BlackBerry MVS is just one solution that makes up our Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) portfolio. To find out more on how BlackBerry addresses the Content Management, Voice Conferencing, and Enterprise Instant Messaging needs of an increasing mobile workforce, check out the interview below.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

How have BlackBerry products improved your productivity and helped you get things done when collaborating with other co-workers, customers, and partners? Share in the comments below.

You’re missing out if you haven’t had a chance to take a look at the first two webcasts in our series on Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC). These took a look at current trends, shared some insightful data, and provided opportunities to kick your internal collaboration into gear while seeing that return on investment.

The final two webcasts in the series are now available, focusing on the financial industry and on mobile collaboration across multiple mobile platforms. BlackBerry® devices play a major role in many financial organizations due to the security, connectivity, and infrastructure. A correctly implemented layer of UCC on top of a smartphone deployment can make a difference in the quality and quantity of employee communication and collaboration – and this is what the BlackBerry UCC portfolio seeks to accomplish. When it comes to cross-platform UCC, common enterprise challenges and concerns are met with the fact that you don’t need to throw out a unified communications strategy when you embrace a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy in your organization.

But within this practice, there are resources, best practices, and key differentiators to be aware of when kicking off a cross-platform communication project. Check out the webcasts below to learn more!

• Webinar #3: Banking on BlackBerry: Achieving Regulatory Compliance
• Webinar #4: Supporting Cross-Platform UCC with BlackBerry

If your organization employs the BlackBerry portfolio of Unified Communication and Collaboration solutions to increase productivity and cut costs, we’d love to hear about it at success@rim.com. You can also share feedback on our LinkedIn® recommendation page, and discuss in our group while you’re there.

What mobile UCC topics are you most interested in learning more about? Share in the comments below.

Correctly leveraging Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) in your company can result in a massive return on investment. Rapid sharing of information, consolidation of document management, mobile access, and even Wi-Fi® calling all ladder into the idea of a productive workforce supported by an efficient infrastructure. One of the unique ways that we support enterprise customers is by providing a portfolio of tools, apps, servers, and systems that sit as a layer between your existing infrastructure and the activities of your employees, acting as an enabler for cost effective communication and collaboration.

We’ve got bright ideas already available and some on the way when it comes to supporting the diverse needs of an enterprise employee base. In the pursuit of continuing this support and adapting it for specific industry-based requirements, today we’ve made two webcasts available covering an overview of UCC, with one catered particularly to the healthcare sector.

• Webinar #1: Mobilizing UCC with BlackBerry Smartphones: Creating a Mobile Office
• Webinar #2: Healthcare with BlackBerry UCC: Improving Patient Care

Communication within any organization is crucial to business operations. And these days, email may not be enough – it can even bog you down with a loaded inbox and wasted hours sunk into reading and replying. With the introduction of voice technology such as BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System, as well as rapid communication and collaboration software like enterprise instant messaging, communication becomes efficient, streamlined, and unified. Employees can be reached at a single number whether at their desk or on the road. Calls can be transferred from the mobile network to your Wi-Fi network seamlessly and without dropping – representing significant cost savings. Instant messaging can be used for quick questions.

Clearly, the benefits of streamlining your organization’s unified communications and collaboration are numerous, not only for the bottom line in terms of cost savings, but also for keeping employees mobile, accessible, and collaborative.

What tools does your organization use to communicate and collaborate? Share in the comments below.

We’re buried in email — it’s the simple truth. Many organizations and individuals default to email as the primary mode of communication, and it’s seen as the “work” channel. You might use text messages, instant messaging, and social media in your personal life, but “work email” is a familiar phrase and is used to describe how we get things done in the office. But technology has moved far beyond this, and what we should be doing is efficiently utilizing the appropriate modes of communication within our professional lives to reach the desired outcome with the lowest amount of effort, server load, and time. Utilizing your organization’s investment in mobility and collaboration technology can go a long way to solving this issue.

If I’m not watching my inbox like a hawk, I don’t feel like I’m working. If I leave my inbox unsupervised for even a short amount of time during the day, I feel like I’m neglecting my responsibilities. The other day I heard it referred to as “watching your inbox closer than you watch your kids”, and it hit home. The amount of time that we waste (yes, waste) checking, sending, and receiving email is astronomical. This doesn’t just strain your personal efficiency; it can also have implications on your company’s mail servers, particularly if you’re a heavy user of large attachments such as presentations.

Speaking of using attachments, this is a particular aspect of the issue that I see time and time again – individuals and teams mistakenly using email as a tool for workflow: reviewing, approving, and firing attachments of different document versions all over the place. This is not what it was meant to be! There are a ton of fantastic alternatives for managing communications and workflow. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios and solutions that can help to break apart how we communicate so that we can engage effectively.

Use the phone

Particularly with younger generations (of which I am a part), this is often not the go-to method of communication even concerning quick questions. Sending it in an email gives you the feeling that you can strike it off of your to-do list. But really, you can’t – not until you get an answer. All it does is add to the clutter and open up the potential for it to get lost either on your plate or on the plate of the individual you’re reaching out to. Mind you, hitting someone’s voicemail isn’t always the best thing either – and that’s why I love BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System for allowing me to be reached at a single number whether I’m using my desk phone or BlackBerry smartphone.

Enterprise instant messaging

I’ve come to love this over the past few months. Many organizations have enterprise instant messaging implemented internally, and even better, hooked into an employee directory. Even if I’ve never met or spoken with an individual before, I’ll often shoot over a quick IM if it’s something that can be resolved with a “yes”, “no”, or simple response. This way, even if they’re on a call, they can often multitask to give me what I need quickly, without leaving a trail of messages all over the place. These solutions often include file sharing or again, in the case of BlackBerry Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) solutions, you can one-click to start a call from an instant messaging conversation. Better yet, you can take your internal IM solution mobile on your BlackBerry smartphone by utilizing these solutions. Quick questions and quick answers follow me wherever I go, without causing pile-up in my inbox.

Centralize document storage and management

Instead of emailing documents as attachments, loading down mail servers, and running the risk of confusing versions, it’s important to centralize document storage and management. Does your organization have a solution for this? Is it mobile-friendly, and feature-rich? Microsoft® SharePoint® is an example of one that fits the bill for many companies. With the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint, you’re able to download documents, open and edit them with Documents To Go®, and send them back up into SharePoint with full version control. The BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet browser is also a fantastic vehicle for accessing internal web apps, whether connected via Wi-Fi® or through BlackBerry® Bridge™ on your smartphone for true mobility.

BlackBerry Messenger for business

BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) isn’t just for organizing weekend BBQs with friends; it’s also a fantastic tool for mobile communication on work topics. Organizing colleagues and teams into BBM groups can help keep things clean in your contact list, and you can even send files and voice notes up to 6MB. If you don’t have access to mobile enterprise instant messaging, this is a great way to get in touch with your coworkers quickly and efficiently. Knowing when someone has received and read your message allows you to operate and communicate confidently on this platform. We use it constantly here at RIM® (I’d hope so!) and I’ve certainly felt the benefits of having quick and simplified access to everyone on my team.

Third party apps

There are a ton of collaboration and communication apps available in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, including cross-platform apps. Figure out what works best for your particular style of work, and based on the pain points in your current communication structure, and go wild trying some of these out. Cloud storage solutions are great examples of available apps that can help make your life easier at work, especially for small businesses.

Bonus: Easy scheduling across organizations, and one-click conference calls

Worth mentioning in this type of post are Tungle.me and BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing. Tungle allows you to share your availability, and view the basic availability of others, regardless of what platform you’re using and whether or not you’re in the same organization. This is great for sales teams in particular who are working to set up appointments with external contacts. With BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing, you can save multiple conference profiles on your BlackBerry smartphone and never worry about adding in your conference details to an invite, or having to input them by hand when you’re an attendee. Just hit “Join Now” and you’re off!

The point is that there are so many more modes of communication available outside of email. Email should be used effectively and certainly holds a foundational purpose in our collaboration, but the myriad of available apps, instant messaging solutions, document management, and workflow tools shouldn’t be ignored. I’m willing to bet that you could shave off hours from your workweek by engaging in thoughtful and efficient communication in your workplace.

To find out more about BlackBerry communication and collaboration solutions, head over to www.blackberry.com/collaboration. Specifically, take a peek at the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint, BlackBerry Mobile Voice System, and BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing.

How do you manage workflows and collaboration while on the go? What are your favorite tools, apps, or solutions? Share in the comments below.