Chapter 4. Business Cases for Lync Server 2013

In this chapter we will explore common business cases for Lync Server 2013. Before we understand the business cases for Lync Server 2013, it is important to understand some fundamentals about Unified Communications. The term “Unified Communications” has become quite a buzzword in the IT industry as of late. Unified Communications (UC) is defined as the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging, Presence, telephony, video conferencing, data sharing, call control, and Unified Messaging (integrated voice mail, email, and fax). The term is pretty self-explanatory. You are unifying your existing communication tools. A common approach to UC is to consolidate all communication tools into a single-vendor solution. This chapter outlines why many people believe that Microsoft Lync is the go-to product for Unified Communication, and it covers the following topics:

Why Unified Communications—Gives an overview of why UC is beneficial to all types of organizations.

Return on Investment—Describes how you define ROI, and how UC provides ROI.

Why Lync 2013 for Unified Communications—Explains why, based on what we know about UC, Lync 2013 is the ideal solution for UC.