Thinking about VoIP? Two Distinct Choices to Consider
1 Sep, 2004
By: Joseph McFaddenQ: Our technology team is hotly debating the Hybrid vs. Pure IP application, and there''s a case to be built for both. Ultimately, what''s the best approach for a progressive contact center? – Teeter-Tottering in Tampa
Great question. Let’s start with the basics. For a host of business and operational reasons, companies are moving to IP contact center systems for routing customer contacts in the form of phone calls, e-mail, voice mail, web chat, fax and more. For a center of any size, the IP network and VoIP address the fundamental problems faced by management—how to continue to reduce operating costs through additional operational efficiencies, and how to improve customer service in an environment where customers have multiple media choices for contacting a company.
When choosing an IP environment, companies have two divergent choices: IP-enabled/hybrid or Pure IP. There has been considerable confusion when comparing these choices, which is what you’re struggling with now. To make the right choice, it’s important to understand the differences.
First, an IP-enabled, or hybrid system, allows traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) switches to deliver voice over an IP network—and is an extension of traditional TDM. In this approach, the TDM switch is IP-enabled through the addition of IP trunk and/or line cards. At first, it seems to be the low-cost path to IP benefits, and it will reduce transport costs, lowering costs of the connections between sites and to desktops where IP is used. But those nominal cost savings may not justify the cost of IP-enabling your TDM switches, which is what many vendors recommend.
The hybrid solution is often mistakenly thought to extend the investment life of installed TDM switches; however, the reality—in my opinion—is that little additional return on the TDM investments is gained by simply by adding IP trunk cards. So the main benefit realized by the hybrid approach is the reduced cost of transport between switches. For some organizations, that’s enough.
Then there’s the Pure IP approach, which is based on a system built from the ground up to handle voice over a corporate IP network. The latest generation of Pure IP systems delivers significant strategic and cost benefit to the contact center beyond transport cost reductions.
The benefits of a Pure IP include: multi-site networking, multi-media handling on a single platform, and CTI built-in, all at a lower cost of acquisition. Additionally, a Pure IP solution delivers dramatic cost savings not possible with a hybrid solution:
• Lower cost and time of deployment for CTI applications such as screen pop and data directed call routing. Datamonitor reported recently that only 36 percent of medium and large companies have deployed CTI applications. A screen pop application can be deployed in less than one day versus weeks to months with TDM solutions, which are usually forced to use the hybrid/IP-enabled approach. Also, with TDM solutions, CTI is a separate application provided by the switch vendor or a third party. It must be integrated with the switch. When implemented, applications such as screen pop and intelligent routing may take months to be up to speed and incur significant costs for implementation and ongoing maintenance.
• Improved agent productivity as a result of wider deployment of CTI applications such as screen pop and data-directed call routing. This also improves customer service due to consistent routing, handling and reporting of all media types. It’s worth noting that with the hybrid/IP-enabled approach, applications for routing and reporting are segmented by media—voice is handled on the switch or the application server specific to the voice switch applications, while alternative media is handled on a separate (often CTI-based) applications server.
• Labor cost reductions resulting from networking multiple centers. Center networking offers a single view across multiple centers for routing contacts. By networking multiple centers into a single, unified pool of agents, peaks in call volumes can be managed better, thus allowing fewer agents to handle the same volume of calls. In contrast, networking multiple centers with a hybrid/IP-enabled system increases the complexity of the system making it costly to manage multiple sites. With the hybrid approach, networking multiple centers with the goal of achieving a high return on investment may never be realized. In fact, it has proven to be cost prohibitive at times.
• Lower cost and faster deployment of new centers. Expansion to new centers is a an extension of the existing IP-based system. Simply drop another server on the data network at the new location. Due to the inherent complexity of the hybrid/IP-enabled system, expansion may take longer than anticipated, which could result in the contact center being viewed as a deterrent to the company’s progress.
• Lower maintenance and licensing fees. Pure IP solutions are software-based applications running on low-cost servers. No more expensive proprietary hardware..
While the tendency is to look at this decision as black and white, the reality is that there’s lots of gray. I recommend, every company take a hard look at the improvements that Pure IP systems deliver to their customer service centers and formulate a migration plan to this approach. That may mean that some of their most recent TDM switches should be IP-enabled. It also may mean that some of those switches should be retired.
Any well-planned migration strategy will allow the company to migrate at its own pace by moving either site by site or by functional group. The faster the entire contact center operation can move to Pure IP, the quicker the return on investment, including the realization of all of the business benefits that only Pure IP has to offer. The following five steps may help your migration.
1. Identify the business needs. Assess each functional, identify the key business needs and determine which groups will benefit the most from the IP approach through new capabilities such as CTI and multimedia contact routing and reporting. For example, Company A may need to pop CRM screens with upsell scripts to its sales representatives to meet new revenue targets. Company B may be trying to find a way to simplify multi-site routing while achieving greater resource utilization.
2. Define business and system triggers. Inventory the sites and systems. Identify which systems are depreciated or in need of an upgrade. Using the business needs, conduct a gap analysis to focus on systems that cannot deliver the capabilities needed and the benefits required. As part of this step, identify projects that are funded for these system changes and ensure that those projects are defined as IP projects. For example, Company C may find that one of those autonomous sites is an old switch that has been budgeted for replacement this year. You may also find that the business benefits or a positive ROI analysis justify the early retirement of systems.
3. Define the time lines. Now that the business and system drivers for the migration are identified, define the time line for deployment. Consider which pain points or opportunities should be addressed first, and by what dates. Focus on the business application area with the greatest need as the starting point. Define a phased time line that addresses each of the system and business needs and delivers the earliest return on investment possible.
4. Deploy to an initial group. Select a specific functional group for your first deployment. Minimize risks and provide clear measures of success. This initial group will serve as a learning ground for the end users and IT to minimize risks and provide clear measures of success throughout the implementation phase, ongoing use and management of the system. Once this initial group is fine tuned and operating successfully, expand within the defined group.
5. Roll out to other groups. The time line built in Step 3 defines a rollout across groups, sites and applications that will deliver timely benefits to the organization. Going forward, incorporate what was learned from the initial deployment to achieve rapid success as the rollout progresses. With a Pure IP approach, robust capabilities can be implemented at additional sites and groups easily, thus realizing the business benefits.
In summary, companies do have a choice between two distinct migration paths to IP. The Pure IP approach meets business needs at a lower cost and with less complexity than the traditional solutions that make up the hybrid approach. Pure IP delivers the tactical benefits needed to respond to immediate business needs, as well as providing a platform to address strategic business goals. An evolutionary migration to Pure IP can be devised according to business needs. The business opportunities and benefits of Pure IP are compelling—so much so, in fact, that most companies should begin immediately to define plans to migrate to a Pure IP, single network, single platform solution.
Editor’s Note: For more information on this topic, you can read a comprehensive white paper prepared by Datamonitor on this topic on the Nuasis web site at www.nuasis.com.
