The Communnications Revolution - "Deep Impact" About To Strike

There's no doubt we're in a communications revolution.  It's like a "deep impact" asteroid ready to strike unless we take steps to divert it!

Social networking, real time news and blog feeds, and the continued advances and adoption of mobile smart phones have been some of the major drivers of this change over the last 5 years.  These advances have given us communication & information access anywhere, all the time, and in real time. A good thing, right?  Yes, mostly.  This revolution has also created new challenges and behavior changes for individuals and enterprises.  More than ever we wrestle with how to efficiently access, utilize and control of all this new communication/information without  potentially stressful and negative side-effects.

What are some of these impacts?

• Individuals are overwhelmed with the amount of information and communication modes available to them and coming at them 24/7 if you let it.  Information Overload.  From a business perspective, employee productivity, information security, and legal liability concerns arise.
• Businesses need to address the fact that employees and customers are "talking" in many new ways.  Changes need to be made in how they "listen" and reach the customer base.  Changes need to be made in how all forms of communication are presented to and managed for employee productivity and collaboration.  Customer service & contact centers need to deal with social network communication
• Social changes: We are choosing different communication modes and preferences.  24/7 real-time availability of information is altering social communication behavior.  The boundary between "personal" and professional identity and time is blurring.

Unified Communications applications and communication devices need to evolve and help us address the challenges put forth by today's communication/information technology.  Help us divert the "deep impact" as enterprises and as individuals.

There a few key aspects of this communication revolution that I'll discuss over my next few posts.  In the end I'll map Unified Communication application and device enhancement ideas and example use cases of where/how they may help!

• Information overload and management - personal and business impacts.  What are they? 
• Social behavior changes regarding communication style and the blur between personal and professional needs
• Examples of Enterprise benefits to finding ways to embrace new communication modes and behaviors
• Changes in Unified Communications and devices that can help divert the communication revolution asteroid

Stay tuned and I'll add the links as I create the follow-on posts.  Looking forward to an ongoing dialog on diverting the asteroid!

Link to Part 1 - information overload impacts
Link to Part 2 - Social Behavior Impacts
Link to Part 3 - Social Networking In The Enterprise
Link to - What Unified Communications Can Do - Part 1