Unified Communications What Works and What Doesn’t Kim Hamilton Strategic Accounts Manager
Mar 27, 2015
Unified Communications
What Works and What Doesn’t
Kim HamiltonStrategic Accounts Manager
Unified CommunicationsWhat is it? • Voice, video, data & internet• Voicemail, email & instant messaging• Audio, web & video conferencing• Presence
– see who is available or not• Collaboration and application sharing
– team spaces, sharing of files and desktops
• Centralized Control and Management– Available to all users in any
location
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 3
Unified CommunicationsWhere is it going?
• Standards-based software
• Integration
• Collaboration
• Worker mobility
• Need for business continuity
• Network complexity
• Reliance on hosted / managed communications
Increased Decreased
• Proprietary hardware
• Multiple disparate systems and applications across the enterprise
• Distributed communication models
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New Paradigms
• Over 25 percent of small to mid-sized enterprises have/or are rolling out unified communications. Another 57% are piloting UC.
• Enterprises are embracing virtualization, models — SaaS,
• Hosted VoIP market will increase from $375 million in 2006 to $3.2 billion in 2011.
• Wireline handsets will increasingly become historical relics facing a similar fate as fax machines and ashtrays.
• Wireless and soft phone functionality will be mainstream by 2010.
Source: Gartner, Inc. and Forrester Research
Unified CommunicationsBenefits
• Increased productivity• Less phone tag, more communication• Simplifies and speeds up communication• Use the most appropriate communications tool
– Answer a voice mail with an email,
– Or, respond to an email with a voice call with one click
• All users on one platform– Send a blast voicemail to all employees
• Overcome geography issues
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 5
Unified CommunicationsHow to get there
Do-it-yourself
• Buy, install and manage the hardware, software and services required
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)
• Outsource the complexity to a communications service provider
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Hybrid: Hire third party to manage your network
Do-It-Yourself Unified Communications
Advantages
• You control your network• Add features on your
schedule• Integrate with proprietary
business applications
Disadvantages
• Complexity• Not likely a skill set your IT
staff now has• Capital intensive• Expensive and complex
management• Difficult to predict costs• Disaster recovery is costly• Obsolescence risk
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 7
Unified Communications as a Service
Advantages
• Capital avoidance• Guaranteed voice quality,
network availability and security
• Business continuity and geographic redundancy
• All locations nationwide have the same services
• No maintenance, upgrades or management
Disadvantages
• Dependant on one or two vendors
• Not in direct control of feature roll-out
• Limited customization
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 9
Key Drivers of UCaaS Adoption
• Technology management- Rated #1 benefit by SMBs
• Improved productivity & collaboration• Technology risk avoidance• Capital avoidance• Economies of scaling• Business continuity
Source: Gartner, Inc. and Forrester Research
UCaaS
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UCaaS Drivers#1: Technology Management
• Service Provider:
- Does the complex integration
- Manages the phones, LAN/WAN, QoS and carrier-grade network
- Handles problem resolution and user support
- Leverage best-of-breed providers like Cisco, Microsoft and Nortel
• Internally supported unified communications too complex and expensive
UCaaS
Source: Gartner, Inc. and Forrester Research
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 11
UCaaS Drivers#2: Improved Productivity & Collaboration
• Ties geographically distributed offices together
• Integrates and centralizes communications
• Provides insight into activities of distributed workforce
• Streamlines communications, helping employees respond to customers more quickly
• Improved reaction time to dynamic market events
UCaaS
UCaaS Presence provides insight into activities for dispersed employees.
UCaas facilitates collaboration and real-time sharing of information.
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 12
UCaaS Drivers#3: Technology Risk Avoidance
• You don’t own anything• Service Provider takes all the
risk of technology obsolescence
• “Wireline handsets will increasingly become historical relics facing a similar fate as fax machines and ashtrays.”
• “Enterprises should therefore purchase only basic wireline handsets [or lease them], given that Wireless and/or softphone replacements will become mainstream by 2010.”
With UCaaS, firms lease handsets & softphones, eliminating risk of obsolescence.
Source: Gartner, Inc.
UCaaS
Source: Gartner, Inc.
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 13
UCaaS Drivers#4: Capital Avoidance
• No upfront capital expense.
• Pay for only what you use now.
• Predictable monthly expense.
UCaaS
“CaaS.. users benefit from a predictable cost structure that relieves
them from supporting an internal VoIP and UC team. [Firms] benefit
from a flexible contract arrangement that enables them to add and
subtract end-points on an as-needed basis. And this does not factor in
the stronger customer service and the more flexible contract terms.”
Source: Gartner, Inc.
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 14
UCaaS Drivers#5: Benefit from Economies of Scale
• Robust and resilient data center. Includes backup power, geographic and physical redundancy, fire suppression, 24/7 physical and IT security.
• Economical. The expense of building and supporting UCaaS is equally shared across many firms.
• Greener. Reduces power consumption demands.
• Faster and more economical deployment. New locations and features don’t require the installation of a whole new platform.
UCaaS
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 15
UCaaS Drivers#6: Business Continuity• Unlike a premises-based PBX,
there’s no single point of failure
• Hardened carrier-grade sites
• Resilient IP network with many points of egress and access
• Premises-based equipment redundancy (routers and LAN switches) and WAN failover
• Geographically diverse data centers
• Users can access UC from anywhere they have internet access
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 16
Case Study: Global Law Firm
• 11 locations,1,800 employees, 2,600 handsets• Considered the world’s largest hosted UCaaS
deployment• Conducted extensive UC research• Came to the realization that UCaaS was best
approach• Solution includes desktop phones, soft phones,
collaboration, unified messaging, conferencing, real-time presence, unified dialing plans, ACD, customized business continuity plan, etc.
Business Highlights:
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 17
Case Study: Financial Services Firm
• 100+ employees at 8 U.S. locations• Wanted standardized dialing and better collaboration
between locations• Required business continuity strategy and Sarbanes-
Oxley compliance• Needed uninterrupted voice and data communications• Needed flexibility for future growth• Solution includes converged desktop and soft phones,
collaboration, file sharing, Web conferencing, real-time presence, business continuity.
Business Highlights:
© 2008 CYPRESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 18
About Cypress Communications
• 20+ years of experience managing enterprise communications
• Over 6,500 customers and 65,000 handsets in 29 major markets
• Over 6,000 unified communication seats installed
• Leading in-building communications provider with 800+ Cypress-powered office buildings.
• Operates nationwide private network optimized for VoIP and Unified Communications
2007 Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation Award
for Telecom Business Continuity
2007 Unified Communications Product of the
Year
2008 Von Magazine Innovator Award
C4 IP Communications
Cypress helps businesses to effectively connect, communicate, collaborate and continue by managing their phone, voice, data and Internet and providing advanced IP communication features and services.
CONNECTCONNECT COMMUNICATECOMMUNICATE
COLLABORATECOLLABORATE CONTINUECONTINUE
CONNECTCONNECT
C4 IP Communications
CONTINUE
COMMUNICATE
COLLABORATE
connect
Connect to Cypress’ private IP network for exceptional call quality and high-speed data transfer.
– Provides access to all communication services
– Don’t purchase separately
– Built into the solution:• Local• Long Distance• International (usage charges apply)• Internet Access
C4 IP Communications
CONNECT
COMMUNICATECOMMUNICATE
COLLABORATE
CONTINUE
Enterprise-Grade PBX Features 4-digit dialing Account Codes One-Button Transfer
Hunt Groups Receptionist Handsets Shared Call Appearances
Advanced IP Phones Multiple phone types to
match user needs Bluetooth integration
communicate
Unified messaging Synchronize voicemail and email
Communicate with enterprise-grade PBX features, IP phones and unified messaging.
CONNECT
COMMUNICATE
COLLABORATECOLLABORATE
CONTINUE
collaborate
C4 IP Communications
Collaborate with anyone, anytime, anywhere. Transform your Microsoft Outlook® into a complete collaboration center.
Outlook integration
CommunicationsToolbar
Real-Time Presence
Audio/Web/Video Conferencing
C4 IP Communications
CONNECT
COMMUNICATE
COLLABORATE
CONTINUECONTINUE
continue
• Business Continuity is more secure under a Cypress.– Network and circuit diversity– Equipment redundancy and WAN failover– Geographically diverse data centers – No single point of failure– Customized for your needs
• Continue to communicate– anywhere, anytime
– Make and receive calls– Get voicemail– Communicate using any
Internet connection– Java-based soft client
Continue business-as-usual in the face of any situation.
C4 IP Network—Reliability, Survivability, Redundancy and Quality of Service
Private nationwide IP-based voice network engineered for 99.999% availability
Cypress C4 IP Core Switching Platforms
CS2000:
Carrier-grade softswitch
Call control for IP phones
Enterprise-grade PBX features
MCS5200:
Multimedia user experience
Softphone call control Web and video
collaboration & conferencing
File sharing Chat Real-time presence Functions:
Unified Messaging Auto Attendant
Media Gateway
Cypress manages: Equipment—Routers, LAN Switches and UPS
Devices Version releases, patches and upgrades Desktop IP phones Voice LAN
Cypress can also manage: Data LAN Premise-based Firewall Private Data Networks
Remote Worker
DS3
Bundled T1s T1 Unmanaged Cable or DSL
Cypress C4 Customer Configuration Example
Cypress Private Network
PSTN
Internet
IP Unity
CS 2000
Cypress Voice & Data LAN• Cisco Router• Cisco Switch• UPS
HQ Location100 Phones
Branch Office 150 Phones
Cypress Voice & Data LAN• Cisco Router• Cisco Switch• UPS
Cypress Voice & Data LAN• Cisco Router• Cisco Switch• UPS
Branch Office 215 Phones
MCS5200
6,500 businesses with 65,000 employees are more productive under a Cypress.
You can be too.
Kimberly HamiltonStrategic Account Manager
Cypress Communications
Four Piedmont Center, Suite 600 Atlanta, GA 30305 Phone: (404) [email protected]