Competitive edge - the next generation

IT industry unified behind Unified Communications

Here's a first! The IT industry as a whole has agreed on three vital points:

1. Strategic direction: The wide range of communications tools that we have created to support knowledge workers need to be unified at the desktop.

2. The importance of VoIP: Voice over IP is the pivotal technology that will enable and precipitate the unification.

3. Timing: The trickle of unification is about to turn into an avalanche.

In the face of this overwhelming agreement, this newsletter sets out to answer three obvious questions: What is this "Unified Communications"? Why is VoIP so important? What should you do about it?

What is Unified Communications? Today most knowledge workers have a mess of communication tools. Stacks of windows on their desktop computer for email, calendar, IM, on-line meetings and so on. Plus a desk phone, mobile phone, PDA and maybe Webcam. Each of these tools has potential value. However, if they are uncoordinated they can actually fight each other and destroy the value by creating overall complication - even chaos.

The promise of unified communications is to make these tools work together in true synergy - such that the benefits of the whole are greater than the sum of the benefits of the individual tools.

Just as the messy stack of windows on today's desktop is the symbol of disunited communications, the single integrated desktop client is the symbol of unified communications.

All the tools brought together through a single, simple interface. The real magic is the

technology behind that interface, integrating all the tools so that, for example: You can see the availability ("presence") of a contact visually. Drag the contact's name onto the IM icon to start an instant chat Drag the chat session to the phone icon to change from chat to phone call Drag the phone call into a virtual meeting room to extend the phone call into an desktop-sharing, on-line meeting Drag other contacts into the virtual meeting to join the discussion

Why is VoIP so important?

There are two quite separate reasons why Voice over IP is dominating the arena; one is strategic, the other is pragmatic.

Strategic importance: Let's face it, voice communications still dominates. Although it feels like email and IM have taken over our lives, telephone calls, on-line meetings and face-to-face meetings are still the richest media - still the choice for our most important or most challenging communications.

Until voice is fully integrated, the communications scheme is just not unified. We need to be able to listen to our emails on the phone (text to speech), reply to emails with a voice message (voice attachments), forward annotated voicemails just like forwarding emails and so on.

VoIP turns voice into data and handles it like any other "message". After years of partial solutions held together with string, tape and ingenuity, VoIP is the strategic, all-digital solution to integrating voice.

Pragmatic importance: We are all still spending a lot on voice communications. By saving much of that expense, today's VoIP solutions can provide the here-and-now business case for buying a Unified Communications solution. The real value is in the productivity increases. But think how much easier it is to get all the approvals if the new system actually saves you money! Now the claims on increased productivity can be put in "other benefits" rather than in the "financial justification" section.

What should you do about it?

Read the rest of this newsletter!

While that may sound glib, the following articles are our best attempt to give you some ideas that can lead to a practical action plan. In today's world, practical means quick! For example, in the next article you will find NSPI's exclusive self-assessment tool that reduces the time it takes to get a ballpark estimate of the costs and savings from days to minutes.

When you have a few minutes spare, click here to view some excellent videos from Cisco.

Telephony self-assessment tool

Estimating the costs/benefits/savings in minutes

Imagine just dragging two sliders to answer the following simple questions.

Then being shown immediately:

A cost comparison summary of your current telephony versus a unified communications solution based on Cisco VoIP.

With a breakdown of this summary by function as shown below.

Topped off with a range of estimates for the value of the productivity benefits of unified communications.

Imagine getting all that with much more detail in less time that it took you to read about it? Well, imagine no more! If you are attached to the Internet, just click on the NSPI tool button below to bring the above charts to life on your screen.

If you are not currently attached to the Internet, you'll have to make do for now with taking another look at the charts above. They relate to an organization with 250 extensions in one main location. In the first four charts, see how huge the cost savings can be. Then, in the final chart, see the potential size of the benefits of unified communications - even in the conservative estimate.

Recently these cost/benefit numbers have been changing dramatically. It's not difficult to see why the trickle of VoIP-based unified communications is turning into a deluge.

Click the icon to the right to watch a streaming video on unified communications. In just 8 minutes you can get the facts on VoIP and a demonstration of the tool.

... Use our tool now to get your estimate in two minutes

... On how unified communications affects you and how NSPI can help

Why Cisco for unified communications?

There are many reasons why they have leapt into the lead

Our executive summary started by pointing out that the IT industry was unified behind unified communications as the next big thing. So, you can also guess that all the major players are unified behind trying to get their "fair" share of the market.

As our customers look at solutions in this strategically important area they want to be sure they are backing superior technology and NSPI wants to be sure we are helping to guide them to it. So, why are we so confident that Cisco is superior?

Successfully implementing unified communications means converging several technologies. Each of the potential solution providers starts with an area of special strength and must extend into other areas to build the converged solution.

Cisco's special strength is the network. The IP network. In other words, they start with an advantage in the area where all the communications come together. Voice becomes digital and joins data as IP packets in a converged network. And who is waiting there with the leading IP technology? Who is most likely to be able to solve the challenges of quality of service so that voice and data packets can play nicely together on the same circuits? For the other contenders the answers to these questions is depressingly obvious. Cisco's depth of experience and excellence of technology in network hardware and software give them an advantage that is almost unfair.

But if Cisco or any other player tried to "go it alone" they would not succeed. Instead you will find that Cisco's solutions are built in strong partnerships with the leaders in other areas. For example, as the chart below illustrates, there is strong integration with the leading middleware and applications.

This is repeated at the level of individual technologies by integrating with a huge list including:

• email and calendar integration with:

  • IBM Lotus Notes/Domino

  • Microsoft Outlook/Exchange

• IM integration with:

  • IBM Lotus Sametime

  • Microsoft Live Messenger

  • Several others!

• Contact integration with:

  • IBM Notes/Domino

  • Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, Dynamics CRM and Active Directory

That's just a partial list - but you get the idea. Don't fight the other players; provide the network glue to make them work together within unified communications.

Integrating only with the current IT leaders is no way to protect the future. For example, just a few short years ago there was no Google with which to integrate.

The key to future-proofing is to adopt an architecture based on open standards. That's why Cisco made a good long-term decision when they adopted SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) the open standard for VoIP communications.

Allow us to be self-serving for a moment in pointing out the emphasis that Cisco has placed on creating a superior network of sales organizations. As a result you have the sort of local partners that can work with you in the transition to unified communications and the continuing journey of maintaining your competitive edge.

NSPI offers the case study in the next article as evidence of the value we add in tailoring the right strategy and the superior solution to your needs.

We have several alternative solutions we can offer to our customers for VoIP and for unified communications; there are specialized situations where we might recommend any one of these alternatives. However, this article has explained why we find that Cisco provides the best unified communications solution for most of our customers.

That's why our exclusive self-assessment tool illustrates Cisco solutions and why we suggest that is a good place to start our discussion of your needs.

... Use our tool now to get your estimate in two minutes

... On how unified communications affects you and how NSPI can help

Optio - A success story

A case study is worth a thousand pictures

For all organizations the question is not whether to switch to IP telephony but when is the right time. That's because VoIP combines the three essential ingredients that make a technology inevitable:

• Obvious and clear technical superiority that will save money and increase efficiency within IT

• The ability to increase the individual productivity of most employees, thus contributing business value to the bottom line of any organization

• The potential to transform business processes and collaboration so that it can provide a competitive advantage and, therefore, contribute to the top line of any organization

Who can benefit from VoIP solutions?

Any organization that uses the telephone! That's why calling this a "big deal" could be an understatement.

If these claims seem a little strong to you, we won't try to persuade you with general or technological arguments - after all, convincing business value is rarely found that way. Rather, we offer a case study to support our thesis - that a VoIP solution will be right for you, sooner rather than later; and that NSPI is a great partner to help you assess when you are ready.

Case study: Optio Software - Background

Mark White, Optio's IT Director, had a challenge:

• Move two floors of customer support staff during a building refit

• Move the data center and the telephone system at the same time

• Do all of the above over a weekend so that service to Optio's 5,000 customers is uninterrupted

Fortunately, Mark had a trusted partner to help in such situations - NSPI. After a briefing, NSPI's first suggestion was to replace the phone system rather than relocate it.

Of course, Mark already knew about the potential benefits of VoIP, but when NSPI brought the Cisco Network-on-Wheels Van to Optio the demonstration quickly had Mark and his management colleagues realizing how big the business benefits could be by streamlining and integrating call processing within Optio.

Case study: Optio Software - Results

The fact that we are telling you this story means you have already guessed the implementation went very smoothly! But what is much more important than a smooth, non-disruptive, weekend changeover is the long-term benefits to Optio:

• Higher productivity for all their employees with features like:

  • Unified in-box: Voice mails, emails, news feeds and RSS feeds all integrated into one visual list. Listen to voicemails right out of the inbox.

  • Remote message access: Retrieve both voicemails and emails from any phone in the world - with the emails read to you with text to speech.

• Higher efficiency in many areas:

  • Reduced outside bandwidth cost by sharing voice and data circuits

  • Reduced cost of internal wiring with a shared single digital connection to each desk that carries both voice and data

  • Reduction in cost of administration with a single console to control both the voice and data on the internal and external networks. Now that valuable, skilled IT resource can focus on new applications, creating new value instead of administering existing systems.

  • Almost eliminate the disruption and cost of telephone "moves, adds, and changes" since an employee can just carry their own PC and phone to any place in the building, plug in and it becomes their office!

• Most importantly direct increases in business value leading to a competitive edge:

  • Many of the productivity and efficiency benefits listed above contribute to an even more positive and professional image of Optio to their customers and partners. These days, you are how you communicate!

  • Better customer service: More flexible call routing, no dropped calls.

  • Enhanced ability to proactively manage customer satisfaction. Better reporting and statistics that allow control of service levels and support the planning and implementation of improvements.

Case study: Optio Software - The moral of this story

VoIP technology is ready for prime time - now! But you also need a partner to help build the bridge between the technology and the business value that is the real reason for implementing; the Optio story proves that NSPI is ready to bridge you to the cost savings and business value of unified communications.

... a 5 minute video on the Optio story

... on the ROI for your move to VoIP

Assessment Offer

Better than free

NSPI is offering a free IP Telephony Readiness Assessment - a $1,200 value for the first five customers who click the link below and ask to receive more information on the NSPI Telephony assessment.

A NSPI Unified Communications Specialist will work with you to understand your business requirements and technology readiness to develop a case for deploying IP Telephony.

... on your IP Telephony readiness

 Financing your solutions

A spoonful of sugar makes (in this case) the interest rates go down. And with a three years same as cash offer from Cisco Capital, you can satisfy your sweet tooth for years to come.

For US small business customers (less than 100 employees), Cisco Capital is providing interest free financing on your Cisco Unified Communications solution. What makes this deal so sweet?

• By financing new technology solutions, you can utilize your operating budget in other areas.

• You can get the equipment you need up and running now, but spread the payments out with no interest charges.

• Pay for the solution over time and own it at the end.

Some terms and conditions may apply. To see the details on the offer and to find out if you qualify, click the link below.

... on the Cisco financing offer. Limited Time Offer!

 Whitepapers

We've given the big picture of unified communications and VoIP. We created an easy to use self-assessment tool so you could evaluate the benefits for yourself. We showed you Optio's success. And we've made some offers that make this deal hard to pass up. But you still aren't convinced the Cisco solutions are the way to go in your business. Have the experts convince you with these free whitepapers.

Unified Communications Transform Business Communication

A commissioned study completed by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cisco

Business communications, while vital to every business, are failing to meet the needs of executives, employees and customers alike. Unified communications provides a technical solution to solve this real business problem.

... about the importance of unified communications in the Forrester Consulting report

Productivity and the IPC Business Case

Analysis of Small-to-Medium Size Businesses

IP Communications (IPC) are proving very beneficial to small-to-medium sized businesses in areas across the business including organization efficiency, end-user productivity, mobility, communications literacy and IT staff productivity.

... about IPC benefits for SMBs in the Sage Research Report

Productivity and the IPC Business Case

Analysis of Large Enterprises

IP Communications (IPC) are proving very beneficial to large enterprises in areas across the business including organization efficiency, end-user productivity, mobility, communications literacy and IT staff productivity.

... about IPC benefits for Large Enterprises in the Sage Research Report

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