5/6/2008 -- Stop the presses! Or the unified communications (UC) roll-outs, at the very least. Just because Cisco Systems Inc., Nortel Networks and other vendors tell you that UC solutions will help save you money and empower your workforce, doesn't necessarily mean that you should jump full-tilt into UC.

More to the point, said industry watcher Gartner Inc., UC deployments shouldn't be based on cost-cutting concerns alone. Instead, Gartner advised, organizations should consider UC deployments as a means to enhance "business agility," not solely as a way to cut costs. According to a recent Gartner survey, UC adopters are most likely to cite collaborative, productivity and customer service improvements after deploying UC.

The upshot, Gartner said, is that reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) is the benefit least cited by UC adopters -- even though, conversely, UC prospects overwhelmingly cite lower TCO and reduced equipment costs as their two top drivers.

"It is evident that there is a significant difference between the expectations of UC and its actual benefits. We recommend that organizations build a business case based on enabling mobility and agility rather than on reducing IT department costs," said Steve Blood, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement.

Instead of focusing on cost-cutting, Blood said, organizations should focus on profit-boosting and take advantage of UC's highly centralized model (i.e., communications can be managed from a single point and carried over common devices) to transform business processes by optimizing communication flows.

"The value for organizations is to reduce human latency within a process that improves business's ability to respond and to be agile," Blood said.

Elsewhere, Blood warned that UC deployments aren't quite as turnkey as some vendors might claim. UC requires significant people and process changes, about four-fifths of which (on the organizational side) will trail the pace of technological change through 2011.

"Nowhere is the effect of this organizational lag more apparent than in how the convergence of voice, data and applications is affecting organizations," Blood said.

Gartner added that organizations should carefully consider vendors' UC roadmaps. Over the next few years, the market watcher predicted, organizations will overpay for a considerable amount of their communicative or collaborative software, largely because vendors (mindful of intensifying competition) will experiment with everything-and-the-kitchen-sink bundling arrangements, leading to duplication or redundancy in UC offerings.

Finally, adopters need to commission ROI studies to understand just how their UC deployments are panning out.

"Those that have already adopted UC should now verify that productivity benefits are being realized and that users are taking advantage of the new capabilities," Blood said. "Deploying UC is expensive so companies should ensure those that have it are using it." --Stephen Swoyer