Almost 70% of Retailers Don’t Understand the Benefits of Unified Communications

Today’s IP news roundup highlights some of the latest headlines in unified communications, big data, the cloud and more:

• Almost 70% of retailers have never heard of – or do not understand – the benefits of unified communications. Research by Elitetele.com and Swyx revealed that the majority of retailers have little knowledge of unified communications. According to Matt Newing, CEO of Elite, “Our survey pointed to a clear need to educate retailers on how technology can support key operational targets. This year we have already seen many high street retail businesses such as HMV and Blockbuster fail as a result of not evolving their business models to combine physical and digital journeys to suit changing customer preferences and behaviour.” For more information on how retailers can take advantage of unified communications, see the Elite press release.
• The benefits of VoIP go beyond cost savings. According to a Business News Daily article, VoIP can help you be more mobile. The article states, “VoIP allows business professionals to unchain themselves from their desks. Sales reps can have their calls forwarded to their cell phones in the field. Repair experts can handle new inquiries and customer service calls while at a job site. A manager can have some agents work from home but still maintain their connection to the office phone system.” For more VoIP benefits, see Business News Daily.  

• The NSA does damage control. In an effort to correct media “inaccuracies”, the Obama administration has released a document stating that the NSA touches only 1.6% of Internet traffic and analyzes 0.025% of that traffic (Source: RT.com). However, the document contains almost no information on NSA mass surveillance. Meanwhile, the NSA plans to fire 90% of its system administrators in an effort to prevent future leaks (Source: InformationWeek.com).
• Big data can leave you vulnerable to targeted attacks. According to a Bdaily article, the more you send and receive a piece of data, the more open you are to attacks. This is why you must keep data security at the forefront if you start using big data technologies. According to the article, “Big data allows companies to pull together related information and generate a snapshot of a customer in an instant … However, with this comes a security challenge as data that would have been previously meaningless when viewed alone, becomes connected to a whole wealth of information that can lead to confidential details being exposed.” For more information on big data security risks, see Bdaily.
• And finally … don’t expect a cloud revolution. An InfoWorld article predicts that the movement to the cloud will not be as dramatic as a revolution. The article states, “While there will be no mass migration, there will be many one-off cloud migration projects that improve the functionality of systems, as well as cloud-based deployments of new systems. This means that cloud computing’s growth will follow the same patterns of adoption we saw for the PC and the Web. We won’t notice many of the changes as they occur, but the changes will indeed come.” For more predictions on what the cloud will look like in three years, see InfoWorld.

What is your take on today’s news? Feel free to share your opinions below.