Shoretel recently surveyed 475 potential unified communications (UC) customers to find out what some of the issues at the forefront of thier minds were. While much of the findings related to their company strategies, some frustrations resulted from their technology providers.

It was interesting to read that 81 percent of the respondents wanted to simplify their communications systems (presumably by deploying some form of UC) but over half had not yet set up even a strategy to get that transition started. The survey respondents noted that most complexity in their systems resulted in trying to integrate their communication systems with business processes, legacy systems and the mobile workforce.

As far as frustrations are concerned, the biggest issue was related to buyers' remorse. Sixty five percent noted invisible costs after the purchase of a UC system to be a significant pain point; 63 percent found their systems to be difficult or costly to manage after deployment, while 57 percent cited the learning curve of new systems ended up being the most trouble.

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