For many end-users, communications take place in disparate, disconnected silos. For voice communications, you turn to the desktop or mobile phone. For e-mail and IM, you turn to your PC. With the multitude of applications and tools from which to communicate, end-users face a chaotic environment. In fact, according to one study by Harris Interactive and MS, the average information worker gets 51 messages a day in up to 7 different places.

Did you know that over 60% of phone calls go to voicemail. Think of the productivity drop that happens when you leave a voicemail for someone and it takes them several days or longer to get back to the caller. The ability of the caller to know when and how best to reach the person they want to talk to, with the Presence indicator, can significantly reduce the number of calls that go unanswered, therefore raising productivity.

With the power of a single identity, and right time, right method communications, enabled by presence, communications becomes a seamless and personal experience. With presence, you can find the contact you’re seeking the first time. You can select contacts from a directory and see their personal availability and their optimal contact mode, whether it be phone, IM or email. Because presence is then integrated into the applications you use most, you can “click to communicate” from within applications. For example, within Outlook, you can view a personal contact’s availability, indicated by an icon, and then right click to communicate using their preferred method.

Microsoft also did a study and asked people what happens in an IM environment. " We found over 2/3 of people said that their IM conversations escalate to a phone call. We asked, “Well, how did you do that?” We found that users would stop their IM conversation and rotate away from their PC (or terminal) 90 degrees to their phone, and make the call, jumping from silo to silo. There was no integration of their directory, no integration of information. Our focus is to improve that user experience and provide a seamless experience as users transition from one mode of communication to another. "

Finally, Microsoft has done extensive work to create an improved conferencing experience, enabling virtual meetings to be launched instantly from within applications. Say “goodbye” to difficult scheduling and staging of meetings. Say “hello” to spontaneous, ad-hoc voice and video teleconferences with both internal colleagues and external partners through the use of the Live Meeting Service