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The proliferation of personal information devices such as home computers, mobile phones and digital organizers coupled with the rise of new mediums such as e‐mail and the World wide web have forever altered the way in which information consumers work and play. These fragmented information channels often result in inefficient working patterns as users switch from device to device and between media. The convergence of the analog and digital infrastructure has facilitated the introduction of new technologies and information products. Loosely termed “unified communications” or “unified messaging”, these new information technologies begin to address the technical challenges of convergence. However, in a nascent state, the introduction of new technology can create new challenges as information consumers must change the way they work and potentially break bad information‐seeking habits. This article details the conceptual and technical issues around integrated communications. For the forward thinking researcher or practitioner these challenges can create significant opportunity.

The purpose of this study is to examine how advances in unified communications (UC) technologies are enabling radical changes in workplace redesign. Low-cost and readily available technologies allow individuals to participate in work in ways that they could not before. Mobile hardware, networking infrastructure and robust UC platforms are making work less location- and time-dependent. Whereas these technologies provided the catalyst for the reimagining of the workplace in the early to mid-2000s, it was the explosion of BYOD (bring your own device) in recent years that has caused organizations to reconsider innovative workplace usage.

In this case study on the Microsoft Corporation, business motivators for workplace innovation, driven by performance metrics, are examined.

Included in the findings are increased productivity, talent attraction and retention, reduced sick leave, reduced communications costs, reduced IT and administration costs, reduced carbon footprint, lower real estate costs and reduced travel and training costs.

While many of these findings are beneficial to both employer and employee, they do not come without a cost. UC typically makes the employee accessible from anywhere at any time and this challenges a traditional work–life balance model. Moving forward will require both employer and employee to find a healthy work-life integration model that balances the needs of the individual with the needs of the organization.

This research documents a workplace redesign initiative enabled by UC at a global high technology company.

A wireless campus environment provides user mobility, as users are no longer tied to fixed locations to access the network. It also offers high network accessibility as network resources remain accessible after office hours. While existing communication applications can work in a wireless network, they are separate applications that often require different devices. This paper describes a personal communications system that integrates various services into a unified platform, providing a one‐stop source for both information access and communication within a wireless campus environment.

Global commerce demands flexibility in when and how work gets done, as modern businesses increasingly require real‐time responses to partners and customers. With low costs, companies look to mobility as a way to speed responsiveness and increase the personalization of customer service offerings. Mobility is a key element of networking allowing enterprises to unlock their business process from fixed points. A unified approach to enterprise mobility delivers integrated wired/wireless networking, mobile extensions to unified communications, geographic, and end‐point independent network access and location services as major architectural components. As a consequence, this paper aims to focus on a converged architecture that spans wired and wireless networks to enable a seamless delivery of integrated services across the enterprise.

This paper builds a framework to facilitate a continuous delivery of voice services. It also examines an architecture that traverses wireless local area network and local area network. And, proposes a mathematical model of the services delivery in order to analyze network behavior as a response to the new services introducing.

The authors constructed a service scenario framework and also put forward an analytical model of the services delivery for analyzing network behavior response for the inclusion of new services. They also evaluated a network infrastructure, services, and applications, including the prospective converged services, as well as the technology for the transition to future services.

This paper contributes to the development of seamless services delivery model for providing enhanced business services to the enterprise customers along with the ability to migrate more tightly.

This paper aims to give the reader an insight into the evolution of a fast‐growing and innovative Internet company by helping to understand the web portal business in Germany and to identify and assess strategies to transform an Internet portal to an Internet communications enterprise.

The case is based on field research accomplished together with executives of the company.

The case shows that implementing a professional management structure and a continuous strategic analysis of the competitive environment are crucial for being successful in a dynamic Internet business.

Teachers can use this case study in advanced management courses for applying methodologies of strategic analysis, e.g. M. Porter's five‐forces‐model, value‐chain analysis, concept of key success factors, SWOT‐analysis. Students are expected to know basics about financial analysis, and information technologies. Managers can take the case as a best practice example for successful entrepreneurship in the Internet world.

The paper provides insights into the strategies of an innovative Internet company.

This interview aims to discuss Ciso's approach to innovation with Inder Sidhu, Senior Vice President Strategy and Planning for Worldwide Operations and a member of the company's Operating Committee. His new book about managing seemingly contradictory alternatives is Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today's Profit and Drives Tomorrow's Growth.

The paper presents an interview with Sidhu whose thesis: “Our experience at Cisco” suggests that the concept of “Doing Both” is relevant to a wide range of management decisions and people must learneto look at every opportunity not as a choice between apparently conflicting goals, but rather a way of obtaining a multiplier effect by seeking and meeting two apparently conflicting goals.

Sidhu advocates that organizations actively manage three sources of change in their organization – sustaining change that improves the existing business, disruptive change that needs to be developed outside the core business and externally sourced change that can be spun into the business.

Sidhu believes that doing both means asking your organization to elevate its game. But asking is, by itself, not enough. Leaders need to change their organization – its approval processes, its reward systems, its innovation language and its expectations about the rate of change.

According to Sidhu, based on Cisco's experience, doing both seems to work best in market transitions, when the nature of the market is changing or there is potential for new business models and disruptive approaches.

During 2016–2020, the number of high school students enrolled at Georgia postsecondary institutions increased by over 110% and public spending on dual enrollment more than doubled (Georgia Student Finance Commission, 2020). Benefits to dual enrollment students include improved college performance and shorter time to graduation (An and Taylor, 2015; Blankenberger et al., 2017), which translates into significant tuition cost savings and higher potential wages (Partridge et al., 2020). In light of these economic benefits, this paper examines the subject-taking patterns of dual enrollment students and factors associated with successful outcomes.

The authors analyzed longitudinal records of 1,931 dual enrollees at a public, four-year institution in metro-Atlanta during and between the 2015–16 and 2018–19 academic years. They performed a descriptive analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling and regression analysis to examine the relationships between subject enrollment patterns, academic success and student demographics.

Female students fair better academically as dual enrollees than male students. Black students enroll in fewer and less varied courses. The same is true for students from more affluent neighborhoods, who may feel less need to take advantage of dual enrollment as a pathway to collegiate success. Neighborhood affluency does not appear related to dual enrollment success. Younger dual enrollment students, unsurprisingly complete more courses but do no better or worse academically in the average course. Some academic subjects are much more strongly related to the longevity of a student's dual enrollment than others.

There is limited published research on specific subject-taking patterns and success for dual enrollment students.

This paper aims to describe strategies to market unified communication products to the business market.

The paper highlights the key definition, benefits and the importance of unified communication products in Malaysia. At the end of the paper, various marketing strategies are suggested to market unified communication products to the business market.

The paper found that there is a need to use the right strategies to market unified communication products to the business market. The use of the right strategies will be able to attract this lucrative market to purchase unified communication products.

Results are limited to practitioners involved in technology‐based industries only.

The managerial implications suggest several market strategies to market unified communication products, with a great emphasis on the impact of technological means towards this business market.

Specific market approaches are proposed as a means to market unified communication products to the business market.