What Is Unified Messaging (UM)?

Picture yourself as someone constantly on the go and juggling the many ways people are attempting to contact you. You can contact me via phone, text, or electronic mail. To put it another way, you're the mole in an endless game of Whack-a-Mole. What if we told you that it was possible to consolidate all of these contact channels into a single inbox? Enter Consolidated Chat (UM). UM is a system that centralizes all your messages (voicemail, email, and fax) in a single place where you can easily access and organize them. You might think of it as a superhero's trusty sidekick, saving you time and effort by consolidating your messages in one spot rather than across multiple platforms. Having one is similar to employing a personal assistant, albeit without the perks of a sassy employee. Technically speaking, UM connects various messaging systems, including voicemail and email, through a mechanism called Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is frequently used to carry out the actual delivery of messages. The great thing about UM is that you can check your messages on any device at anytime. Let's pretend you're out and about when your office phone rings with a voicemail. With UM, you can access your voicemail from any Internet-connected device, not just your phone. The days of returning to the workplace only to check voicemail are over. UM's ability to combine many message protocols is another plus. If you get an email with an attached voice recording, UM will transcribe it and include it in the email so you can read the message without listening to the tape. A significant advantage of UM is that it enhances the communication process on both ends. If a call goes unanswered, the voicemail can be sent to an email address, giving the sender double assurance that their message has been received. Conversely, the recipient can access the communication at any time and location using any device. Having Unified Messaging is like having a virtual assistant that compiles all your communications into a single inbox, making it simple to monitor and respond to your many lines of contact. To integrate various message systems, it makes use of SIP and other protocols and technologies, such as VoIP. It enhances the communication experience for the sender and the receiver by allowing access to communications from virtually anywhere, at any time, on almost any device.