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Diversified Challenges

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

At its outset, unified communications got a red carpet welcome,

with tall claims like 'the next telecom revolution after telephone'. And,

even today is predicted to radically change the way businesses communicate.

However, years after introduction of the concept, unified communications is

still limited to top notch organizations and is struggling hard to become a hot

favorite, though it has managed to satisfy the first level CIO/CTOs to make the

technology popular and well accepted. Here, we will look at different aspects of

unified communications, the pain and plus points, and the road ahead.

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Large enterprises are very much aware of solutions that unified

communication can offer and how useful these solutions are in the present

business scenario. So, they have their own expertise working in co-ordination

with vendors to get a right solution for their organization. Here, the vendor is

selling the product, but their job is restricted only to serve the demand of the

customer because the customer has its own presence. This doesn't apply in the

case of small and medium enterprises. "If a vendor comes to me and makes a

presentation of how successfully the solution has been deployed in a large

organization, my immediate thought would be the higher cost involved with the

solution," says Vishwajeet Singh, manager, IT, Friends Global Travels.

"Our requirements are totally different from that of large enterprises and

at the same time we don't have a large IT team," he further adds.

Hurdles in the Way



The UC market is at an early stage of maturity. Vendors need to be more
aggressive in promoting these solutions. "Utilization, requirement, and

value addition are the three levels for the success of any solution," says

Singh. To induce an enterprise to adopt a solution, they need to be made aware

of the prima facie utilizations and benefits of the converged

communication," says Dhiren Salva, CIO, Kuoni Travels India. The low

awareness factor becomes more evident with the example of Omaxe, a construction

company with a turnover of around Rs 1,000 crore. The company is growing by

leaps and bounds every year and a unified communications solution would have

been a perfect answer to the challenges imposed with such a widespread

infrastructure. "We have a VoIP solution from Tulip with twenty licenses.

We use it for communication between different work sites and our senior

officials. We preferred Tulip over BSNL and others because the cost involved was

one fifth and the services were extremely satisfactory," says Atul Bansal,

senior IT manager, Omaxe Construction. The company is also planning to go for

large-scale deployment of an audio and video conferencing solution from Webex,

for their upcoming call center. Here also they overlooked vendors like Polycom,

because of the cost involved and complexity of the solution. "The solution

from Webex is very easy to use and it is flexible with our requirements, which

was not there with Polycom," says Atul. When asked about unified

communications, Atul says, "We have already invested in different solutions

in a phased manner. Replacing them for the sake of a unified solution would be a

little difficult. Besides, no vendor has approached us till date. We are moving

ahead as per our own demands and business goals."

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"There is no such ideal

solution available in the market. Vendors are imposing what big companies

are using as standard"

"It all depends upon

the right time and right approach to deploy a unified communication

solution, and the user is equally responsible"

-Vishwajeet

Singh,
manager, IT, Friends Global Travels
-Dhiren

Salva,
CIO, Kuoni Travels(India)

Too much initial cost also stood as a barrier in penetrating the

larger segment of the market at one stage, but now the price effect is gradually

taking a back seat, considering the RoI factor. "We are not worried about

the initial cost. But, we want to have a clear statistics on RoI" says

Singh. Dhiren of Kuoni Travel agrees, "One time investment is OK with us,

if the solution promises a major cost cut at a later stage."

"There is no such ideal solution available in the market.

Vendors are imposing what big companies are using as standard," says Singh.

This is one of the big issues raised by most industry users. "Look at the

other technology solutions such as ERP, CRM, and SCM. They all are getting

recognition in the market because they have reached a matured state. People have

faith in these solution." says Atul of Omaxe.

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"The unified communication solutions available are not well

defined or well developed. These issues certainly prevent us from adopting

unified communications at this stage. We would prefer to wait till the time

these solutions mature," he further adds.



"We are in process of

implementing unified communication solution and are experiencing immense

benefits at the initial stage"

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-Girish Rao, head,

IT solutions Marico

Poor Visibility and Support



Right from the selection of a vendor to implementation and after sales
support, lack of homework done by vendors is evident. "We had considered a

number of solution providers for unified communications and there were two of

them at least-Cisco and Nortel. We went for Nortel because Cisco was not able

to provide the kind of data encryption and voice compression required (is Cisco

listening?), says AG Varughese, DGM, the South Indian Bank. Vishwajeet of FCM

Travel Solutions did not name the vendor. "Up till now, with the kind of

requirement we had, they have done a fair job. But now we are deploying unified

communications at a large scale at our call center. We are looking for other

vendors, since our earlier vendor would not be able to assure us for the desired

kind of commitment and services," he says. Once organizations go for a

final implementation, they face a different set of problem that makes them

unhappy about their choice. "They do not understand our problems. Also,

their response time is low. Once the problem is communicated to them, their

response time is not ideal. They don't have proper logistics and resources to

tackle the situation with immediate effect. Considering the fact that in a

banking environment the downtime requires to be almost nil, we face a bottleneck

at times," says Varughese.

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"We are in the process of implementing unified

communication solution and are experiencing immense benefits at the initial

stage. However, one of our specific requirements from an enterprise product like

OCS 2007 is the ability to generate statistics on usage. It is necessary to

track usage for RoI as well as for finding pockets of under utilization.

Currently, the product lacks effective monitoring/analysis tools. Hence, it is a

bit difficult to get details of active and past sessions. We get this data by

querying the OCS database using SQL, but we would prefer this feature to be

incorporated in the base product," says Girish Rao, IT head, Marico

Industries. Marico has gone for a unified communication solution from Microsoft.

Another company, Kuoni Travels is currently using the unified services from

Cisco. The company is all set to go for an enterprise wise rollout of the

unified solution across the globe. "We will need more active participation

from Cisco at this point," says Dhiren.

"They do not understand

our problems. Also their response time is low Considering the fact that in

a banking environment the downtime requires to be almost nil, we face

bottleneck at times."

"Even whatever unified

communication solutions are available, they are not well defined or well

developed. These issues certainly prevent us from adopting unified

communications at this stage"

-A G

Varughese,
DGM, The South Indian Bank
-Atul

Bansal,
Senior IT manager, Omaxe Construction

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Benefits Recognized



Apart from all the issues, unified communication has received praises from
various CTOs. "We are satisfied with the services provided by the vendor,

primarily through Microsoft consulting from Microsoft rapid deployment program (RDP)

support. They have been quick to resolve the issues pointed out during early

days of implementation. In fact, based on our feedback, Microsoft has

incorporated some features in the final RTM (ready to market) product,"

says Girish.

Subrata Banarjee, CTO, Vedanta Aluminium, says, "Deploying

a unified communication solution for a manufacturing set up was a daunting task,

but I am happy with the flexibility and services provided by Cisco. Initially,

our project was delayed, but Cisco managed everything. On the services part,

they are very proactive. They provide constant upgrades and suggestions."

For the South Indian Bank, solutions from Nortel is working fine, except some

small issues. "On the whole, Nortel's solution has performed well and as

our business grows, we are looking forward to getting more of their

services," says Varughese. "It all depends upon right time and

approach to deploy a unified communication solution. The user is equally

responsible. Given the circumstances, Cisco has more or less done justice with

our requirements," says Dhiren.

The Sixers for Vendors

  • Ability to execute the

    commitment

  • Clear market

    understanding

  • The push- sales strategy

    with expertise

  • Promoting the USPs

  • Differentiating the

    solution among verticals

  • Constant research and

    innovation

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The Road Ahead



The future seems to be promising for the unified communication solution.

According to an IDC report, most businesses are recognizing the importance of an

effective unified communications system. The worldwide market for unified

communications is expected to reach $1,158 by 2010. The market is going bullish

with 18 mn unified mailboxes deployed in the year 2006 and is expected to touch

47 mn by 2010. The market in India is also looking very prosperous for vendors.

The fact that all the global unified communication vendors have made their

presence felt recognizes the inherent potential of the Indian market. There are

certain things which vendors should keep in mind while providing solutions to a

variety of customers in India. The vendors require a clarity and efficacy of

solution before they approach a customer. The proper understanding of the size

and type of business and product designed accordingly will help them penetrate

better in the market. The vendor should have the ability to respond, change

direction, be flexible, and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop

with evolving customer needs and changed market dynamics. "A feasible RoI

should be promised from the vendor both in terms of increased efficiency and

cost," advices Vishwajeet.

Kumar Anshuman



anshumank@cybermedia.co.in

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