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Corporate telecommunication budgets are changing. Voice transmission and toll charges use to dominate service provider bills to corporate customers. Now with the huge growth of mobile services and attractive pricing plans, minutes have shifted toward mobile operators, resulting in mobile bills representing a larger share of corporate telecommunication spending. Case in point, one of our clients is experiencing a 15% decline in wireline and toll use, while wireless minutes are growing at approximately 28% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). The good news for them is that voice minute unit cost is dropping overall by some 3% annum. Another client spends $1.2 million and $600K per year on toll and mobile charges, respectively. The catch is this client has not summed up all mobile spending by employees in remote offices, international sites, etc. We estimate that there is an additional $600K per year of mobile charges buried in expense reports around the company; bringing mobile usage expenditures equal to toll charges. These are but two examples of a systemic change in enterprise communication spending.

This shift in spending is a solid indication of the importance mobility plays in the new enterprise that has emerged over the past eight years. This is represented in mobile phones, smart phones, PDA’s, blackberries, etc., which have become important business communication tools. No longer are mobile devices just for sales executives and road warriors but for everyone. In fact, many of our clients are implementing plans to supply nearly all employees with a smart mobile phone and desktop/laptop softphone. However, the ability to connect mobile phones with IP telephony solutions is one area that is lagging, until now.

The Wireless Advantage

Sprint is one service provider who is uniquely positioned to link the wireless and wired world by connecting CDMA end points i.e., mobile devices, with corporate communication systems. This will allow an increase in productivity by offering seamless access to messaging, common directory services, convenience buttons, follow-me, etc., from any device. Sprint has the vision and ability to execute its investment in IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), and with its acquisition of Nextel, the means to deliver on its Fixed-Mobile Convergence strategy. This strategy is to both link wireless and wired worlds with VoIP services, which deliver increased flexibility, price advantage and seamless mobility.

Sprint’s wireless integration to premise and hosted IP PBX is the next step in extending functionality to the wireless handset. Extending a call to a cellular phone by simultaneously ringing the desk handset and the cellular phone is a well-established technology. One of the leading features on the Avaya Communications Manager software is Extension to Cellular. Extension to Cellular allows the user to seamlessly transfer between desk phone and cell phone.

Sprint, along with Avaya, is taking that technology to the next level. Sprint’s wireless integration could extend the full functionality of Communication Manager to the cellular handset. Sprint has enabled and extended nearly fifteen most commonly used Communication Manager features to mobile phones. For example, 4-digit dialing, 6-way conference calling and all the key features that can be accessed on the desk set can also be accessed on the cellular phone. Wireless integration from Sprint allows legacy PBX access from mobile end points, linking the mobile office with legacy investment in premise based PBX too.

The combination of wireless integration and VoIP initiatives are allowing Sprint to offer new and innovative “Hosted IP Services”. Sprint is leveraging its IMS architecture, enabling the features of a premise based Avaya Communications Manager to be ‘extended’ to a wireless device, (such that the device is seen as a de facto extension of the enterprise). Sprint will add support for other premise solutions in the future. While there are several CPE solutions that enable single voice mail, find me, follow me, and abbreviated dialing from a wireless device, as in the Avaya Extension to Cellular, Sprint’s solution is distinctive in three ways.

1. Sprint can extend any and all features of the premise IP-PBX or legacy PBX to the wireless device
2. Sprint’s service is bilateral, where most CPE services are unilateral. The distinction is important since CPE solutions break down when the wireless device is called directly, as opposed to calling a ‘desk’ number that rings on the mobile device. Since Sprint provides signaling back to the IP-PBX for any call, it can offer IP-PBX or legacy PBX feature overlay independent of how the call came into the mobile device
3. Sprint offers seamless handoffs between desk and wireless device, so customers can take calls on the go that start from the desk phone

Given one and two above, mobile workers can communicate solely wirelessly, and still have the same level of connectivity and feature set they had as if they were using a desk device.

Leveraging IP WANs

Using IMS, Sprint can extend on-net calling to a wireless device, so that calls back into the enterprise do not count against plan minutes, thus reducing mobile bills. For example, on-net or intra-company calls originated from a mobile device will travel over a corporation’s private IP WAN, thus avoiding the consumption and billing of mobile minutes. In short, since a mobile device is an extension of a PBX or IP-PBX, all on-net calls travel over a corporation’s IP WAN independent of end point, i.e., a wired or wireless device. Sprint’s IMS architecture is extended to its hosted IP services by providing enterprise customers IP telephony services to both fixed and mobile end points.

Hosted IP Services

A Hosted IP Service is the hot new market of service providers offering converged voice and data networks. These services enable geographic independence, traffic volume and seasonal scalability while mitigating technology obsolescence risk. Until now, large enterprises were the only companies with the means to invest in premise based IP telephony based solutions. Early adopters saw the enhanced user productivity of these systems and calculated the ROI was worth the benefits. Now Sprint, in partnership with Avaya, is bringing these services to small and mid-sized companies previously excluded from these services mostly due to cost. Sprint’s third party hosting reduces administrative effort, maintains up-to-date capability, and removes any large capital investment in equipment. By removing equipment acquisition cost, Sprint and others are making IP Services available to a wider market segment.

IP contact centers and messaging systems are two popular Hosted IP Services. Hosted contact centers support agents independent of location, cost effectively scale call center growth or reduction, provide screen pops, coordinate call queues and automate voice menus to minimize hold time, and enable managers to supervise and monitor calls in batches or individually. The strategic value of the hosted IP contact center is increased employee efficiency in performing service tasks at a lower cost, which results in satisfied and loyal customers, at a better bottom line.

Hosted messaging systems allow users to easily manage multiple phones (mobile or corporate phones) and voicemail boxes, integrate voicemail, fax, and email, plus access voice and fax messages via a web browser. The strategic value of IP messaging systems are a single access point to collected voice, email, and fax messages regardless of end-device or geographic location of the user. This leads to a simplified user experience by combining previously independent messaging systems.

The Hosted IP Contact Center Sweet Spot: Small to Mid-Sized Firms

The larger a corporation, the greater the likelihood that an IP contact center is being planned and deployed. Forrester Research says that 33+% of companies with more then 20,000 employees, 21% with 20,000 to 5,000 employees, and 16% with 5,000 to 1,000 employees are using or are evaluating IP contact centers. For these firms there are four primary purchase decision factors: reliability, cost, manageability, and scalability.

As companies contemplate the move from legacy to IP, reliability is the biggest decision influence. Companies do not want to run the risk of downtime, interoperability failure with legacy systems, or lost business as a result of upgrade errors. Cost is the second most influential factor followed by the management complexity and ability to scale up or down. Small to mid-size firms have been essentially priced out of the IP contact center market. Many of these firms simply do not have budget or labor resources to create and manage in-house systems until now. Sprint is mitigating adoption concerns and is creating a solution for companies sharing these cost prohibited and migration fears with its Hosted IP Services.

Sprint’s Hosted Contact Center

Sprint’s Hosted Contact Center contains key features necessary in a call center such as simultaneous access to customer records while communicating with customers. Customer records or screen pops are distributed to agents independent of geographic location. Branch offices can be added and removed, as needed, to match business or seasonal growth. Sprint’s Hosted Contact Center solution connects with IP, TDM or analog networks. It also provides centralized queues or distributed flow to route the customer as necessary and avoid on-hold times. Call-center supervisors can manage employees by reviewing phone calls or real-time reports of call operations. Sprint reduces the risk of implementation and management costs through a fully configured and managed out-sourced system.

The centralized hosted service resides on Sprint premises with redundant Avaya network technology, thereby eliminating the potential for single-point of failure and providing business continuity. Barrier of entry pricing is reduced through a pay-per-seat subscription model, which guarantees predictable monthly expenses and avoids capital equipment acquisition. Sprint assumes all the management responsibility and provides up-to-date software and hardware upgrades. Call-centers can keep their existing agent devices and practices, minimizing training and increased ease-of-use. All of these benefits together provide a reliable service that lowers the barrier of contact center entry for small to medium sized firms.

Sprint’s Hosted Messaging

Sprint’s Hosted Messaging is a three-tiered solution to simplify management of multiple phones and voicemail boxes. Sprint’s “Basic Voice Messaging” allows standard voicemail capability without the need to bring this technology into a company’s premises. Its “Enhanced Messaging” allows the combination of voice, email and fax into one access point, which can be retrieved from any telephone or internet-ready browser. The “Mobile Messaging” service unifies wired and wireless messaging into one mailbox for easy access.

The benefits of Sprint’s Hosted Messaging include integration with existing networks, allowing users to keep familiar end-devices and increasing ease-of-use. This requires little or no capital investment, training, or management. Additional cost reduction is achieved through out-sourced pay-per-seat subscription models, which guarantee monthly expenses. The messaging system leads to improved productivity for employees as it simplifies existing solutions into one combined system accessible from any telephone or computer. Hosted messaging also resides on a redundant Avaya network within Sprint premises. This hosted IP service maintains reliability, reduces capital and operational cost, and scales to the number of users needing its features and capability.

Sprint is offering contact center and messaging via Hosted IP Services, which have, until now, been out of reach to the small and mid-sized enterprise markets. By reducing costs and guaranteeing reliability and interoperability with legacy systems, Sprint is reducing barriers to adoption. It’s linking of wireless and wireline messaging is but a first step in the full integration of mobile and private IP telephony communication systems. With mobility, such a strong and growing component to an enterprise’s communication needs, linking wireless with Hosted IP Services has the right ingredients for Sprint’s sale force to receive a warm enterprise reception.