The number of mobile workers worldwide continues to grow
rapidly. In the US alone, this number is expected to reach 103
million by 2008, comprising a staggering 72% of the total
workforce, according to a report by InStat MDR in 2004.
This represents a huge communications requirement for businesses to
leverage voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as an enabler to
support this mobile workforce, and a huge opportunity for
suppliers. Before both parties rush in, it is important to take a
step back and look at what is really required by businesses and
what they realistically expect to achieve.
To better understand the needs of mobile workers and the
organisations that employ them, in the autumn of 2004, Avaya
commissioned in-depth global research to examine the impact of
mobility on communication and working practices.
The survey found that workstyle mobility fits into one of four
categories:
- Traditional workers who spend most of the time at their office
desktop
- Workers who use a virtual or home office
- Enterprise nomadic workers who may stay on site but spend
little time at their desks or who may work in public hotspots
- Road warriors who spend most of their time moving between
locations.
Although workers may have a dominant work mode, many will move
into different modes throughout the day. It therefore seems
sensible to classify mobile workers as those who are not working at
their desktops most of the time.
For such workers, there is an overwhelming demand for the same
communication capabilities to be available to them as they move
from one mode to another.
However, Avaya's research highlighted another key issue: a conflict
is evident between the business' desire to give employees
additional flexibility in their work arrangements to increase their
job satisfaction and company loyalty, and the need to retain
control over employees.
Within an organisation, IT directors should be looking to provide a
two-fold strategy that extends mobility for employees while
centralising control for the IT department. All of this can be
achieved by gaining economies of scale from VoIP to reduce costs
and gain competitive advantage by adding mobile communication
applications.
As a result, organisations can gain central and consistent
management policies for their communication infrastructure, such as
a record of all calls, regardless of whether they were made from
the office or from a mobile device. Not only will this make
communication easier to manage within organisations, but it will
also give a complete and accurate view from which to manage costs
better.
Employees need to be as productive as possible regardless of their
location or the type of mobile worker they are. As these
requirements are still nascent, mobility products offered need to
be highly flexible and adaptive. A simple way of doing this is to
choose a supplier that bases its solutions on open source code that
will be available to third parties to develop future
applications.
Security is another key concern for both users and the IT director.
As devices multiply, so do network access vulnerabilities. Mobile
software products will soon all be IP-based. When data and voice
worlds coincide, security becomes even more complex and ensuring
your mobile and fixed communication architecture is secure and your
security policies are updated continually is vital to the existence
of every organisation.
With a clear VoIP and mobility strategy in place, businesses can
extend communication services from the office desktop to mobile
workers, delivering these capabilities using IP telephony and a
variety of applications such as extensions to mobiles, wireless and
speech access. Mobile workers can be reached through their "one
number" communication services on their preferred device, reducing
the likelihood of missed calls.
Avaya believes businesses can achieve an estimated 15% increase in
personal productivity through smarter communication and a 30% cost
saving by carrying more calls over the corporate network with VoIP.
Also, these technologies can help businesses to overcome the
challenge of retaining control of their communication and work
towards enterprise-enabled mobility.
Buddie Ceronie is vice-president for Avaya in the UK, Ireland
and Southern Africa
Learn more at the VoIP for Business
conference
VoIP for Business is an event designed to help IT managers and
business executives understand voice over IP technology and build
the business case for implementation. It takes place on 1-2 June at
the Olympia Conference Centre in London.
The event will feature a "case study theatre" in which leading
independent experts and user organisations that have adopted VoIP
share their insights. Keynote sessions will be presented by
analysts from Ovum and Deloitte.
There will also be technical presentations from VoIP hardware,
software and services suppliers.
More information
www.voipforbusiness.co.uk