DiVitas: a mobility perspective on unified communications

Core UC Belief: Mobility is the way to truly unify communications.

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DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller offered far and away the most philosophical definition of unified communications of those surveyed. He first talked about the ways humans communicate via gestures, speech and writing. Then, he broke up communications to the three basic modes that serve those means, namely video, voice and text, in order of their "richness." He additionally said all three modes can be deployed in asynchronous and synchronous manners, using the examples of live streaming video and on-demand video, direct voice calls and voicemail, and IM and email.

Khuller's view is that all six of these modes of communication need to be combined and be accessible via mobile device for a true unified communications deployment. He also stressed that people should be able to access both personal and professional contacts and route them according to their present situation.

After the heady, high-level discourse, Khuller got to his point.

"At the end of the day, we have to get information from one person to another," Khuller said. "We have a need to communicate on these planes, both to colleagues or contacts, so what can Divitas provide on these modes?"

Khuller said his company provides a mobile application layer that give tools that are all-encompassing for business uses and allow for seamless connectivity to both business and personal communication modes. The end-user selects which of the many modes is right for his or her present communication needs, and sets preferences via presence to let others know the best way to contact them.

Khuller also sees great potential in enterprise communications applications, playing off the success of consumer-facing mobile application stores.

"The way the communication landscape is changing through the revolution with open app development for consumers is going to penetrate the enterprise," Khuller said. "These applications need to be tailored to specific business needs, because they will be limited by the IT gatekeeper and enterprise restrictions. These applications must work in a more controlled and disciplined manner, and be steady about rules and procedures to be effective here."

Khuller stressed that enterprise communications is "no longer just about being able to make a phone call." He said unified communications should allow enterprises to engage more efficiently with customers or suppliers, and to increase productivity.

Yankee Group unified communications analyst Zeus Kerravala agreed with the importance of mobility in unified communications deployments.

"I'm a big believer in UC mobility, " Kerravla said. "Mobile UC provides more bang for your buck and value when it allows for seamless movement across communication mediums."

He said he saw the greatest advantage to unified communications deployments in industry verticals that have high latency and those that require frequent re-training in dispersed locations, such as higher education, state and local government, and health care.