Unified communication important in disaster recovery

A new survey finds that U.S. government agencies are increasingly embracing unified communications which they consider critical to disaster recovery and business continuity, to say nothing of a more collaborative processes in the office during normal times. The survey was conducted for Cisco by Fairfax, Virginia-based Market Connections in April 2007, polling 201 U.S. federal telecommunications decision makers from both civilian and defence agencies about their communications systems, business issues and challenges, and status of unified communications systems and action plans.

The survey found that more than three-quarters of respondents believe that the coordination of a mobile or remote workforce will be improved through unified communications. This means the integration of voice, video, and data, delivered across a secure Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure. Cisco says the survey shows that advanced communications tools are being adopted across the federal government as agency executives try to achieve both more collaborative and more resilient communications infrastructure.

More than 90 percent of respondents believe that unified communications are essential for disaster recovery and business continuity. Still, when it comes to implementation, only one-quarter report fully operational systems, while a further 20 percent are in early stages of rollout.