Enterprise Fixed-Mobile Convergence:

Transcription

1 IP Telephony Contact Centers Mobility Services WHITE PAPER Enterprise Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Leveraging Wireless and IP Telephony August 2005

2 avaya.com Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Enterprise Challenges and Opportunities with Cellular and Fixed-Mobile Enterprise Networks... 1 The Avaya Nokia Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution... 2 Customer Scenarios... 5 Conclusions... 6 Footnotes... 6

3 avaya.com 1 Introduction Over the past five years, one of the trends that has had the most significant impact on our lives both personal and professional has been the advent of mobility and mobile communications. Mobility has become core to our everyday existence. Mobile devices are in use everywhere cell phones, blackberry type devices, PCs with wireless capability etc. This trend has been driven by several factors. Wireless services have become virtually ubiquitous. In addition, the pricing for these services has decreased dramatically, making it generally affordable and in many cases has replaced wired services. At the same time, technological advancements have enabled the introduction of new devices, increased the functionality of existing devices, all at reasonable prices. The result has been significant gains in business productivity, particularly for employees requiring extensive travel and interaction with customers who have increasingly been labeled Road Warriors. At the same time, there has been a movement within the enterprise market to migrate from disparate voice and data networks to converged IP-based networks. This has enabled the cost effective and efficient introduction and ongoing management of new applications and capabilities including certain types of mobility capabilities. Enterprises embracing convergence, have realized significant increases in productivity, while decreasing operational and management costs. Unfortunately, while both cellular mobility and enterprise IP Telephony have changed the way we communicate in a very positive manner, and resulted in significant value to the marketplace, they have done so independently. There has been little if any integration of these environments. As a result, enterprises have been unable to realize the full value and benefits made possible by worker mobility. This paper explores the challenges/problems stemming from the independent tracks of cellular mobility and IP Telephony and how Avaya and Nokia have joined together to bring to the market a solution that leverages the capabilities of both worlds in an integrated manner and bridges the gap between Wireless and Enterprise IP Telephony Enterprise Challenges and Opportunities with Cellular and Fixed-Mobile Enterprise Networks The cellular and PBX worlds have historically evolved with different constituents and needs and virtually independently. The world of cellular mobile communications was developed jointly by service providers and equipment manufacturers such as Motorola and Nokia with a focus on expanding the productivity of traveling sales professionals. Sales employees could easily justify the higher cost of cellular calls with higher revenue production by staying in touch with their customers. Product and service development was targeted at providing basic telephony capabilities with more emphasis on service coverage, voice and connection quality that would make for acceptable service levels. Over time improvements we made in the size of and functionality cellular phones along with service plans with costs that could attract larger numbers of subscribers. On a different but parallel track, the PBX/IP Telephony capabilities were targeted almost exclusively on providing enhanced telephony functionality to the internal world of business enterprise. As such, the driver for feature development was enabling more efficient and effective communication within the enterprise and cost effectively managing the network. Thus the advent of features such as abbreviated in-network and station dialing, conferencing, hold, transfer, and call accounting to name just a few.

4 COMMUNICATIONS AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS 2 This independent development and evolution has resulted in overlapping, although not integrated spheres of communication. Both the capabilities of mobility and enterprise PBX/IP Telephony based networks have become critical to effective business operations. In order to achieve that next level of productivity, however, businesses need these two environments to be well integrated. To accomplish this, significant issues and challenges must be addressed in order to leverage the capabilities and value inherent in both environments. Current integration between mobile phones and PBX phones in the enterprise environment is relatively new. When using a mobile phone alone, the user doesn t have access to PBX features such as call transfer, abbreviated dialing, conference calling and directory from the enterprise fixed-mobile network. Although the user may have some capability on the mobile phone itself such as conference calling it is basically a stand-alone feature of the phone and cellular network and does not work with the enterprise network. In addition, because the two networks are not integrated, a business employee will usually have two phone numbers a mobile number and an office number associated with a PBX two voic boxes, two phone directories, etc. The existence of multiple numbers requires those wanting to call the employee to make a decision as to the best number with which to reach the employee. If callers make the wrong choice, employees are called on their cell phone when they are in the office or messages are left at the office number when the employee could have been reached on the cell phone. This can lead to lost revenue opportunities when buyers can not easily reach their suppliers. This can also result in increased communication service costs, particularly with regard to international calling which often is priced at a premium level by cellular service providers. Multiple numbers and phones also mean multiple mailboxes for the employee to manage with twice the time required to retrieve and manage their messages. Since it is impractical to require employees to carry two cell phones one for business and one for personal use monthly bills often include both business and personal use. Businesses and their employees waste both time and money sorting out personal and business usage. While business people do not usually carry two telephones it is not unusual for them to carry a multitude of communication devices including, cell phones, PDAs, portable PCs, and wireless devices, plus power adaptors for each. According to a recent survey over 60% of employees carry more than two devices with them on most days. 1 Improved communication application integration could cut back on this communication baggage. The lack of integration also impacts business communications management and control. Enterprise level call accounting, which is a staple of effective business cost control and client billing for many industries, is not available with a cellular telephone, leaving management without an audit trail. This is particularly troublesome for professional services businesses as they can not track and bill back their clients for time spent on their mobile phones. The lack of call-recording capability on the mobile phone may restrict a financial services professional from conducting business on a cellular phone. The combination of these issues can have a major impact on enterprise efficiency and effectiveness. Employee availability is reduced, personal productivity diminished, management capabilities restricted and the ability to control costs limited. The Avaya Nokia Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution Avaya and Nokia, recognizing the gap and associated opportunity to provide new communications value, have joined together to deliver an innovative, easy to implement and use solution for converging fixed and mobile enterprise communications. This converged solution transparently extends business communications networks and functionality to Road Warriors, allowing them to be more accessible and productive while on the out of the office, and enabling the enterprise to retain intelligence and maintain control over its communications costs.

5 avaya.com 3 It is not surprising that Avaya and Nokia have partnered as they are both leaders in their respective markets. Avaya was the first to implement and deploy enterprise fixed-mobile convergence systems through their Extension to Cellular offering. They have one of the broadest portfolios of products supporting mobile workers with choices in devices and work modes. Avaya is also a global leader in converged IP-based enterprise networks. Nokia is a global leader in mobile devices and solutions. Both share the same goals to help make mobile workers more productive, processes more intelligent and customers more satisfied. The Avaya and Nokia Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution integrates several key components of the Avaya business communications applications portfolio with the Nokia business device portfolio. The Series 60 Platform seamlessly integrates The Avaya mobile capabilities to transform Symbian OS-based Series 60 mobile devices into virtual office phones by providing an interface to the powerful extension to cellular as well as other productivity and centralized call control features of Avaya Communication Manager. Avaya and Nokia have chosen to focus on the Series 60, which is the world s most adopted smartphone platform and is supported on the widest range of mobile services. Figure 1: Avaya Mobile for Series 60 on Nokia 6630 Handset This solution addresses the needs of the Road Warrior segment of the mobile workforce. The solution enables employees to utilize one business number and one voice mail box This makes it easier for the user to manage their communications accessibility. This can result in significant enhancement in personal productivity as a result of reduced time checking multiple mailboxes, redialing calls and connecting with colleagues and customers In addition, the solution enables users to access the full suite of telephony features inherent in the fixedmobile enterprise network that are not available on cellular services including: call-coverage for vacation and non-business hours, call transfer, abbreviated dialing, voic forwarding, multiple party conference calling, call mute and call hold. These office system features are utilized via an easy to use one-touch graphical user interface on the cellular phone. Users can access calls from either their PBX phone or mobile device, and switch between them as appropriate. Calls made from a mobile device will appear as if they are coming from their office number. This will enable receivers of the call, such as colleagues and clients, to easily recognize the caller and will also provide the caller with security in terms of where they may be calling from. These capabilities enable an enhanced level of employee availability resulting in fewer missed calls and business opportunities.

6 COMMUNICATIONS AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS 4 The Avaya Nokia fixed-mobile solution also enables business users to better separate their personal and business lives. They only need to have one device, with separate business and personal phone management profiles. The business profile can be turned on and off by users as appropriate. During non business hours, the cellular phone can operate as a full function cellular phone for their personal use. The solution also provides many valuable benefits for the IT department in managing the communications infrastructure. It enables the integration of the mobile device into the enterprise s business operations through a single server solution that has been built and tested for full interoperability. Calls made from the mobile device through the corporate network can be recorded and tracked just like a call from a wired desktop device. The solution enables significant cost reduction. Expensive international mobile calling expenses can be reduced as calls are routed for completion over the enterprise s IP network. In addition, since the mobile devices and associated services are all under the enterprise s control, favorable contracts with service providers can be negotiated which can reduce both service and equipment costs. Also, research shows that 60% of business mobile calls are made when workers are in the office. 2 The converged fixed-mobile solution with a single phone number allows those calls to be to be completed using a wired desk phone, thus saving mobile charges. This can result in an important cost reduction in mobile markets where the called party pays for the call. Let s take a look at the topology and an example of how the solution operates. Figure 2 depicts the Avaya Nokia Mobility Solution Topology. In this environment, the Nokia Series 60 phone functions as an off-pbx bridged extension. The Nokia phone makes, receives and transfers calls through the Avaya Communication Manager. Figure 2: The Avaya Nokia Mobility Solution In Operation

7 avaya.com 5 In this example Tom initiates a call on his Series 60 mobile device to Steve on extension his office telephone number. The call is then routed through the cellular carrier mobile network and through the PSTN connecting to the enterprise PBX consisting of Avaya Media Servers, Media Gateways and the Avaya Communication Manager. The Avaya Communication Manager then simultaneously rings Steve s desktop and mobile phone. Steve answers the call via his mobile phone, determines that Jane can provide the answer to Tom s issue and uses his mobile phone to transfer the call to Jane s office through the PBX. In this example, Tom was able to locate Steve, even though he was out of the office, simply by dialing his office extension. The entire process was transparent to all three participants, as if they were all sitting at their desks in their offices. Customer Scenarios The business value associated with the Avaya/Nokia Mobility Solution is best illustrated in the following customer scenarios: The first customer scenario involves an international consumer products company with major operations and multiple production and warehouse sites in the UK and the US. One major challenge faced by the company is the coordination of production and distribution for its global markets. Executives in charge of production and distribution require frequent interaction with their dispersed plant operations and their regional sales teams to both effectively plan and manage their production schedules across their global production facilities. They also need to meet the requirements of a dynamic marketplace including demanding retail chains. The executives had initially found that the use of cellular phones addressed their need to stay in constant communications with their operational and sales colleagues. While the cellular solution solved their need for connectivity during their frequent travels between operational sites, the cost of international long distance had made the initial solution very costly. Increased international cellular usage was becoming a cost headache for the telecommunication budget. The executives also experienced frequent frustrations with the limited functionality of cellular service in terms of arranging rapid multi-party conferences required to solve production and distribution issues. When the company s CIO learned about the Avaya new Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution, she was anxious to introduce the application to her executives. Suggesting a 90 day trial, she was able to get UK and US based executives to agree to try the new solution. Upon completion of the trial, she was able to report that the solution had exceeded both her and the participating executive s expectations and would become a permanent implementation. By utilizing the company s IP network that connected to all of its production and distribution sites to carry all of its international call traffic rather than using international cellular connections, the company was able to reduce its cellular carrier costs by over 500 percent. The participating executives were also very pleased with the new mobile functionally that they were now enjoying, particularly new conferencing and transfer capabilities. In the second scenario, an international financial firm s bond department was an early adopter of cellular service for its mobile employees. Underwriting and bringing to market new bond issues for its clients required an enormous level of coordination with other financial institutions and multiple internal operations personnel. Executives in the department often spent 8 to 10 hours on calls, even when they were traveling. Important objectives of both the bond department and the IT organization were to increase a bond manager s ability to manage their daily transactions while permitting full mobility.

8 COMMUNICATIONS AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS 6 When the financial service company heard about the new capabilities of the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Solution, they were anxious to apply the new application to their bond department. Issuing new Nokia phones equipped with the Avaya application to their bond managers, the IT department guided the managers through the new functionality available to them. Within weeks the bond managers were sending back excited feedback on the value of the new application. One manager related what had become an almost daily occurrence. Starting his day on a mobile phone with a call to his team on the progress of bond projects, the manager was able to engage the team with an easily set up conference and then continue to add and subtract parties on the call as he made his way into his office. Upon reaching the office, he easily picked up the ongoing call on his desk phone. He was able to reverse the transfer of the call to his mobile phone when driving to the airport to catch a flight to meet with the financial officers of the company for which he was setting up the bond issuance. The bond manager indicated that not only did he pick up at least one hour of increased productivity each day, but was able to increase his effectiveness in managing the delicate negotiations required in putting together bond deals insuring greater customer satisfaction and return business. These scenarios suggest that individual companies have specific business drivers and requirements that must be considered in implementing Fixed-Mobile Convergence solutions. Addressing company specific requirements will require an active exchange with an Avaya account team. This can result in the right solution for a company s advanced communications needs. Conclusions The fast paced world of business communication has been rapidly adopting the technologies of cellular service and IP Telephony as both have proven to increase employee productivity and increase business revenues. Yet as businesses have been utilizing these separate applications, they have discovered inherent challenges associated with creating overlaps in service, functionality, and usability. The need to integrate these applications into a seamless communications environment has emerged as a management priority. Avaya and Nokia have set out to meet this challenge with their joint development partnership and resulting Fixed-Mobile Converged Solution that leverages the strengths of mobile voice and enterprise IP Telephony into an integrated application. The Avaya Mobile for Series 60 solution enables enterprise communications managers to realize true enterprise enabled mobility for their Road Warrior professionals. For more information on how Avaya can take your enterprise from where it is to where it needs to be, contact your Avaya Client Executive or Authorized Avaya BusinessPartner, or visit us at Footnotes 1 Avaya 2005 Global Research Report: Working to Communicate Better in Business 2 Avaya 2005 Global Research Report: Working to Communicate Better in Business

9 About Avaya Avaya enables businesses to achieve superior results by designing, building and managing their communications infrastructure and solutions. For over one million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500, Avaya s embedded solutions help businesses enhance value, improve productivity and create competitive advantage by allowing people to be more productive and create more intelligent processes that satisfy customers. For businesses large and small, Avaya is a world leader in secure, reliable IP telephony systems, communications applications and full life-cycle services. Driving the convergence of embedded voice and data communications with business applications, Avaya is distinguished by its combination of comprehensive, world-class products and services. Avaya helps customers across the globe leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. COMMUNICATIONS AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS avaya.com 2005 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. Avaya and the Avaya Logo are trademarks of Avaya Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All trademarks identified by the, SM or TM are registered trademarks, service marks or trademarks, respectively, of Avaya Inc., with the exception of FORTUNE 500 which is a registered trademark of Time Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Printed in the U.S.A. 08/05 EF-LB2797