BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, has announced a major update to its unified communications portfolio, BT One.

This includes new cloud-based services designed to improve management effectiveness and collaboration within and between large organisations.

The BT One portfolio has been updated and a range of new services have been launched to address the findings of a global BT survey involving 1,000 executives working in large enterprises across the main industry sectors all around the world.

This exclusive survey uncoversnew attitudinal and behavioural factors, as well as impacts, linked to changes in the working cultures and to the roles of influential groups within the workforce.

The survey shows for example that the rate of adoption of unified communications is higher in the growing economies in Asia and Latin America than it is in the challenged economies of Europe.

It also shows a potential link between management effectiveness and the faster decision making processes allowed by technology. The survey shows that younger executives gain a competitive advantage within the organisation by being most eager to leverage the potential of unified communications.

Executives globally say it is taking too much time, effort and money to collaborate, access data and work as a team. And 56 per cent of executives say slow decision-making by managers and colleagues is the biggest problem they face at work.

BT’s survey shows that executives feel they are wasting up to 25 per cent of their time every day due to poor communication, collaboration and information flows, as well as basic administration tasks.

They also feel frustrated by their IT departments, with 48 per cent saying they don’t keep up to date with new technology.

As a result, executives are starting to ‘go behind the back of IT’ to use open platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to collaborate, potentially putting corporate security policies at risk.
 
The findings of the survey show a growing appetite for unified communications globally, with conference calls, - audio and video - becoming almost as ubiquitous as formal meetings. For example, 58 per cent of directors and general managers make on average more than one video call per week.
 
The BT survey clearly shows that executives are demanding more unified communications, with 84 per cent stating that, together, instant messaging, e-mail, phone, video and telepresence help them be more successful. They want solutions such as desktop sharing, unified messaging, video, voice-to-text services and secure cloud storage, said the BT in its statement.

The BT One portfolio has now been updated to answer to these demands with a single unified communications frameworkfor devices, legacy systems and one global network for all global users.

New services are being introduced, such as One Cloud Lync, One Voice anywhere, One Enterprise Cisco, One Collaborate video and One Collaborate.
 
Sandra O’Boyle, the service director at Current Analysis, said: “BT’s IP telephony and unified communications services, marketed under the ‘BT One’ banner, are threatening in the global enterprise market, because BT can offer a full range of services, including One Voice VPN; audio, video and Web conferencing; PSTN; SIP and UC services."

"BT is also a leader in providing telepresence high-definition video conferencing services across key vendors, claiming an impressive 25,000 endpoints registered with its global video exchanges," she said.

Luis Alvarez, the newly-appointed CEO of BT Global Services, said:“To be successful in this economic environment, it is paramount for business leaders to make better decisions faster. While some might feel more comfortable with face-to-face interactions, it is becoming very clear that a competitive advantage is at hand for those who grasp the full gamut of today’s and tomorrow’s communications channels."

"It is not just a case of buying a device or a piece of software, it is about making sure that existing investments are federated and about bringing all the tools and channels together in an effective and secure way that saves time and money," he added.-TradeArabia News Service