new era in unified communications

So it didn't get a lot of attention but 30 million professionals and 3 million businesses just received unified communications functionality at zero cost. They didn't buy any software or hardware and they didn't pay any professional service fees to set it all up.

I'm talking about Gmail Calling. OK, so the statement  above is only partly true because this service only launched in the United States and I could probably find out what percentage of Google Apps users are in the US but that's besides the point. Unified Communications also requires mobile integration so we have some additional grey area here because to receive calls in Gmail as well as integrate a mobile device and close the communications circle a person needs Google Voice.

Another important but overlooked event over the past week or two was Google Voice being rolled into Google Apps accounts, it was previously only available with personal accounts. A person can use their Google Apps login credentials to login to Google Voice at which time they'll be prompted to pick an area code, not all of which are available. Google is currently out of 816, 913 ( update: looks like they've rolled out some more), 636, and 314 area codes which represent St. Louis and Kansas City.

I've been using Google Voice for more than a year and absolutely love the service. The Google Voice inbox, pictured below, is invaluable and shares many similarities to Gmail. For example, it provides full text search (voice mails are automatically transcribed) and seemingly unlimited archiving. Google's Chrome browser also has a nice extension available for Google Voice that I use frequently. Firefox has an extension as well that I haven't used personally but I'm sure it works great.

Until Google released these new features to Google Apps users, Unified Communications solutions were an expensive proposition for businesses. Google and other modern cloud computing providers are changing the economics of business technology. Telecommunications represents the largest expense category for Enterprise IT and is often more expensive than all other technology categories combined. The software required for Google's UC solution? A browser. The required hardware? A smartphone and any netbook, notebook, laptop, or desktop with a microphone and speakers. Domestic calls to cell phones and landlines are free for at least 2010. Since I've started using Gmail Calling + Google Voice, I've cut my cell phone use in half. 

Legacy providers often contend Google is not an enterprise player. Well, this leaked list of June customers would suggest otherwise. These big spenders are some of the largest companies in the world and they're pumping 10's of millions of dollars into Google every month. What's Google providing? Google's providing internet based technology services and it looks like they're pretty damn good at it. Efficient, reliable, scalable and affordable internet technology services - Google Apps isn't out of Google's wheelhouse, it's right down the middle. Google's audience may be consumers but their customers are businesses and their biggest customers are enterprises.   

Google's UC solution has plenty of room for improvement but they're currently offering a very strong solution, it works on any platform and they rolled it out to millions of accounts at no charge. The UC market has been changed forever and unless you're a legacy UC vendor, it's changed for the better.