It's getting tougher out there. Many IT managers want to invest in new technology, but are struggling to make the case. Spiralling energy costs have eclipsed savings on cheap hardware, while users don't seem to be able keep corporate data secure. The risk grows with every new mobile device added to the mix. Help is at hand. New, low energy technology that minimises the risk to data integrity could be the answer. This session explores the new innovations in thin client converged communications.

Unified communications has the potential to create a new breed of knowledge workers, if a clear, organisation-wide implementation strategy and plan are laid out. For the enterprise, UC will deliver a more efficient, anytime, anywhere business environment. This in turn will lead to faster decision-making, better acceptance and use of collaborative tools, work-life balance improvement and an outstanding customer experience. So, is this communications utopia?

Service providers face increasingly complex challenges in turning an 'empty network' into one that is efficiently delivering VoIP services, without a slow and complex process of manual service provisioning - these challenges are particularly acute when serving enterprise customers. In response, service providers are investing in more integrated and automated VoIP delivery processes that provide a coherent model of subscribers and services. These integrated systems also help to meet the customer demand for more sophisticated self-service portals that provide a complete view of services and users, including automated service activation.

Today, VoIP is much less a disruptive influence and much more a mainstream technology. This session looks at how the unified communications evolution will continue to keep VoIP in the headlines and what that means for your business.

13,000 HP employees worldwide work exclusively from home offices. In 2007 HP's teleworking program saved almost 2.5 million round trip commutes, saving approximately 65 million miles of road travel and almost 28,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This presentation will look at the implementation of flexible working practices within HP both in the UK and worldwide. It will examine the challenges which were encountered from both a technological and cultural perspective, look at the tools which HP employees use to communicate with each other, and explore the benefits that have accrued to the organisation.

Enterprises are striving to maximise the potential of their infrastructure and collaborate across geographical boundaries and time zones. Achieving increased productivity and profitability are critical management objectives. Unified Communications solutions are increasingly being viewed as a means of realising this objective. Verizon Business will present how enterprises can leverage their capabilities and and the migration paths available to them.

Unified communications and collaboration can connect your customers, employees, partners and suppliers no matter where they are and at any time. This session looks at how to deliver great service to your customers, get more from your partners and suppliers and give your organisation the agility to achieve competitive advantage

These are challenging times, with organisations facing continuous change, including the shift to an agile virtual organisation, increasingly mobile workers, and the unremitting demands to increase productivity and lower costs. The requirement for a multi-channel IP network and unified communications to support all an organisation’s interaction needs has never been more evident. It is becoming increasingly important for IT management to begin to make possible the availability of common communication services, either by infrastructure upgrades or through Managed Services. If organisations have not already, then enterprises should look to put in place the foundation of a converged IP environment.

Andrew Penn will discuss likely scenarios familiar to IT teams across the UK and will look at how current infrastructure need not determine future Unified Communications technologies. Looking across the IT product and service spectrum, this master class will help the IT professional understand what and where their legacy systems are. By using this knowledge they can determine the path to Unified Communications understanding how, with a flexible system and service lead approach, organisations can ensure they are able to adapt to meet the changing needs of both their users and customers.

This session will provide an insight into the latest technologies that will influence the way you operate your business and how you can enable your employees to communicate more effectively.

Unified communications comprises a powerful set of converged network applications that can directly enhance all aspects of a company’s operation. This session discusses the characteristics of unified communications, its ability to enhance the quality of the interaction across the enterprise and how it can be used to optimise application performance according to the unique needs of each business

In this session Richard McCammond will discuss the changing face of telephony as Carriers migrate from traditional PSTN services to the new world of VoIP and IP Telephony. Richard will explore how Carriers are addressing the technology challenges in their core networks, and finish by looking at the opportunity for organisations and consumers to benefit from the integration of voice with other “Collaborative” applications.

The Web has evolved from a content distribution vehicle into a platform for collaborative applications. A new generation of on-demand applications are leveraging the reach and scale of the Web to make us better informed, more productive and completely connected. How will the changing software landscape impact the way we work and who will benefit?

Successfully deploying advanced services such as VoIP on today’s complex multi-vendor, multi-technology networks is a challenge for service providers and their enterprise customers, particularly with automated service activation through portals. A key ingredient in efficiently delivering and assuring VoIP services is accurate network data showing exactly which network devices, cards and ports are involved in a given business VoIP service, enabling service activation with low fallout, and ensuring rapid diagnosis and resolution of faults that are often reported as simply "my phone doesn't work".

This session describes the business benefits that can be achieved by unifying infrastructure, bringing life and intelligence to buildings through simplifying systems, making sure security is at the forefront of business operations, reducing the carbon footprint and cutting the energy bill and reducing costs and increasing your productivity. The session will also describe proven solutions in these areas by referencing a number of case studies.

Andrew Penn will discuss and investigate ways in which Unified Communications software products can be integrated with legacy platforms including Siebel and Salesforce.Com. In particular, this session will highlight the business benefits of such integration and what users can expect. It will also confirm how important it is to have an open architecture with open interfaces so that application integration is made simple.

Teleworkers have to make maximum use of the communication tools available to keep in touch with people, whether that’s their employer, their client or their colleagues. Aside from work requirements they are also social human beings and need mechanisms that substitute or compensate for all the informal communication that goes on between co-located colleagues. This session will consider communications from the individual human perspective and will incorporate examples from both the public and private sector. It will provide a background against which to evaluate the various technology options for ensuring that teleworkers and remote workers are integrated with, and able to contribute to, the overall objectives and culture of their organisation.

Workforce mobility is an essential component of today’s enterprise. Seamless and integrated solutions for workforce mobility allows organisations to extend the reach of their communications network, improve customer service and enhance overall team effectiveness. Peter Neville will be talking about how mobile solutions available today on the BlackBerry platform can help your business, whatever the size of your organisation, and how they can be seamlessly integrated into your business processes and systems.

From desktop to mobile: realising the end-to-end unified communications solution.
The service provider opportunity: delivering differentiated unified communications and mobile services to SMEs
Mobile presence and location-aware context: intelligence and semantic priority in the mobile environment

Continued mobilisation of the work force has consistently thrown new challenges at Enterprise Managers. How to deliver features transparently? How to Control Rising Mobile Costs? How do I manage my mobile users? Every now and then a new technology appears that has a lasting effect on the way people work - e-mail and the internet being two prime examples. Fixed mobile Convergence has been seen by many as having the same potential to change the way we communicate; this presentation looks at the key deliverables of FMC and the role the technology will play in communications of the future.