What Is Unified Messaging?

Unified messaging gathers communications from different platforms and formats and compiles them into a single interface where they can be read and prioritized without having to switch between two or more programs. Most often, unified messaging combines voicemail and email inboxes and uses text-to-speech converters (or vice versa) to allow employees to either read or listen to their messages, depending on their preference.

How Does Unified Messaging Work?

In a unified messaging system, voice messages are converted either to text or to audio files and, along with email, are delivered to employees through one interface where they can read or listen to all their messages instead of having to switch to different applications and interfaces to access the different types of messages.

Use Cases for Unified Messaging

• Customer Support: Customers send emails or leave voice messages to get help. A unified messaging system puts all those communications into one universal inbox.
• Remote Workers: Some employees are now working remotely for the first time and they need tools to reduce the confusion. Putting all their communications in one place will do that.

Benefits & Advantages of Unified Messaging

One of the big benefits of merging separate systems into one is increased productivity and faster response. Employees are wasting less time learning different systems and can respond to customers more quickly. Also, actions taken on the different types of communications are synced so that if an employee listens to a voicemail and responds via email, both systems are updated to reflect those actions. Employees will no longer have to remember one password to view their email and a different password to listen to their voicemail. Perhaps the biggest benefit is cost savings. Companies don’t have to provide IT support, staff, and maintenance for a voicemail system developed by one company and an email system developed by another. Staff training on different systems is also eliminated.