Even if it were less expensive, unified messaging doesn't make sense for all organizations.

Your probably don't need to consider unified messaging if

• not everybody at your company has a computer

• voice mail messages are the primary way of communicating messages

• receiving faxes isn't crucial

• your staff spends most of the time in the office

But if you or your employees are road warriors that receive a flood of different types of critical messages, or you value the simplicity of having all messages in one central place, you could probably benefit from unified messaging.

The good news is that the services are now very affordable -- and flexible enough to fit the different needs of different users.