In today's dynamic business world, companies are faced with increased competition, shrinking margins, and evolving business models. Traditional concerns such as controlling costs and maximizing customer satisfaction are more important than ever. As connectivity becomes a paramount business requirement, new issues are emerging, such as the requirement to safeguard critical business assets, the expansion of the virtual workforce, the growth of communications traffic, and the heightened need for business agility.

In the wake of these changes, businesses are reconsidering the role of information technology. Today, voice and data networks are strategic assets that are an integral part of every business. To remain competitive, businesses must constantly evaluate their communications strategies to make sure they are truly effective, enabling employees to collaborate with colleagues, partners, suppliers, and customers. Unified Communications must also align with business needs-both today and in the future.

Higher customer expectations and intense competitive pressure are among the top challenges that are forcing businesses to focus on making their communications more effective. Like everything else, communications is now moving at Internet speed. Writing down a message and returning a telephone call within 24 hours is not acceptable to today's customers-and the same need for responsiveness applies to e-mail and network data resources. To remain competitive, small and medium-sized businesses need voice and data solutions that can deliver immediate access to communications tools and information, regardless of employee location or the type of communications device they are using.

Businesses are also seeking ways to better manage ongoing expenses related to their networks. For example, many growing companies are currently supporting independent networks to handle voice and data communications. As network administrators contend with managing new equipment, staff, and budgets, these separate voice and data networks become increasingly difficult and costly to scale, manage, and maintain. Businesses need solutions that can help them do more with minimal resources, such as self-service management capabilities.

The need for increased efficiency is another concern for small and medium-sized businesses. This can be as simple as efficiently and affordably answering and directing inbound calls without operator intervention using an automated attendant application. Or it can be as sophisticated as a globally distributed call center that fully integrates with the Web and back-end systems for improved responsiveness, better customer retention, and increased market share.

Network security is more important than ever for today's business networks. A security breach by a virus, worm, or hacker can be devastating to companies, costing significant loss of revenue, productivity, and business, not to mention the expenses involved in repairing damage. A business whose network has been victimized by hackers can find it difficult to earn back the customer trust and loyalty necessary for long-term success. Small organizations are especially vulnerable-they often lack the staff and budget needed to effectively respond to a security breach. To combat these threats, organizations need a consistent, scalable, businesswide security solution that enables them to continually safeguard their networks.

Growing businesses are also seeking a communications solution that can accommodate expansion and can change easily and cost-effectively. For example, private branch exchange (PBX) installation and upgrades can be costly and frustrating for organizations that are expanding or moving to new office space. Businesses that are growing geographically must often support several branch offices, where traditional PBX installations and toll charges can prove to be expensive. They need a flexible solution that can scale to support their business needs as they continue to evolve. And, they want a network foundation that will allow them to easily add new services to support business growth when they are ready.

The Cisco Unified Communications Solution is the industry's first integrated voice, video, data, and wireless communications system designed and priced for small and medium-sized businesses. Cisco considers voice and data networking to be part of a single, comprehensive business solution. This innovative systems approach to security, connectivity, and communications enables organizations to grow and optimize their business.

The Cisco Unified Communications Solution is smart, simple, and secure. It provides an intelligent, resilient, adaptable infrastructure that enables companies to transform the way they do business and build a competitive edge. In addition to converging voice and data technologies into a single network solution, it features simplified products, applications, and management tools, a lifecycle services approach, financing options, and comprehensive, built-in security for the entire business.

The Cisco Unified Communications Solution consists of three major components:

Sophisticated call control applications extend telephony features and functions to the converged IP network, while providing support for applications such as unified messaging, multimedia conferencing, collaborative contact centers, and interactive multimedia response systems. Cisco Unified CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express is an all-in-one-box solution based on Cisco integrated services routers, and is ideal for the small business office. For larger organizations, the Cisco Unified CallManager and Cisco Unity systems scale to support up to thousands of users at one or many locations.

Endpoint devices, such as Cisco Unified IP phones, easily connect to a converged IP network. This enables users to quickly and intuitively place phone calls, plus utilize the phones' display screens for a variety of new business applications such as inventory management, time and attendance, emergency alerts, and more. IP phones can be managed just like any other network device, making it easy to perform telephone moves, adds, and changes using minimal staff, and reducing network administration expenses. The Cisco Unified Communications Solution supports a variety of endpoint devices, including wireless phones, videophones, and software-based desktop communications solutions.

Cisco Systems Capital® Corporation offers a wide range of financing services designed specifically for the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. With straightforward, flexible leasing options, competitive rates, and fast credit processing, Cisco Systems Capital can help any business acquire the solutions it needs to be successful.

An end-to-end, standards-based Cisco Unified Communications Solution brings together data, voice, and video communications on a single network to deliver more effective communications that can help lower operating costs, increase customer satisfaction, and optimize business productivity.

The solution enables companies to quickly reduce their total cost of network ownership by consolidating their voice and data systems to a converged IP network and allowing customers to integrate with critical business applications such as Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Outlook. Using a single network for all communications helps them reduce monthly toll and leased-line charges, consolidate separate maintenance contracts for voice and data systems, and simplify cabling and wiring requirements.

The Cisco Unified Communications Solution can also deliver significant strategic benefits by helping a business improve its operational efficiency with communications services like IP call handling and unified messaging. A recent study by The Radicati Group, Inc., a research firm in Palo Alto, California, estimates that unified messaging generates 25 to 40 minutes per day of additional productivity per employee. Since the Cisco Unified Communications Solution provides support for wireless and mobile workforces, staff can stay connected and productive, regardless of location. Employees can spend more time with customers or managing business.

Combining separate data and voice networks into one IP infrastructure enables companies to simplify operations as they build additional value into their networks. With the Cisco Unified Communications Solution, companies can merge previously disparate support and administrative staffs for voice and data networks. By eliminating redundancy, companies can redirect their assets toward strategic core business investments. Many organizations are significantly improving their network support staff productivity as a result of deploying a converged IP network. With the Cisco Unified Communications Solution, companies can also support innovative XML and business applications, helping to ensure content integration with back-end database systems for sales and marketing, new service creation, and finance, legal, and technology operations.

Small and medium-sized businesses will often see an immediate return on investment after deploying a Cisco Unified Communications Solution. To optimize their solutions, organizations should closely survey their business networks regularly, assessing the most effective areas and exploring possible new applications or processes that could bring additional benefits. The Cisco Smart Business Roadmap helps businesses align a flexible network technology plan with short- and long-term business needs, enabling them to build on their solutions step by step at the pace they require as their business evolves.

The Cisco Unified Communications Solution can be adapted to businesses of all sizes and types, and is reliable, scalable, and easy to manage and support. Flexible finance options make it easy to purchase and own. And robust service and support options help ensure that the solution remains reliable and available. For small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for an alternative to purchasing and operating their own network equipment, Cisco has global partnerships with proven service providers who will deliver and manage these services. With a secure, scalable, versatile solution in place, businesses are well-positioned to easily accommodate growth and new productivity-enhancing business applications and processes in the future.