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Offce workers remain frustrated by the tools they have at their disposal and feel they could do their job better if they ha access to the latest technol new research shows.

In an international survey 2,000 offce workers by Alcate Lucent, 74% said advanced communication technology, such as unifed communicatio internal social networking and video collaboration, could signifcantly increase their productivity and engagement Yet less than one-third of thes individuals claim to have acce to the technologies they need perform their jobs successfully Respondents expressed frustration with existing virtua meeting solutions, highlightin the need for more intuitive collaboration tools that enabl workers to share knowledge more effciently. In addition, more than

half the workers surveyed believe different communications channels need to be better

d so that conversations can multiple people, media and ices. This would allow you escalate a business process m a text message to a video laboration session, for example. Three quarters (74%) of pondents use smartphones, king workers more accessible, t also raising expectations for hnologies that enable more mediate access to people and ormation in the workplace. The study found that while IT ganisations have made strides meeting workforce demands, ny are hindered by legacy rastructure. For example, only % of IT executives surveyed ieve they have reasonably pable tools for managing ality of Service (QoS) and lication performance.

Greater use of videoconferencing by small and medium-sized businesses and increased adoption of video as part of a unifed communications solution will continue to drive growth in the videoconferencing endpoint market, Frost & Sullivan claims in a new report (European Videoconferencing Endpoints Market) .

The research organisation warns that despite growth of 20.3% last year, the diffculty in attaching a hard-dollar ROI to the benefts of visual communications continues to prevent large-scale investment in video technology.

The effort required to change established work behaviour and substitute face-to-face meetings with video communications is another barrier cited by Frost & Sullivan. Others include weak infrastructure and low bandwidth, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, and the perception that video-conferencing services are aimed at large enterprises.

Despite these concerns, Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Iwona Petruczynik expects demand to continue to grow.

“Vendors are steadily resolving security, frewall traversal and Quality of Service issues

associated with video communications between multiple sites, thereby easing inter-company communications,” she said.

“In addition, efforts by vendors and customers in verticals like government and healthcare (telemedicine) to harness the power of videoconferencing are leading to a wider application base. Both these factors will expand the potential target market for videoconferencing systems and lead to increased adoption.”

European division of a Japanese consumer electronics company aping the benefts of LifeSize HD videoconferencing through ced travel costs and a smaller carbon footprint. A study by Forrester sulting for the videoconferencing division of Logitech found that in one the customer experienced an ROI payback within 9 months; eved savings of more than $1 million in travel costs; and cut carbon sions by 12%. Based on its study, Forrester Consulting is predicting k-adjusted ROI of 392% over fve years. According to Forrester, ize’s system had a TCO 24% lower than comparable solutions er consideration. In April, LifeSize became the frst room-based, ness-class video conferencing solution to be plugged into Skype, bling LifeSize Passport users to conduct video calls with Skype users nd the world. www.lifesize.com

A more modest one in fve British workers (see story left) believes that their employer’s communications infrastructure is preventing them from carrying out their job properly, according to a new survey by Opinion Matters for Vodafone.

This rises to 26% among feld sales reps and 28% among customer service agents. Almost one third (31%) of workers believe that a smartphone would help them work better and more productively.

The survey was carried out to coincide with the publication of a Vodafone-sponsored report by IDC, which argues that organisations should put the needs of each individual employee at the heart of their communications strategy by allowing them to decide what devices and communication tools they need to help them do their job. Left: The new Nokia E6 business smartphone with QWERTY keypad and high resolution touchscreen display.

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