IP Telephony

Most people now understand that, even for small companies, Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) solutions operating over a converged voice and data network are the best choice to replace aging telephone systems. However, as there is a significant capital outlay in implementing Voice over IP (VoIP), companies need to ensure that the new system delivers a rapid and adequate return, with both strategic and financial value.

RoI Factors

In general, there are four major factors which should be taken into account when calculating potential ROI for unified communications:

• 1. Reduced hardware, software and maintenance costs. Having a single, unified network carrying all data and voice traffic will result in reduced cost because a company only needs to purchase, install and maintain one infrastructure instead of two.
• 2. Reduced network management costs. Many companies have found that an integrated network and the Cisco network management applications, particularly those for unified communications, improve the productivity of network staff and accommodate network growth with the same staffing levels.
• 3. Improved line usage. For geographically dispersed companies, the cost savings of routing calls over their existing WAN infrastructure can be significant.
• 4. Increased productivity for users and IT staff with anytime, anywhere access to telephony features for mobile workers, reduction in the amount of time spent on travel to other sites and the reduction of “telephone tag” by using presence technology.

Although cost savings are a major factor in any decision to move to Unified Communications, any business case should also consider the broad range of resulting financial and strategic improvements, including:

• • More effective communications, such as integration of email and voicemail, so that voicemails can be picked up from email systems.
• • Increased user and IT productivity
• • Greater operational resilience
• • Better customer service

And, in today's dynamic business environment, perhaps the most important benefit comes from having a communications system that can change and grow at a moment's notice, enabling new capabilities for more effective business communications, employee mobility, streamlining business processes, and improving profitability.

Cisco’s Unified Communications solution covers a wide range of products aimed at companies of all sized, ranging from the UCS500, targeted at SMBs of up to 50 users, through the Unified Communications Manager Express right up to global solutions based on the Unified Communications Manager which can support 30,000 users in a single cluster, all of which have applications such as voicemail associated with them.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly Cisco Unified CallManager)

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly Cisco Unified CallManager) is the powerful call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications solution. It provides voice, video, mobility, and presence services for businesses with up to 30,000 users, Unified Communications Manager is a scalable, distributable, and highly available enterprise-class IP telephony call-processing system.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager creates a unified workspace that extends enterprise telephony features and capabilities to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, voice over IP (VoIP) gateways, mobile devices, and multimedia applications. Additional services, such as unified messaging, multimedia conferencing, presence, collaborative contact centers, and interactive multimedia response systems, are made possible through open telephony APIs

Cisco Unified Communications Manager, deployable on the Cisco 7800 Series Media Convergence Servers or on third party servers by HP or IBM, includes the following features:

• • Highly scalable, supporting up to 30,000 lines per server cluster
• • Able to support a full range of communications features and applications, including SIP-based applications
• • Highly available for business continuity, supporting multiple levels of server redundancy and survivability
• • Support for a broad range of phones to suit varying user requirements
• • Choice of operating system environments: Windows server-based implementation or Linux-based appliance model implementation

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (formerly Cisco Unified CallManager Express)

Designed specifically for SMBs, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express provides the same kind of phone features as much larger systems. As well as providing voice, video and other communication capabilities on a single server it can integrate with Microsoft Office and support up to 240 employees in a single office, multiple offices or branch locations. Additionally, the Cisco UCM Express supports features such as four digit forwarding (even between locations), call forwarding, “find me, follow me” groups and can eliminate long distance call charges for calls made between different locations.

Cisco Unity Unified Messaging (Voicemail)

Cisco Unity unified messaging increases organizational efficiency with a voice and unified messaging platform that allows employees to access messages from wherever they are, using the tool of their choice, be it laptop, phone, desktop PC or mobile phone.

A variety of clients, such as Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Internet browser clients, and e-mail clients, allow employees to view and manage their voice messaging inbox on a PC, and prioritize messages at a glance. They can also access messages through their Cisco Unified IP phone user interface or mobile clients; in other words, they can enjoy unified messaging at their workspace anytime, anywhere, and over any device.

Cisco Unity unified messaging allows you to check your e-mail, voice, and fax messages over a telephone, so you can manage all your messages when you are out of the office. With speech access you can access and control your messages by using intuitive voice commands, such as natural language commands, or address a voice message by speaking the person's name, even when operating hands-free. You can travel without a laptop and still be in touch. If you do not have an Internet connection, simply dial in to check all your messages.

The Cisco Unity solution offers organizations a reliable, secure, scalable, feature-rich voice and unified messaging platform as part of a unified communications solution. Its unified messaging with Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino allows organizations to access e-mail, voice, and fax messages from a single inbox anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Administrators have to manage only one user account for both e-mail and voicemail messages. By sharing a common directory, Cisco Unity servers can be networked together across multiple sites, providing flexibility in deploying messaging throughout your organization and allowing effective communications. Based on industry standards, the Cisco Unity system transparently integrates with your network, communication applications, and clients.

As with the UCM server, there is an Express version of this for smaller companies.

ARC Enterprise Operator Consoles

ARC Enterprise is a professional operator console designed exclusively for Cisco Unified Communications. It uses the concept of Call Queues which enable the identification and prioritisation of different types of calls, so that customers receive the correct level of service; additionally, this permits out of hours routing, multi-tenancy and multi-site working.

ARC contains a thirty two field directory which can scale to 100,000 users, with core contact data as well as alternative contacts, job function and other such information. All this can be populated from Active Directory sources using LDAP synchronisation.

Other functions of ARC console include the ability to send messages to the displays of users’ phones, call recording, click to dial and send SMS messages.

Witness Impact 360 Voice Recording

Witness Systems Impact 360 range of IP call recording solutions is cost-effective and can scale down to single channel, occasional recording to meet the needs of individual executives or smaller businesses, and scale up to meet the requirements of large enterprises. By simply pushing a button on the IP phone at any point during the call, your company can capture and keep the entire interaction.

Using Impact 360 allows:

• • Capturing all customer/caller interactions
• • Recording, storing and replaying contacts in their entirety
• • Establishing and quickly adjusting recording parameters to reflect the evolving needs of your business
• • Sharing captured contacts - containing caller feedback and competitive intelligence - with other departments and throughout your organization.
• • Identifying patterns and trends in your captured interactions. For example, the attributes of high quality calls can be analysed and replicated to increase sales and improve customer service.