As more and more enterprises expand their businesses, their telecom needs are becoming more complex. Companies are increasingly migrating to IP-based networks, adopting unified communications platforms and implementing video conferencing solutions. At the recent “Telecom for Large Enterprises” conference organised by tele.net, telecom operators and vendors spoke about the innovative solutions being launched to service the emerging demands…
Pranesh Babu
Senior Vice-President, Networks and Services Engineering, Sify Technologies
Unified communications
Unified communications enables any device or application, ranging from desk phones and hand phones to video, messaging, contact centre, web presence and web conference, to be used/accessed from any place through a unified user interface.
Internet protocol (IP) telephony, which can cater to various end-points enabling both voice and video communications, is the key driver of unified communications. It enables infrastructure to span across geographies by facilitating integration with intranet/internet for home/roaming users. The ability to integrate with application servers enables business application integration.
Unified communications includes the following components:
Unified communications covers audio, video and web conferencing, broadcasting, seamless audio/video switching, instant messenger and presence, and communications-enabled business processes (integrated with customer relationship management, workflow, contact centre, etc.)
An enterprise can either have open technology and standards for unified communications or it can have a centralised and distributed architecture with centralised control. Businesses can opt for either a fixed cost with unlimited usage or a variable cost dependent on usage.
For large enterprises and IT/Itenabled service companies having multiple locations and mobile employees, unified communications can be of great use. It helps unify all offices with a common directory and enables employees to search for skilled personnel available online. It facilitates multi-location meetings.
For employees of manufacturing companies who need the communications integrated with business processes, unified communications provides the ability to simultaneously view the same business data while communicating. It also helps the companies expand enterprise communications to the suppliers and vendors.
According to a CMB research paper published in 2008, an organisation uses, on an average, 5.4 types of communication devices and 4.7 types of communication applications. Forty-three per cent of organisations indicated that at least 20 per cent of their employees travel once a month or more. Such employees have to use multiple methods to communicate with their co-workers. But about 40 per cent are unable to do so at the first go on a daily basis, which ultimately results in project delays and missed deadlines.
The paper further states that employees working in organisations that have a unified communications platform save up to 32 minutes per day by reaching the other workers at the first attempt. On an average, 40 minutes of travel time is saved through the use of softphones. In cost terms, $1,727 is saved per month on cellphone expenses and long distance calls. Also, $1,700 per month is saved on travel costs.
How will the unified communications evolve in the future? Enterprises can add unified communications to their current communications infrastructure as most of the unified communications platform can be backward integrated with third-party communications infrastructure. Enterprises also have an option to migrate only those people onto the unified platform who need it. Unified platform users and legacy communication infrastructure users can communicate with each other like before.
Sify’s unified communications portfolio comprises contact centres, hosted/ managed messaging platforms, hosted/ managed collaboration suites, hosted IP centrex, hosted/managed IP-PBX and web conferencing solutions.
Ritesh Jayswal
Director,Industry Solutions,Avaya India
The promise of IP
The IP telephony wave started a decade ago with a very simple voice over IP (VOIP) offering. The industry moved on to firm IP telephony around 2005, when the number of IP lines sold globally was greater than the number of time division multiplexing lines. The main difference between VOIP and IP telephony is that the latter offers many more applications.These include, for instance, home agents, unified communication and other communication-enabled business processes. The actual value of communications in an enterprise can be leveraged only when it is intergrated to the business applications.
Enterprises face a large number of chalPranesh Babu Senior Vice-President, Networks and Services Engineering, Sify Technologies Ritesh Jayswal Director, Industry Solutions, Avaya India lenges while deploying communications infrastructure, especially when they are expanding rapidly. Separate and non-integrated applications create information and communication silos, leading to disparate and replicated resources across the enterprise. Cutting down costs is the biggest concern as the networks require significant investment (high acquisition and maintenance costs and long deployment periods).Further, an enterprise has to make sure that the current technologies are not binding and that the network infrastructure is able to adopt new technologies.
An IP network simplifies a distributed enterprise’s communications system. It enables centralised call control, common dial plan and consolidation of application servers. IP telephony centralises administration/management of office and mobile staff. The common features/applications can be easily and cost effectively extended throughout the enterprise by using IP.These networks increase the chances of connecting to a mobile co-worker.
There are three key foundations of IP telephony. First, it has a modular and open standards-based architecture. Therefore, all vendors are trying to make sure that voice and data on the IP network is all encrypted.Second, IP telephony has a multi-vendor architecture ?? data networks, voice networks, business applications, desktop vendors, etc. Third, enterprises do not have to do away with the entire existing network to implement IP technology. They can transition smoothly to IP at a path, pace and choice of the enterprise while leveraging existing investments.
In the transition from IP telephony to business-oriented telephony, an essential role is played by session initiation protocol. It is one of the first key interoperable protocols that helps integrating various systems using an open and standardsbased architecture. It also gives information about which employees are connected to the network. The most important feature is that it supports multimedia and is broadband/3G ready.
Today, most organisations offer applications and services like unified communications, contact centres, email, conferencing, collaboration, instant messaging, etc.What IP telephony does is that it enables integration between all the communication channels ?? creating a foundation for a true unified communications experience.In today’s turbulent economic conditions, unified communications can optimise costs for the enterprise, increase customer satisfaction and help make its business processes efficient.
In a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on the total economic impact of Avaya’s IP telephony solutions within a branch environment, it was found that the solutions reduced telephony and long distance costs by 35 per cent, reduced software maintenance costs by 20 per cent, and enhanced productivity by 30 per cent. Further, they decreased support costs by 40 per cent through reduced onsite technical support, time to implement MAC and FTE staff.
Yugal Sharma
Regional Director, India and SAARC, Polycom
Conferencing options and solutions
With global companies entering local markets, the competition is heating up.As a result, there is increasing pressure on all companies to deliver superior results.Quantum leaps in productivity and agility are required, which can only be achieved by a “high workplace”. A high workplace is one that enables fast communication and decision making, leads to improved agility and ability to respond, leverages the worker knowledge base and de-serialises the workforce.
Video conferencing is now seen as having a direct effect on lowering a company’s carbon footprint. According to a Gartner report, the transition to high definition solutions is one of the driving factors behind the 20-30 per cent annual growth predicted for the global video conferencing market during the next couple of years. According to another Gartner study, “Collaboration technology is once again a top 10 CIO budget priority for the third year in a row.”
Video conferencing facilitates team integration, partner and supply chain management, training and distance learning, go-to-market, development offshoring, interviewing and recruiting, global sustainability, telemedicine, first/emergency response, telejustice, educational classroom and a lot more.
Conferencing has evolved from reserved audio conferencing to on-demand collaboration. According to a Wainhouse CSP SpotCheck survey, about 78 per cent of all conferencing is audio conferencing with the remaining being video and web conferencing. The future is unified conferencing, which is presence based.
Polycom’s collaboration solutions include a wide suite of products for telepresence, conference infrastructure and applications, and voice services. In the telepresence space, it offers HDX (personal and group experience), TPX (telepresence experience) and RPX (immersive experience).
Polycom’s video conferencing solution, VC2, benefits IT administrators in several ways. Video can be used as an application on the IP network. The solution is highly scalable and secure, and easy to deploy because it integrates with core applications and processes. It benefits the organisations’ partners too as it enhances offerings without requiring direct development/investment by the partner. It facilitates customer reach through established accounts and joint marketing campaigns.
