-Steve Blood to explore why organisations must communicate and collaborate to succeed through keynote and leaders debate-

London, 28 January 2013: Gartner Research Vice President Steve Blood has been announced as the keynote speaker for day two of Unified Communications Expo. The session titled “Innovating at the Speed of Unified Communications and Collaboration” will build on Blood’s research focus for how organisations can build a stronger business case for communications and collaboration projects.

Blood will address the role unified communications and collaboration plays in a culture of innovation and explain why he believes IT organisations need to think beyond cost savings. He will ask why IT organisations are still struggling to build effective business cases to justify enterprise-wide investment in unified communications, despite technology advances that have improved the usability and relevance of unified communications capabilities.

He will explain how IT departments are able to make a stronger justification for unified communications as part of a wider collaboration initiative or workplace transformation project. The keynote will also highlight examples of successful deployments that place innovation at the core of their strategy and culture, to focus less on cost savings for IT and more on operational effectiveness.

“You have to link innovation with unified communications, and that’s where I plan to start,” explains Blood. “We know we can do collaboration without UC, because we’ve always been doing it. The real issue is: are we really achieving UC if we’re not using it to collaborate? UC can offer businesses a host of benefits, but they must take a strategic approach to truly reap the rewards.”

The keynote will take place at 14h30 – 15h00 on Wednesday 6 March in the ‘Your Business Re-Imagined Theatre’.

Elsewhere at Unified Communications Expo, Blood will be chairing a communications and collaboration leader’s debate. Microsoft and Cisco are already confirmed for the panel and other organisations participating will be announced.

Blood is one of many speakers participating in the extensive seminar programme at Unified Communications Expo 2013. The line-up will see industry leaders addressing a broad range of topical issues, including mobility, flexibility, social business, collaboration, the contact centre, conferencing, and cloud and convergence. These sessions will demonstrate how to deliver real savings, ensure business continuity and maintain a competitive advantage.

As Europe’s biggest and most informative business communications event, Unified Communications Expo brings together all the key players in the field of unified communications and connected business. In the constantly changing world of communications, Unified Communications Expo underlines the value of ‘connected people, connected business’ to thousands of attendees and is the one place where visitors can make sense of the latest technologies and their real business benefits. The event takes place on 5-6 March at London’s Olympia — register free today.