With the cost of ownership becoming more affordable and
companies getting a chance to invest in a technology that is growing and has
never become obsolete, scope of the PBX market has widened. Besides
collaborating with overseas partners, business commercial applications and
sharing of data has become critical in a business house. The increasing mobile
workforce, presence in different locations, increased thrust in cost control
over communication spend, etc are the main reasons for the spurt in demand.
Growth Story
The India growth story can be attributed to phenomenal growth in IP-PBX.
Large enterprises have started implementing this two years ago, and at present
small and medium enterprises are testing waters. With the implementation of
IP-PBX, mobile roaming charges can be brought under control.
A leading player in this field has done a RoI (return on
investment) analysis on an infotech company, which used IP-PBX system, with
5,000 employees in four offices-one in North America, one in Europe and two in
India. According to the analysis, the software company had achieved 40% return
on their investments.
In the US, the trend is moving toward unified communications
with new vendors coming into the market. The main sectors targeted for IP-PBX
include banking, software, defense and retail. Though IP-PBX players are betting
big on India, regulatory issues are still at large.
Fuelling Factors
The very fact that the cost of PBX systems has plummeted in the recent past
is one of the biggest factors contributing to their adoption by enterprises.
Despite the costs coming down, the PBX systems have grown 'intelligent' over
the years in terms of features on offer. With hybrid and IP-PBX systems gaining
ground, businesses can make use of their converged IP networks to transport
voice along with data and video (leveraging on VoIP technology) resulting in
higher RoI. Also, hybrid and IP-PBX offer greater scalability advantages as
compared to TDM PBX. The communication between offices of an organization-local
or remote offices-is much better and the TCO (cost of acquisition plus
recurring costs) is also much lower. IP-PBX systems have the capability of
routing voice, data and video and therefore have become an important part of the
network. Businesses can offer their employees the freedom to comfortably work
from home or remote locations. All these factors put together have fuelled the
demand for advanced PBX systems in the recent past.
Enterprises Demand More
Demands from enterprises vary with the size and spread of the organization
(high, LME & SME). High-end enterprises need "Intelligent
Communications," which will help them integrate communications applications
with business applications and business intelligence, while business continuity
is the "critical success factor".
Experts panel |
KL Convergence Businesss Unit, Avaya Globalconnect KVSSS Gunneswara Rao, director, ISP & Telecom, D-Link India Minhaz Zia, business development manager, India & SAARC, Cisco Sandeep Yederi, business head, Enterprise Network Solutions, Panasonic Asia Pacific |
Low and medium-end enterprises need investment protection to
leverage existing technology investments and safeguard future choices. According
to them, migration to IP telephony is to be viewed as a part of an integrated IT
strategy including migrations to MPLS-based WANs and QoS-based LANs. Although IP
telephony does save a lot for organizations, hybrid systems remain an option for
smaller enterprises.
IP telephony technology has gained a strong mindset in the
mainstream market. More and more enterprises are deploying hybrid and IP-PBX
systems even for PSTN network. In fact, the demand has percolated from large
enterprise networks down to SMBs since they too have realized the immense
benefits that these systems can offer. Reduction in equipments costs and the
lower TCO has made them adopt these systems with greater vigor.
The best part about hybrid and IP-BPX systems is that they are
backward compatible. This means that they can accommodate existing TDM
technology based PBXs, existing unified messaging platforms like voicemail and
other business applications in an integrated manner. Not to forget the
flexibility they desire-they do not have to re-wire the entire place in case
they wish to move workstations across or add new people overnight. Hybrid and IP
PBX systems are also in accordance with their strategy to cut costs as in the
longer run turn out to be very cost effective.
Cost Effective Systems
Though the initial costs of acquisition of a hybrid or IP-PBX system may be
higher than that of a conventional TDM box, the recurring costs on many aspects
are lower, thus lowering the total cost of acquisition. The savings are in terms
of better inter-office and intra-company communication, lower support costs
(travel and training costs are reduced significantly), and lower staffing costs
(less or no need for deployment of technically skilled manpower). IP telephony,
unified messaging including voicemail, conferencing-audio, web and video, and
business applications can be integrated on a single platform. What's more,
there are costs involved in changing seats or adding seats that get circumvented
as well with advanced PBX systems in place.
Can we Reduce Implementation Costs?
The quality and cost efficiency can come through investments in new
technology. It is pertinent for large, medium and small enterprises to buy
systems that provide for not just their current needs but also for their future
needs. Collaborating across locations and in larger volumes requires businesses
to equip themselves with the advanced PBX systems. The trend is to move away
from TDM boxes to an efficient service on the network especially when backward
compatibility and migration paths are available and well laid out.
Every new technology is to be understood well before
implementation and IP-PBX implementation need not be attached with any
additional costs. As such IP-PBX shall reduce the maintenance costs.
No more toll or domestic long distance fees are assessed for
calls within the IP-based system, and there are a wide range of low-cost calling
plans for calls to standard landlines or mobile phones. A company's private
data network can enable their IP-PBX to reach all their branches while bypassing
phone companies, so that inter-company calls are free. The savings can be
substantial, particularly for intra-state calls.
VoIP to Bridge the Digital Divide |
The Indian government has Internet telephony in As per the guidelines for Global telecommunications |
Complete control over the IP infrastructure and operations can
be done through an easy to use intuitive Web interfaces, even for BPO with
separate campaign, supervisor, agent and administrator views.
Converged voice, data and video solution architecture with
reusable hardware and software components (devices) lowers the cost. Even the
high-end scalable call center components are software modules on a common
platform, thus eliminating expensive and difficult integration needed for
integrating proprietary systems from different vendors.
Emerging Technologies
At present IP-PBX is a well-matured technology and is based on VoIP which
will bring in lot of intangible benefits, and will have impact on the working
style of each individual. IP-PBX can be enhanced with many other features like
"Follow Me" etc., whose benefits shall be quickly realized by the more
commuting professionals, as it can be overlapped with VPN, NGN, etc.
New technologies in the market, which are being considered by
the customer, are SIP and unified communication. Unified communication must have
voice, IM and email. Rich presence and mobility are also critical to any
solution. There is an increase in use of IP soft phones that helps cut down on
mobile roaming charges.
Challenges
To operate business with efficiency, reduce costs, enhance customer and
employee productivity, and get ready for performance and growth with converged
voice, data and image solutions, one has to embrace VoIP technology (IP-PBX and
other devices) for sure. This ensures easy and multiple options for the calling,
messaging and forwarding, get the freedom of going where you wish and still
never miss the business calls and opportunities. With IP-PBX and converged
environment one can build a customer sales and service center designed for your
specific goals at your budget-with next generation capabilities.
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With IP-PBX and converged environment one can build a customer sales and service center designed for your specific goals at your budget |
It will be of immense help to the industry if regulatory
environment is relaxed. Secondly, education is the first step to marketing.
Together, all vendors need to create awareness on the benefits that hybrid and
IP-PBX systems can bring to business. Lastly, organizations should get rid of
the notion that their existing investments will not be protected or for that
matter migration is not as easy as it sounds. IP-PBX systems are backward
compatible and therefore existing TDM boxes can perfectly coexist. For migration
the old teams managing TDM boxes needs to collaborate with IT team and find a
way out.
The Growth Curve
Both enterprises and PBX service providers are betting big on IP as IP based
solutions are likely to enable companies to deploy key services such as
videoconferencing, collaboration and other value-added options such as directory
and XML integration, application that prioritizes the incoming calls, caller
name and number, and extension mobility in an easy to use platform. IP-PBX being
an open standard eliminates the dependency on one vendor platform for
application and integration.
Year 2007-08 will be the enabling year for the IP-PBX market.
The Indian enterprise telephony market has been experiencing a healthy 10%
growth at CAGR. The revenue forecast for IP telephony market in India by 2010 is
$367 mn. Percentage contribution of IP-PBX is increasing exponentially CAGR
whereas traditional PBX is declining. IP-PBX market has a growth forecast at
25.6% CAGR vis-a-vis traditional PBX expected to experience a negative growth at
10.3% CAGR, according to F&S 2005. In India, there are about one million
SOHO/SME and two lakh medium enterprise units, which are also growing
y-o-y. Unified communications advantage, single infrastructure, and less
maintenance costs will drive specifically small and SOHO towards IP-PBX
implementation.
Besides cost, which is often cited as a reason for implementing
a VOIP network, the true savings in migrating to VoIP come from several others
areas:
-
Easier movement of people: With dynamic allocation
of IP addresses, it is possible for personnel to simply plug a phone in at a new
location and still receive the full suite of functionality for which their phone
had originally been configured. -
Reductions in required infrastructure: Ideally, in a new building
environment, this would mean having to install the wiring for only one type of
network, and realizing the associated savings in wiring closets. In an existing
office facility, it means not having to spend money on a PBX for a new branch
office or major expansion. Telephones could be installed by users at the branch
office and managed centrally in headquarters by a single manager. No skilled
technician is needed at the remote site to install or configure a PBX or the
phones.
PBX service providers focus on strengthening their position in
BFSI and telecom vertical with telephony solution. They are keen to work with
organizations in retail for their branch networking solutions by creating
integration with business applications and business intelligence.
Trends
It has been indicated that the copper implants will start decreasing by
2015, and IP (fiber and wireless-Wi-Fi, WiMax, etc) usage will increase. And
hence by that time most of the world is supposed to be on IP based
communication.
Businesses and organizations of all sizes are entering a new
phase in the adoption of IP communications; unified messaging and voice mail;
customer contact; and audio, Web, and videoconferencing solutions. Until
recently, the IP communications debate focused on whether it was a viable,
"ready-for-prime-time" technology, but in the last few years this new
technology has gained a strong foothold in the mainstream market.
As a result, the traditional EPABX has evolved from a TDM
architecture to an IP architecture. The new IP architectured PBX systems are
referred to as "IP-PBXs".
IP-PBXs utilize VoIP technology to packetize voice and switch it
via an IP network. Since this is the same IP network on which data applications
and IP-based video is carried, organizations see increased RoI. Thus, there is a
shift from deploying multiple networks for voice, video and data to a converged
IP network that transports IP based data, voice and video traffic.
How to Optimize the Network?
If the following points are addressed one can optimize their network using
this future proof technology:
-
Is the LAN equipment designed to support an
acceptable amount of availability? -
Is the LAN configured with redundancy options?
-
Does the installed LAN and WAN equipment support QoS functionality?
-
Is an isolated VLAN configured exclusively for IP phones?
-
How are the IP phones going to be powered?
-
Can the IP Telephony traffic traverse certain firewalls and NAT
devices? -
Is mobility desired, and if so, is the WLAN sufficient?
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IP-PBXs utilize VoIP technology to packetize voice and switch it via an IP network. Since this is the same IP network on which data applications and IP-based video is carried, organizations see increased RoI |
How to Select a Vendor?
One must ensure that the vendor is a name of repute and reliable. Do not get
worried away by cheap solutions that claim that they are IP-PBX systems-and
turn out to be TDM systems with only IP phones connected to it in turn. Backward
and forward compatibility is a must. There should be a clear process and path
for upgrades and migration. The installation, which accounts for major costs and
troubles as well if done improperly, should be done by a certified installer/
integrator who has a lot of experience. Reference checks should be done and
testimonials should be demanded which prove the vendor and installer's
experience in the domain. Lastly, do not deploy a hybrid or IP-PBX system just
for the heck of having the latest technology unless you have a need or it may
burn a hole into your pocket. One must utilize the benefits offered in full for
only then they make a wise investment decision.
Depending on the industry and their customer demands, an
organization may evaluate vendors on the following parameters to improve
productivity and effectiveness:
-
Real time applications such as voice and video calls
quality -
Messaging in terms of voice mail/email/unified messaging
-
Soft phones & SIP phones usage on the PBX
-
Rich presence engine and communication enabled business process
-
Conferencing (audio, video and Web)
-
Mobility and collaborative solutions
The approach followed by Indian enterprises in adopting IP-PBXs
usually falls in the following categories:
-
End of life of their existing EPABX
-
Lack of scalability on their existing EPABX
-
New facility
-
Need for productivity enhancing applications
-
Increased need for collaborating (voice, video and data) at reduced
cost
The PBX market is growing. Like most technologies, India shouldn't
take long to catch up and possibly surpass international markets in terms of
growth and acceptance to the new technology. In India, both enterprises and PBX
players face some regulatory constraints. Although the government has announced
a single infrastructure, complete convergence has not yet been achieved. At
present, enterprises cannot interconnect calls between PSTN and CUG. Hence,
inspite of single infrastructure, ease of communication is not yet possible.
Baburajan K
baburajank@cybermedia.co.in