SME Approach To Unified Communications: Aggressive Or Passive?

Unified Communications (UC) is turning out to be a new buzz phrase with a lot of large organisations worldwide making strategic moves to adopt UC technologies. There is a move towards converging communications with either desktops, business processes (SAP, Oracle) and IP, or the likes of combining voice and data into a single network. Expanding at 38 percent annually, IDC estimates unified communications will reach $17 billion by 2011, representing the next significant frontier for technology growth.

A research on European SMEs by Skype in 2007 uncovered a number of perceived benefits of using UC. It included saving money by reducing the need for travel, working smarter and increasing productivity, improvement in the quality of business communication both internally and externally with clients and business partners around the world.

Another research by EVUA targeting the same region in 2007 outlined SME attitudes towards UC. It pointed out low level of awareness, tactical rather than strategic buying decision, hosted and managed deployment type, single vendor and high mobile integration. The report suggested that SMEs were focused on short-term gains motivated by improving a particular business process, like CRM. It also reported that they seek simple and easy to manage solutions.

Many Possibilities

These findings seem largely relevant to India as well. In terms of trends, IP based systems like SIP, IP PBX and telephony systems are gaining ground. Vendors are putting in a lot of research and development into this area and aggressively launching various products to suit market needs. There is a range of products offered, some of which are specifically tailored to SME needs.

There’s software by various vendors that enables employees to remain connected and share information with peers using e-mail, instant message and video conferencing in an easier and cost effective manner. Others offer IP-based features including IP telephony on a local wireless network, PC-based attendant console, IP network interface, and screen-based operator.

Solutions like converged IP telephony that improve service reliability, enable security for VoIP and simplify deployment and management are also available. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai has adopted Proactive Voice Quality Management, which provides real time proactive notification and problem resolution without end user involvement or awareness.

Tools for performance measurement and analysis are also necessary for efficiency. Support products that reports about instant messaging, Web conferencing, and voice calls, rules and workflow controls to format and monitor changes to personal information in active directory are offered by various vendors.

All these products fulfill the SME need of simplicity and short term efficiency; however their long-term prowess is yet to be proved, since the product category itself is in the growth stage of the product life cycle. For SMEs, there is the advantage of lack of legacy systems, and starting out by adopting latest IP-based products. CISCO has announced a strategy of targeting companies which have a clean slate and are ready to adopt newer technologies. Such a focus appears to be exactly in line with what’s ideal for SMEs. It is essential to spend some time on evaluating various options before deciding on the right vendor.

Open Source

A lot of support is seen towards the view that UC must be open source. Mohit Rampal, country manager, SAARC, 3Com feels that customers are tired of proprietary vendor lock-in, and organisations should look to partner with vendors, who embrace standards as well as innovations, as these comprise the foundation on which companies can build business-enhancing solutions. He explains that despite being a standard, SIP implementations do vary. Some vendors offer SIP interoperability as an interface into their own non-SIP telephony systems.

Another approach is using standard SIP among end-points such as IP phones, video cameras, call controllers and gateways to the public network. According to James Foy, CEO, Aspect Software, “Essentially it levels the playing field. When companies are switched on SIP it means it’s easier for us to penetrate their account.” He pegs mobility as the futuristic factor, enabled by SIP, which will erase the need for employees to be at their desk.

While open source is definitely a cost-friendly option for SMEs to explore, support and security has to be purchased. Foy states that the important thing about open source is that it takes a while to pick up momentum and to be universally adopted. “Open source needs to be blessed by a powerful player in the industry. The other thing is because it’s open source, there is no licence cost. There is support cost, but you can buy support from vendors such as us. If Aspect implements a solution or a source code that includes IP PBX, then we also provide the support,” he said. It may be an option to consider, however evaluating vendors that provide support is again a critical factor.

Strategising Right

The age-old dilemma of SMEs has been investing in the right products at the right time, and allocating their funds among a wide array of needs that demand a share of the budget. There is a need to be futuristic, but what factors should they focus on while planning their UC strategy?

According to Peter Alexander, VP - Worldwide Business Marketing, Cisco, it begins with a strategy and a roadmap for adoption, “You cannot consume everything at one time. Building an intelligent network with the kind of services that allow you to layer things on top easily, starting with the foundation of the Ethernet out of varying speeds, effectively routed with things like quality service and of course a high degree of security, gives you that intelligent foundation to be able to have a wireless add-on.”

Thus, deciding on their short-term and long-term goals will help decide on whether open source or licenced software is better for them, but in light of the evolving market scenario, a wait-and-watch policy seems to be a good thing to adopt as well.