Joe O’Halloran sees what you can expect to gain from a
single converged network for your voice, video and data
requirements
Not so long ago, you didn’t have much choice – your IT and
communications requirements were acquired, implemented and
aintained very separately. Technological limitations meant that you
had to use distinct separate circuits for each set of applications,
such as voice and data.
These days you have choice. A lot of choice. The traditional
methods, while technically proficient and delivering the service
that you needed, were not an efficient way of utilising your
networks, and were similarly likely not to have been
cost-effective.
The onset of widely available, highspeed, always-on internet
protocol (IP) networks has enabled companies like yours to break
free of factors limiting how your services were obtained. Instead
of separate services (each with their own billing structure as
well), IP-based networks allow you to use a single unified network
infrastructure on which to base all of your data and voice (and
even video) requirements.
And this network adheres to an almost universally recognised and
adopted standard and can be constructed, operated and aintained
extremely cost-effectively.
Change agent for business
Put simply, IP and IP networks simplify your communication and
information requirements. A converged, single IP infrastructure
will very likely make extremely good technical and financial sense,
making it possible to have access to an increased number of
applications.
More importantly, IP can be a change agent for your business as
a whole, making it punch way above its weight.
Not surprisingly, IP is increasingly being taken up by companies
like yours.
Ivor Kendall, general manager for IP Infrastructure at BT says,
“IP is on the radar of SMEs these days. IP simplifies the
communication and information needs of SMEs. It can manage more
efficiently the services people require to do their jobs and it
provides additional flexibility to enhance communication and
get
access to information where they need it. Some [SMEs] use IP as a
lever to bring about a level to playing field when competing with
larger companies.
The perception of IP was that it was about the internet; now
it’s about the services it can deliver, with the internet being
just one.”
Such services are based on having just one platform for your
company to implement your business applications and services almost
regardless of location.
That is to say all that you need to do is have access to an
internet connection, preferably a broadband one. And with this
connection the business advantages, whether in the office or
outside, can be huge. Just imagine the productivity gains from
having a single point of access for all of your emails, voicemails,
faxes and text and multimedia messages. This is precisely what IP
networks can deliver, cost-effectively, to your business.
Furthermore, your IP network will allow you to set up profiles
and actions according to the importance of the message or its
sender. For example, you could set up a priority whereby certain
messages, regardless of their origin and form, get through to you,
and other data, equally form-independent, can be stored
automatically.
What such capabilities do is make flexible working much more
feasible – and an increasing number of people are aiming to do
this, thanks to the Government’s Flexible Working Initiative.
Taking the concept one stage further, it is now possible to set up
cost effective, real-time collaborative conferences utilising a
variety of media using one integrated IP environment.
Mobile working in particular has consistently thrown up
challenges, and there are, in truth, a number of such issues ahead
for you if you decide to integrate mobility within an IP
infrastructure.
These challenges are not just technical ones; there is also the
task of integrating the mobility technology with your business
practices.
Once integration has been achieved, imagine the benefits your
sales force could gain from being able to obtain live customer data
anywhere in the field. And imagine what your engineers could do if
they could look at maintenance records and drawings anywhere.
Even though many would associate it with large companies,
business continuity can be realised cost-effectively by companies
such as yours by using the economies of scale and robustness of IP
networks. It’s relatively straightforward to set up online data
back-up using your IP network, with essential data mirrored to disk
at a remote location.
The IP solution – with the necessary IP storage and security
mechanisms – will provide far easier access to this data than would
the use of offline media in special vaults. The key is that
IP-based business continuity solutions do not have to place an
undue burden on your bottom line.
But to take advantage of such features and functionality it is
imperative that you look strategically at the whole issue of
IP.
You have to consider a business continuity plan, including
degrees of priority of data, and you have to consider which staff
can work flexibly and what technologies are appropriate to them to
do their jobs within your budget requirements. You need to pay
attention to what IP-based technology your staff will be equipped
with and whether different staff use different genres of
product.
Unfortunately, strategic thinking has been something of an
Achilles heel for SMEs. In a survey by Computer Weekly, in
association with BT, only 55% of SMEs said that they had a formal
strategy for IT and communications.
While this is an improvement compared with a similar survey in
September 2003 which found that just under half of SMEs had a
formal strategy, it is still a cause for concern.
If you are one of the 45% of businesses with no formal IT and
communications strategy, then you will struggle to get the benefits
that IP can deliver. It is almost inevitable that you will not be
able to effectively deploy any business critical application
system, regardless of what technological function it may offer, nor
will you get value for your investment.
Explains BT’s Ivor Kendall: “Without a strategy you may spend
money in one area without realising the benefits in others; it
just becomes a point purchase. With a strategy you see how the
spend contributes to your whole solution.”
IP telephony – which includes the most commonly known
application of voice services using IP technology, voice over IP
(VoIP) – is probably the best example of an application whose
effective running depends on strategic thinking. It may be tempting
for companies like yours to see the apparent benefits of replacing
traditional PBX technology with IP-based voice networks. Yet such
benefits of cost and performance, intuitiveness and ubiquity, will
not be realised without being dealt with strategically.
The Computer Weekly survey also points out that those companies
with strategies looking at voice services over IP have better
managed networks overall.
Hotspot technology
A step further is IP-based technology that will deliver voice
services using commonly available hotspot technology.
Products are already commercially available that allow seamless
data transfer across WiFi and GPRS/3G mobile phone network
technologies.
Once a guaranteed quality of service is delivered, and standards
evolve, such services will be more commonplace. But when buying
such services, you should carefully consider who you will be
dealing with. With all IP networks, the key issues are ubiquity of
coverage,
security, quality of service, reliability, redundancy, guaranteed
line power across the network and ease of use.
Basing your business communications on IP-based networks will
let you have, according to Kendall “a synergy of solutions”. He
says: “It’s the synergy of having an overall strategy that helps
you save money on [what you] spend and which [can be utilised] for
the most benefit. It’s important for SMEs to realise how to use a
strategy to be important players in the digital economy.”
The fundamental message is that the usefulness of IP of stands
or falls on how you plan the technology to align itself with your
business objectives. Once you’re sure that you have such a strategy
in place, then, and only then, will you reap the benefits.