Many executives feel like they aren’t getting sufficient value from their office phone systems. PBX maintenance prices keep going up, even as the system is used less and less. Today’s workforce relies on mobile phones and instant messaging as much as the office phone system.
To make matters worse, office phone systems aren’t keeping pace with innovation and seem out of date in the age of the Internet. Executives see consumers using services like Vonage for low-cost residential voice and wonder why they can’t exploit VoIP services for teleworkers. They see workers using Skype to keep in touch with family members when travelling abroad and wonder why they can’t leverage Internet telephony for nomadic workers. They see people using mobile phones to conduct business at any place at any time and wonder why cell phones can’t be incorporated into the company phone system. How can the corporate phone system absorb all these technologies in a transparent and cost-effective manner?
IT managers want to modernize their telecommunications infrastructures, but they just can’t justify the hefty price tag. PBX vendors do offer solutions to some of these challenges, but how future-proof and cost-effective are they? Upgrading a legacy PBX to support mobility features or Internet services can be cost-prohibitive. You have to purchase adjunct hardware, upgrade your PBX software, and shell out additional software licenses and support fees. In many cases an upgrade path may not even be available for your system. Bringing in a new IP PBX isn’t any more palatable when you add up the total cost of equipment, installation, network infrastructure improvements, and obsolete equipment disposal.
IT managers also want to add interactive communications to business processes, but is the PBX really the right place to implement business logic? Traditional PBX CTI (computer telephony integration) interfaces are designed to control telephones attached to a PBX. But today’s information workers aren’t tethered to a PBX. Armed with laptops, wireless technology and mobile phones today’s employees work productively from just about any location. Doesn’t it make more sense to place the business intelligence in the network – closer to the users? Isn’t that the most efficient place to make call handling decisions? Why query a PBX, only to find the user is away from his office phone?
It seems like there has to be a better way. To solve the problem you have to change the way you think about your company phone system. The Internet serves as a good analogy. The Internet isn’t about connecting computers, it is about connecting people and communities of interest (think Facebook communities). Similarly, your business communications system shouldn’t be about connecting phones it should be about connecting the people who are part of your business community – your employees, customers and partners. You don’t need a better phone system at all. What you really need is a communications system designed to connect people and manage business conversations – not just connect telephones.
Think of a business communications system as an intelligent application that works with diverse PBXs and phone networks to optimize interactive communications amongst employees, customers and partners – independent of device (desk phones, softphones, mobile phones), network (PSTN, Skype, VoIP/SIP), or medium (voice, data, video).
Industry observers like Dave Michels recognize the concept of “a dumb PBX” controlled by an intelligent external entity. A Business Communications Service (BCS) delivers this intelligence in the form of a cloud-based service that works with various phone systems and networks to provide a ubiquitous communications solution with rich network-based features.
With a BCS you can leverage cell phones and services like Skype to extend business communications to teleworkers, mobile users, and nomadic workers; and you can improve worker productivity by allowing employees to stay engaged with customers even when they are away from the office or working from home.
Unlike a conventional phone system, a BCS manages people and conversations – not just telephones. It uses business presence to track the availability and activity of employees wherever they are – in the office, working from home, or on the road; regardless of device, PBX or network. While a CTI-based solution relies on PBX telephone status for call handling decisions, a BCS maintains business presence information in the cloud and moves call routing decisions as close to the customer as possible. By making call handling decisions at the first point of contact you can serve customers in the most efficient and expeditious manner.
A BCS automatically connects customers to employees based on worker availability, capability, competency, spoken language or any other attributes or business rules that are germane to the organization. By connecting customers to the person who can serve them best on the first attempt you can reduce voicemail, telephone tag and customer frustration.
A BCS can make your virtual workforce appear office-bound to the outside world. It can conceal employee information (location, mobile phone number, etc) so your workers never have to disclose personal mobile phone numbers or other private information to customers or partners. And since a BCS tracks and manages users regardless of their location or device, it is ideal for disaster recovery or business continuity applications. Say your Northeast office is closed due to a snowstorm or the PBX in your Southwest office is knocked out due to a power outage. With a conventional premises-based solution you’re out of luck – customer calls simply go unanswered. With a cloud-based BCS your customers are automatically connected to the employee who can serve them best – even if that employee is working from home, an alternative office, or a WiFi hotspot. With a BCS you can maintain normal business communications during office closings or emergency situations – in a seamless and transparent manner.
A BCS protects and extends investments in legacy voice systems. With a BCS you can enjoy all the benefits of an Internet-facing, people-centric communications system without wholesale PBX swap outs or costly upgrades. You can add mobility capabilities, interactive video and instant messaging features, business presence plus support for Internet telephony services like Skype. And since the solution is delivered as an external service there is no additional hardware to purchase or maintain. All features and functions are independent of phone system and device. Your employees have convenient and consistent feature access regardless of location or phone type. In addition future features and services can be added without impacting your business or affecting your existing phone system.
With a BCS you can extend corporate communications services to mobile users and remote workers and enable employees to serve customers more productively – from any location, at any time, using any device. Business Communications Services help breath new life into existing phone systems – helping you boost sales and bolster customer satisfaction by optimizing customer communications.
[...] Cloud-Based Communications Services Breathe New Life into Legacy … [...]