<p>Unified communications may finally deliver on its long-unfulfilled promise to provide businesses with a single system that integrates phone calls, messaging, document sharing and video conferences.</p><p>The idea was simple: create a system that lets people know when one another are available, and allow them to connect in the most appropriate fashion using instant messaging, document sharing, a voice call, a video chat or some combination of those platforms.</p><p>But difficulties integrating the technology of telecommunications and Internet hardware vendors like Cisco Systems Inc. and software makers like Microsoft Corp. rivals in the unified communications market delayed the adoption of UC for over a decade. Lately however, better interoperability among major vendors, and the introduction of improved systems for placing calls directly from a computer have paved the way for wider business use of UC.</p><p>UC adoption "was flat for years but we are seeing an upswing as companies are taking the plunge and using more UC collaboration tools beyond just basic IM," said Philipp Karcher, an analyst with Forrester Research. Better interoperability and the availability of more messaging options in single software suites is driving companies to make fuller adoption of the systems, he said. In a September 2012 study, Mr. Karcher found that 43% of companies were implementing or expanding UC, compared to around 30% in each of the three previous years.</p><p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/02/11/unified-communications-is-gaining-traction/">Keep reading...</a></p>