Unified Messaging (UM) is the integration of different electronic messaging and communications media (voice, video, SMS, Fax, Voicemail, etc.) technologies into a single interface, accessible from a variety of different devices. When built into business processes UM can cut costs, reduce cycle time, cut human latency, improve the customer experience and increase revenues.

Voicemail messages, for example, can be delivered directly into the user’s inbox and played either through a headset or the computer’s speaker. This simplifies the user’s experience (only one place to check for messages) and can offer new options for workflow such as appending notes or documents to forwarded voicemails.