Unified Communications

Collaboration is an ideal in higher education. The sharing of information between students and instructors, between colleagues and between different departments is a part of everyday life. This process needs to facilitate the Integration of phone/voicemail, email, chat, calendars to enhance the collaboration experiences. End users want the ability to communicate from any device to connect with the university.

• Use of voice communication systems is changing dramatically
• Use of desktop phone dropping in favor of text based and mobile communications
• Changing nature/needs of modern communications platform is questioning the need and expense for a phone on every desk
• Providing communications platform that support University services is still a requirement and phones throughout campus to protect life/health/safety is a core duty and responsibility

---

What is IITS already doing related to Unified Communications?

• Office 365 - SharePoint, One Drive, Teams
• PBX Replacement
• Hangouts: Google / Persona Zoom conf. - shared costs

Who else might we need to bring into a conversation about Unified Communications?

• Campus constituents and stakeholders
• Other CSU campus - best practices
• Vendor Resources
• Gartner - technology related insight for higher education
• Microsoft & VARs

What may need to be expanded in terms of services, systems, etc. if Unified Communications surfaces as a key area of focus from campus stakeholders?

• Service Catalog
• Roadmap for Unified Communications

What are our internal assets and challenges to meet Unified Communications needs, if adopted?

• Formal Training
• Capital + Operational - infrastructure budget
• PBX Timeline
• Culture: working hours & always on
• Employee Skillset
• Higher Expectations

---

What are people asking for? What issues are IITS aware of?

• Unified Messaging
• New Phones
• New Features
• Mobility
• Collaboration