I’ve become a big user of Office Communicator over the last few months – I’m finally seeing the light that Mark and Julian promised me :) More seriously, the benefits of unified communications are even more obvious in the current economic climate. Let me explain….

My job sees me on the phone a lot – working as part of a virtual team and often in contact with colleagues around the world. I also find myself in Seattle quite frequently and like to call home regularly. Doing all of this in the past from my mobile phone wasn’t cost effective and also tested the battery life of my phone to the max. In addition I was getting concerned about the amount of time I spent using a cellular phone.

A few trips back whilst in Seattle I decided to switch to using a headset that worked with Microsoft’s Office Communicator. Thanks to Plantronics who kindly sent me 2 of their models to review, I rarely use my mobile phone now for anything but the briefest of calls. These UC headsets are comfortable to wear and provide easy VOIP calling that is integrated in to my contacts from Outlook and our global address list. It’s actually hard to get the benefits until you use it but basically they’re these

1. Free phone calls across the world – my phone bill used to be BIG. Not saying how big but now it’s WAY smaller.
2. Free conference calls – I can call one person and bring another in to the call with the click of a mouse
3. Comfortable calls – no longer relying on the battery of my cellphone or my Bluetooth headset
4. Outlook integration – I can see if someone is available before I call them (presence info)

thanks to the Plantronics guys for two great headsets – you just plug them in and they work providing crisp audio and simple controls. I now have one at home connected to my PC and one I carry around with my everywhere. Sure I may look like Janet Jackson with a weird headset on in a coffee bar but I can smugly smile knowing it’s cost effective and comfortable.

In this economic climate you’d be mad not to explore this solution.