ROI with voicemail - The case for Unified Messaging

At a conceptual level it is easy to see why Unified Messaging would be of benefit to an organisation.
In general these benefits can be put down to increases in efficiency, productivity, manageability/process, reporting and usability.

However many of the benefits may be intangible (difficult to measure) and, although Unified Messaging has decreased dramatically in terms of investment over the last few years, it is important that management is confident that the right decision is being made.

The most tangible benefits provided by Unified Messaging are in time saving for staff members and it is around this that a Return On Investment (ROI) can be built up.

Industry studies have found time saving of at least 1.5 hours per week per employee. A good example of this can be seen in the attached Intel Study on Unified Messaging, where they found a saving of between 0.5-2 hours per week per employee.

The time saving for the employees comes mainly from having easier (quicker) access to all of their messages types and the simplification of and more options for managing their messages.

Return On Investment (ROI)

If we take the lower end of expected time saving of 0.5 hours per week per employee and an average hourly wage of $25.00, we can calculate the follow ROI.
30 Staff:
30 staff * 0.5 hours = 15 hours time saved per week
15 hours * $25.00 = $375.00 per week saved
$25,000.00 (example investment in UM) / $375.00 = 66.66 weeks
Therefore the UM system will pay for itself in just over 1 year.

100 Staff: 100 staff * 0.5 hours = 50 hours time saved per week
50 hours * $25.00 = $1250.00 per week saved
$35,000.00 (example investment in UM) / $1250.00 = 28 weeks
Therefore the UM system will pay for itself in just over half a year.

As we can see from these ROI the UM system can pay for itself very quickly.
If you would like to work out you own organisations' ROI for UM you can use the following formula:
Purchase price / (number staff * time saving per week * average wage) = weeks payback period

Summary of the Benefits of UM

Tangible Benefits:

• Time saving for staff
• Decrease the need for fax machines/paper/toner

Intangible Benefits:

• Improve message administration and support
• Improve workflow and process
• Speed up message response time
• Increase employee mobility
• Enhance communication
• Improve staff morale
• Further tailor call flow
• Increased information on system use

 

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