Slowly but surely, SMBs are increasingly turning to unified communications (UC) technologies to improve productivity and shorten response times of businesses-critical decisions, according to a new report by AMI-Partners.

Still, AMI says that SMBs are only just scratching the surface of UC, picking and choosing individual UC components rather than realizing its full potential as an integrated technology.

“Whether using Skype on their smartphones, or installing in-house IP-PBXs or using Web conferencing services, SMBs are clearly signaling their desire to utilize all available communications and collaboration solutions,” says AMI Partners VP Sanjeev Aggarwal in a statement. “However, SMBs are not familiar with the notion of unified communications, nor are they aware of the various platforms being cobbled together through acquisitions in the IT space.”

The fact that no one, fully integrated UC platform has emerged as a market leader is the single-biggest obstacle to widespread UC adoption at SMBs, the report said. AMI identified Cisco, Microsoft and “possibly” Google as the likeliest vendors to do so in the coming months and years.

Another reason SMBs may not be wholeheartedly jumping into UC, in my opinion, is the difficulty in determining ROI. At SMBs especially, justifying a quick ROI on any new technology is critical to getting management on board. ROI is even more important for a technology so potentially disruptive to traditional, deeply entrenched communications technologies, as UC is.

The ROI of UC, however elusive, is not unattainable, at least according to UC vendors. At VoiceCon in August, I attended a session by reps from INX, ShoreTel and Microsoft, all of whom had some good advice on calculating ROI of UC. The vendors said it is important to understand there are different ROI criteria for different types of workers and that the first step in evaluating UC is to quantify likely “hard” savings.

Check out the full post I wrote back then summarizing their recommendations here. And for those of you who’ve already launched an integrated UC solution, share the wealth. How did you determine likely ROI and, more importantly, were your forecasts on target?