with people’s personal views, opinions and stories doesn’t exactly seem like the best match for unified communication, which has a more formal demeanor, centered around meeting notices and conference calls. However, the two have often been used together, offering their users the best of both of these worlds. Read on to find out more about how social networking and UC are collaborating in order to create a quicker, easier and more efficient communication process.

Unified Communications

Unified Communications (UC) involves integrating a range of different communication systems. For example, this could include email, telephone calls, VoIP calls, video conferences, instant messaging and more. Unified communications isn’t a single product, but rather a platform which brings these various communication methods together, integrating them with features such as user presence notifications. Along with that, UC can also help companies gather more information about their clients, better enabling companies to connect with their target market. More and more companies are embracing UC, with around 98% of Fortune 1000 companies using products such as those from codesoftware.net or planning to in the near future.

Social Media

Along with an increase in the use of UC amongst companies, businesses are also increasingly utilizing the power of social media in order to improve external communications. Social media has a massive range of different benefits for companies, whether it be improved outreach to their target market or a better recruitment process. Along with this, an increasing number of companies are also harnessing social networks in order to help their employees to better connect and collaborate with each other. In many cases, using social networking, which most people are familiar with, is a great way to improve efficiency and productivity levels amongst employees.

Integrating the Two

When UC and social media are integrated together, the final product is very appealing to most businesses. This is because UC allows the functionality of social media to be harnessed in a controlled and secure manner. When it comes to integrating UC and social networking, there are two main methods which companies can use. Many companies are finding innovative ways to use UC alongside popular social networks that their employees most likely already use, such as Facebook and Twitter. Or, as an alternative, there are a number of enterprise-grade social networks and services currently in use or emerging. These provide a social network type platform which can be used within the company, allowing employees to get in touch with each other quickly and easily or access the latest company news in minutes.

At first glance, social networking and Unified Communications may seem extremely different. But, the differences between the two come together surprisingly well to create communication solutions for businesses that are easy to use and get used to. Harnessing the functionality of both social networking and UC can improve business communications significantly.