Unified Business Communication (UBC) = People + Process + Information + Technology. UBC is not just about multi-channel communication, but the integration of communication technologies/services with people, process, and information.
People--Entities that are directly or indirectly involved in the communication * Person-person, person-machine, machine-machine * Business-Business, Business-Consumer, Consumer-Consumer * One-one, one-many, many-many
Process--Following a standard business methodology towards an end result while handling all the exceptions in a timely manner. * Internal--Manufacturing, supply chain, administrative * External--Marketing/sales, delivery, support/service, billing
UC Information--Information that offers context to the communication * Who--Initiator, relationship, background, role, knowledge, group, value, preferences, history * What--Topic, tasks, data, content, plan, type (sales, services, notification) * When--Real time or delayed (synchronous vs. asynchronous), scheduled or adhoc * Where--Location (Face-face, virtual, remote), modality, availability, cost * Why--Objective (informational, decision, social, other), event, motivation, trigger
UC Technologies/Services--How communication takes place based on the above * Channel(s)--Voice, video, web, messaging, letter/fax, in-person * Presence--Status, location, availability, contact rules * Directories--User ID & information, authentication, authorization, federation * Conferencing--Bridging multiple people together across one or more channels * Control--Setup, transfer, forward, queue, routing rules * Mobility--Where to send to communication--device, network, channel * Unified Client--Smart phones, Netbooks, Virtual Clients, PCs * Reporting--Logging and recording with real-time and historical reports
File sharing for example is a collaboration service, not a communications service. More in the future on a Unified Business Communication & Collaboration (UBCC) architectural framework.
