How to Tell if You`re Ready to Deploy Converged Communications

The other day my colleague and I worked jointly on a sales presentation for a potential new customer. Seeing I was at my desk, he asked for my input on ROI projections. We brought another associate in on the conversation, who added relevant statistics directly into the presentation. We won the account, and the customer was impressed with our knowledge of all points of her business.

What’s remarkable about this exchange is that all of the participants were miles apart - sometimes by thousands of miles. I was traveling in Europe and my colleague, who found out about the pitch as a last-minute opportunity, had checked to see my status online using IM. He saw that I was “online” - and I was, using my own PC at a local coffee shop. So he rang my office phone where the call was routed automatically to my PC’s softphone application (thanks to remote SIP connectivity software from Ingate Systems). For my coworker, it was a seamless connection and, despite the fact that I was nowhere near my office, business got done.

This is the beauty of converged communications - the integration of voice, e-mail, instant messaging and a variety of forms of communication. They are all carried over a common IP network, delivered to the recipients in real time using their preferred method of communication (be it phone, e-mail, etc.). Converged communications makes connecting with one another simple.

How can you tell if your business is ready to reap the benefits of it? Here are six surefire ways to know:

1. If you’re already using VOIP or plan to

VOIP (voice over IP) is an application that allows you to put voice and data traffic on the same IP network. Many businesses use VOIP as a 1:1 replacement for traditional wire line telephony, using it for calls made within the company (corporate LAN). Telephony costs are reduced, or even eliminated, as calls are placed over the Internet instead of through the traditional telephony network.

Remote connectivity solutions make it possible for satellite offices, remote workers, “road warriors,” etc., to utilize the VOIP capabilities of your corporate PBX from anywhere - as long as they’re connected to the Internet. With this idea of taking VOIP a step further, beyond this LAN application, the potential for ROI is far greater.

2. Your company’s gone global

Even if your company just expanded to include satellite offices, you need to be able to reach employees at any time, anywhere, to keep business running smoothly. For your customers, working with your company needs to be a seamless experience. Do they need the latest pricing on a new product? The sales team should be only a click away via IM or click-to-call applications. Answers can be text messaged back to a cell phone.

3. Your employees belong to the “MSN generation"

The generation now entering the workplace is used to communicating via IM, video, e-mail and file sharing. They--and your customers--take for granted that these communication tools are installed in the working environment and that their colleagues, partners and customers are online and ready to communicate. Leverage their aptitude for converged communications by standing out as a front-runner in information sharing. Your business is open 24/7; your employees are available and ready to help out by e-mail, IM, phone-–whatever suits your customers at that time.

4. You want to lower your communication costs

It’s actually a cost-saving investment to install VOIP and other forms of real-time communication. By using the Internet that is already in place, the need for costly PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces) and BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces) decreases. As long as your employees are connected to the Internet, no matter where they are in the world, they don’t have to use their (or your) cell phones and bill back high cell phone costs.

5. You’re looking to improve business efficiencies

Unified communications can streamline the way your employees do business and add value for customers and partners. Your development team can be an “always available” presence via IM – even from across the globe. Phone “follow me” features allow calls made to your desk to ring your cell or at your home office. Customers can use your own VOIP to call your company, and IM presence can facilitate the sales cycle.

6. Business gets done at home, on the road and on your cell phone

One of the key benefits with rich communication applications is making businesses run more transparently. Business can be conducted from anywhere in the world – regardless of time zones and locations (i.e., remote workers). Because of this, customers have maximum access to your staff. In addition, employees can access corporate resources from anywhere in order to save the company money. They can leverage expertise from colleagues in other offices or even other countries, or use SIP to provide customers with the best service.

This same technology for remote connectivity can be used for all clients, including PC-based softphones and IP phones connected to the Internet. This is an advantage of the SIP protocol: to be able to register multiple devices with the same address, i.e., phone number. A person can then, for example, use an IP phone/softphone at their home office and an IP-only phone in the corporate office - both registered to the same number. One number reaches the employee in multiple locations.