Unified Communication: The Backbone of the Modern Enterprise—and the Biggest Headache for IT

Unified Communications (UC) platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webex aren’t just tools; they’re the heartbeat of the modern enterprise. They drive collaboration, keep businesses connected, and are now as vital as electricity. But when they fail? Productivity nosedives, frustration soars, and IT helpdesks get overwhelmed.

The IT nightmare: UC-related helpdesk tickets

It’s no surprise that UC issues are the number one reason employees submit helpdesk tickets. Every dropped call, lagging video, or garbled audio isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a productivity killer. And let’s be honest: troubleshooting after the fact is like investigating a crime scene after the suspect has fled. The damage is done. The key is to prevent these issues before users even notice them.

Unfortunately, UC performance isn’t just about the platform itself. Countless factors come into play—network congestion, cloud service reliability, endpoint configurations, Zero Trust security protocols, and more. Monitoring tools that get their UC insights from vendor APIs aren’t enough anymore. IT teams need deep, integrated visibility across the entire environment—before, during, and after a call.

The future of UC monitoring: Moving from reactive to predictive

Enter Riverbed NPM+ Unified Communications Module, a game-changer in UC observability. Unlike legacy solutions that only analyze data post-call, Riverbed’s UC Module provides real-time insights across a wide range of VoIP, video, and collaboration solutions. It’s like giving IT teams a time machine—except instead of looking back, they can act before problems escalate.

Here’s what sets it apart:

• Real-Time UC Monitoring: Get instant visibility into inbound and outbound call quality down to the stream level with key metrics like packet loss, jitter, latency, and MOS scores.
• End-to-End Visibility: Because the UC Module pulls data from client and server endpoints, it removes visibility blind spots due to remote work, SaaS, and encrypted Zero Trust environments.
• Integrated Dashboards: A single-pane-of-glass view of voice and video performance that uniquely correlates data across devices, networks, and applications, to pinpoint root cause fast and reduce downtime.

Why IT teams need Riverbed UC monitoring

The Riverbed Unified Communications Module isn’t just about fixing problems, it’s about preventing them. Here’s how it transforms IT operations:

1. Enhance Visibility with Real-Time UC Monitoring

Riverbed captures UC performance metrics straight from endpoints, ensuring accurate data—even in encrypted Zero Trust environments or when using a UC-as-a -Service (UCaaS). With real-time visibility, IT can resolve issues while users are on a call, ensuring seamless collaboration—anywhere, anytime.​

2. Multi-Vendor Visibility

Business needs evolve, and so do communication platforms. Whether switching solutions or integrating a newly acquired company’s UC stack, having multi-vendor visibility ensures seamless performance monitoring and troubleshooting across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, and beyond—keeping collaboration uninterrupted.

3. Unmatched Insights Across Hybrid Work Environments

Most UC monitoring tools rely on vendor-provided APIs for after-the-call data (often significantly after!), but Riverbed goes deeper by gathering both user experience and network data from endpoints. This means IT teams can:

• Diagnose voice and video issues for remote employees
• Track SaaS performance without relying on cloud-provider data
• Monitor UC traffic in Zero Trust environments without breaking encryption

4. Simplify IT Operations with Unified Dashboards

Nobody needs another standalone tool that creates operational silos. Riverbed integrates UC monitoring within existing IT workflows, offering intuitive dashboards that allow teams to:

• View real-time and historical performance metrics
• Drill down into specific users, devices, or sessions
• Expedite root cause identification across the entire IT ecosystem

5. Reduce Operational Overhead with Seamless Deployment

Managing multiple agents across endpoints is a headache. The NPM+ UC Module is delivered effortlessly using Riverbed Unified Agent, a single agent management solution for deploying, updating, and managing agent modules. This provides a scalable solution that automatically updates and integrates with other existing network observability and end user experience modules.

Deliver flawless UC experiences with Riverbed

The modern workplace depends on Unified Communications. IT teams must ensure these platforms perform flawlessly—every time, for every user, in every location. The days of reactive troubleshooting are over.

IT leaders evaluating UC monitoring solutions should look for more than just basic performance metrics. Make sure you’re getting real-time, multi-vendor visibility with end-to-end monitoring across user experience, networks, and devices. With the Riverbed NPM+ UC Module, organizations can shift from firefighting to foresight, from reactive to predictive, and from frustrated users to seamless collaboration.

It’s time to take control of your collaboration tool performance. Because in today’s digital world, a bad call isn’t just a tech issue; it’s a business problem. Learn more about Riverbed’s Unified Communications Module today.