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When a pet owner buys a new puppy, she knows the price she pays to walk out the door with sloppy kisses is only the initial cost of pet ownership. Instead, many financial factors will contribute to the health and behavior of her new life-long companion and, likewise, relationship with her wallet. Despite the seemingly simple concept, businesses decision makers aslo need to fully examine the big price picture of technology investments when comparing the total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) – most noticeably between premise-based to hosted Unified Communication (UC) systems.
Window shopping, premise-based UC systems are appearing to have the lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and attract buyers who do not look into limitations in scalability or functionality, as well as hidden costs impacting productivity. BroadSoft’s whitepaper brings clarity to decision-makers by comparing the actual costs and features of today’s hosted and premise-based UC systems, including the following TCO areas:
- System & capital costs
- Maintenance, management & support
- Installation
- Training
- Equipment housing & power
- IT staffing
For more information, please read the full whitepaper or contact your BroadSoft sales representative.
CEO of BroadSoft, Michael Tessler, sits-down to discuss, what he believes, is the “most strategic initiative in BroadSoft’s history”. This podcast captures Tessler’s thoughts on BroadSoft’s newest solution – a comprehensive platform that brings together all of our Unified Communication elements, including user experience, mobility, openness and go-to-market support. Enjoy the listen to find out more!
And be sure to you’re following and commenting on our LinkedIn Group, on Twitter, or on Facebook, for the latest news and answers.
We have all been waiting for the promise of fixed-mobile convergence. UC-One™ IMS moves this often over used term, beyond simple call forwarding, to a solution that dissolves the boundaries between communications services, devices, and the number of people who can enter and exit a conversation with just a click of the mouse. The advance capabilities of IMS, combined with the desire by employees and enterprises for mobile unified communications, is a tremendous opportunity for mobile network operators — a $10B revenue opportunity, as a matter of fact, according to Infonetics.
From a user experience standpoint, UC-One™ IMS enables the seamless movement between services, devices and the addition of others to a conversation. Enabling employees with the freedom to work from anywhere, on any device, UC-One™ IMS provides employees with access to all of their Unified Communications services, from: a laptop computer, mobile or smartphone, tablet, desktop computer or desk phone. By separating communication devices from service subscriptions, the benefits to enterprises are substantial, including: significantly lowering telecommunications costs and simplifying enterprise management of UC services.
By forgoing the power of fixed-mobile convergence, Mobile Network Operators may also be missing out on a very real opportunity. Leveraging an IMS architectural framework, LTE networks and VoLTE, UC-One™ IMS enables mobile operators to enter the higher margin mobile UC market and to offer a truly superior communication experience. UC-One™ IMS offers several advantages for innovative Mobile Operators, some of which include:
- New revenue opportunities through enhanced services
- Increased customer satisfaction and churn reduction
- Ability to more rapidly monetize their LTE network investments
By offering UC ahead of LTE, BroadSoft believes UC will be the first applications of volume over LTE – an evident step in this unbending trend of seamless communication technology.
BroadSoft has and will always ensure the multiple layers of seamless UC services: that of the end user communication experience and the ability to manage such an experience. To me, it seems astonishing, only a few years ago, it was standard practice for an employee to pick-up two separate devices to call or text for work or pleasure.
Now, it’s your turn to change the experience again.
Invited to speak on the Hosted Unified Communications: A Driver for M&A Activity panel this past week at Comptel, I was dumbfounded by a statistic our moderator, Gerry DeHaven, a partner with Q Advisors LLC, presented: demand for hosted Unified Communications services is outpacing supply. A recent study by Techaisle, a global IT SMB market research and industry analyst organization, reveals that SMBs are finding and reporting shortages in cloud solutions, including Web conferencing, video conferencing, Hosted VoIP and audio conferencing. We should be astonished. Enterprises are demanding modern communication services and cannot find providers! This is a huge market opportunity that should not be missed.
[1] Red bars indicate a gap shown by a higher percentage of SMBs asking for solutions than current offerings, creating shortage and opportunity.
Evidence for the unwavering movement by enterprises, small and large, to cloud services continues to escalate. Enterprises have embraced the operational and expense benefits of cloud services and are evaluating cloud models for all services:
- Gartner predicts the global public cloud computing market will grow 18.5% in 2013 to $131 billion, up from $111 billion last year.
- Juniper Research similarly finds annual revenues from cloud-based mobile applications will grow to reach nearly $9.5 billion by 2014, fueled by the need for converged, collaborative services, the widespread adoption of mobile broadband services and the deployment of key technological enablers.
And for the telecommunications industry specifically:
- Infonetics forecasts the Hosted VoIP & UC market to reach $10B by 2016.[2]
Such unmet demand creates a strong opportunity for Service Providers who provide a comprehensive Unified Communications solution. Service providers need to pick up the pace of their UC services deployment beyond voice and become the single source solution for businesses of all sizes, including SMBs. My fear is the already large UC cloud solution gap will continue to include mobile Unified Communications. I hope this does not become a reality.
BroadSoft’s UC One™ is the only platform designed specifically for service providers, enabling them to offer comprehensive Unified Communications solutions that meet the needs of the market segments they serve. As Service Providers adopt and offer comprehensive offerings, solutions such as UC-One will help us all close the supply gap for hosted Unified Communications services.
[1] QAdvisors. (2013, March). In Gerry DeHaven (Moderator). Hosted unified communications: A driver for M&Aa activity. Presentation Delivered at M&A COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2013 Las Vegas Comptel plus.
[2] Infonetics Research VoIP and UC Services and Subscriber Market Forecast 2012
Despite a growing awareness of Unified Communication (UC) capabilities, BroadSoft’s research points to the need to promote the benefits of UC services. LTE networks combined with mobile UC services will continue to provide innovative possibilities; however, we believe demand will grow by connecting these capabilities to their benefits. Finding many users are facing non-real time communication frustrations, and are currently seeking remedies for such challenges, we believe Service Providers should assume a role similar to a health care provider to appeal to the frustrated user. By assessing individual communication challenges or “illnesses”, Service Providers can prescribe custom UC prescriptions to eliminate communication frustrations and describe the benefits of a healthy UC user.
When I’m feeling sad, I simply remember the things that I need… And then I don’t feel so bad…
Whether prescribing a solution for Sally the teleworker or Phil the Plumber, a Service Provider should be able to address the pain points of an organization and showcase how a UC solution will remedy unique frustrations and create a healthier business. The same research points to universal communication pain points; the top three frustrations are cited as:
- Waiting on information (78%);
- Locating and contacting someone (69%); and
- Email is an ineffective communications tool (58%).
Rather than continuing to work harder than a gopher in hard dirt, as “Dr. Phil” explains, 76% of communication users in our survey results cite they would be “very keen” or “somewhat keen” to adopt UC solutions.
As the industry draws closer to Mobile World Congress, and as we often focus on the capabilities of mobile communications, let us also remember the importance of excellent customer care. Such care, we believe, is made possible through individualized messaging – describing how today’s solutions will benefit employees in increasing individual efficiency, effectiveness, and reachability concerns.
For more on BroadSoft’s most recent research, please see our white paper here:
http://broadsoft.com/pdf/whitepaper-what-users-want.pdf
With the passing of another New Year, traditionally, many of us turn our thoughts forward – to opportunities and new resolutions to fulfill. Each BroadSoft Connection’s reveal likewise announces a new market opportunity– although, this year, I felt our 10th anniversary event was especially meaningful with the announcement of UC-One™. Announcing a growth opportunity for hosted communication services, UC-One signifies, not simply a transformation in business communications, but an opportunity to provide an innovative and superior experience to help you more easily meet your goals.
Scott Hoffpauir, BroadSoft’s Chief Technology Officer at Connections 2012
Why is UC-One significant? A 2012 Infonetics Research survey on enterprise plans for unified communications reveals that complexity has displaced cost as the leading barrier affecting UC deployment. Also, when choosing a UC solution, 71% of respondents view mobile device integration as “very important.” This landscape, fragmented by service providers, as well as communications silos for voice, video, text and collaboration, creates complexity and mobility that inhibits employee productivity. The UC-One platform meets this productivity challenge through the integration of four key unified communications components (click for more information).
Many have agreed with me on the significance of this year’s reveal, including RCRWireless. RCRWireless discussed the potential of UC-One as helping to serve, “Telecom operators [who] want to avoid becoming dumb pipe… [and] are looking for ways to increase their revenue with value-added services that complement their regular voice and data services”. Dave Michels, UCStrategies’ UC Expert, independent industry analyst and consultant, also describes UC-One as:
“An impressive move…a strong UC package that is as good or better than many premises-based solutions.…I expect it to do very well in the marketplace”.
With hosted VoIP and UC accounting for 30% of business voice in the third quarter of 2012(Source: Infonetics, VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers 1H12 ), UC-One stands to meet a large market in the New Year, while continuing to deliver user needs and gaining critical acceptance. World Wide revenues of 3Q 2012 have increased over 12% for UC alone, fueled by “demands for tools to provide increased productivity and employee flexibility” (Infonetics, Enterprise UC, VoIP, TDM Equipment 3Q12).
UC-One’s announcement means it may be easier than ever to keep our business resolutions this year – Happy New Year to all connected to the BroadSoft family.
Interested in seeing a live demo? Take a view from the front seat of Connections 2012. In this live recording, meet Joe – the designer, as he discovers how UC-One works for him: .
For more information on UC-One, please visit:
http://www.broadsoft.com/products/broadworks/uc-one/
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A modern day Thomas Edison. The Jack Welch of the telecommunications industry. If you have not yet heard of Dr. Hossein Eslambolchi, his biography does not make for light reading (
http://bit.ly/gAFnmn
). Well known for his revolutionary role with AT&T as President of Bell Laboratories, CIO and CTO until 2006, Business Week has labeled him “a critical player in maintaining AT&T’s status as a technology leader” (12/2005). Eslambolchi has leveraged both his visionary entrepreneurial and engineering skills (named “Inventor of the Year” by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame 2001) to act as advisor and board member to dozens of companies he has helped to transform. We see this currently with Clearwire’s transition from retail to wholesale network provider. BroadSoft, the leading, worldwide innovator of Voice over IP (VoIP) applications, grilled the often prophetic thought leader on what’s next for the telecommunications industry.
BroadSoft: As a renowned telecommunications strategist, you are known to help set the foundation on what’s next for the industry. So, we have to ask – what’s next?
Eslambolchi: I have been pushing hard for the past 15 years that everything will be moving toward IP; and predicted by 2010 VoIP would be the primary source of all business communication and by 2015 would be the primary source of all consumer communications. We are not too far from it, as more and more businesses have transitioned to VoIP (due to cost, quality, scalability, flexibility, etc). And with FTTX & 4G – VoIP has started to reach out to consumers.
BroadSoft: You see a large market opportunity for VoIP and the end consumer?
Eslambolchi: VoIP is clearly a transformative, converged technology that offers significant benefits for corporation and consumers alike. By 2015 VoIP won’t be an option for voice telephony; it will be the standard – as ubiquitous as the copper wire has been in the past.
BroadSoft: You mention ubiquity. How do you see IP, mobile, and the connected consumer moving forward?
Eslambolchi: Communications must be building around the user, instead of the user having to adapt to their devices. IP convergence will allow you to plug one device into a broadband network to instantly meet all your communications needs. We are reaching the era of the smart environment – smart homes and all of its appliances, smart cars which will integrate with all of our devices from GPS to ipad, iphone, Android, facebook, twitter, and of course smart offices.
Mobile phones will be able to move between VoIP networks, and wireless networks without the user ever noticing a change – a huge boost for reliability and range of use. 4G is the promise of the future for broadband as they fully and easily interconnect with wide range of individual devices, a capability that earlier wireless technologies lacked. It will support all sorts of converged services, including conferencing, training, entertainment, gaming, advertising, mobile banking, NFC, etc. SMS, MMS, pictures, gaming, video, and many other apps will be integrated with voice so that if you drop a call, or need to remain quite in a conference room or at home, you can continue your conversation and other apps.
BroadSoft: BroadSoft recently announced HD video conferencing service, BroadCloud Video. What are your predictions for multimedia, video and IP?
Eslambolchi: Video will be the new voice. IMS will be the springboard for seamless delivery of multimedia streams across mobile and wired devices. And IMS helps enable XoIP service and video services such as video conferencing, video training, video peering between multiple independent networks which will work similar to voice.
BroadSoft: What is the XoIP opportunity for video?
Eslambolchi: XoIP infrastructure allows the service to adjust and adapt to the access technologies the user has at his/her disposal. You record a video message, but the other party does not have access to the video device. The message will automatically covert to the service layer from audio-video format into an audio message or SMS. These XoIP apps on all services will allow you to take your call at home, easily transfer to your car (hands-free), and once you are in the office to transfer it to a audio-video desk phone, and vice versa.
BroadSoft: Our service providers, partners, and end customers have played a critical role in the evolution of IP technology and services. As such, how do you see this VoIP community evolving?
Eslambolchi: BroadSoft plays a key role in all of the above conversations; as they have been the pioneer of the XoIP feature and application services for past 12 years. While others had doubts about VoIP, IMS, FTTX, FMC, 4G; BroadSoft continued to push forward with their innovation. The innovations from BroadSoft enabled so much for us during the past 12 years in wireline XoIP; that now we can take advantage of all of the experience, development, and applications as they all will be extended toward 4G. These will also be the converged XB services of combined wired and wireless networks in a ubiquitous, always available, mobile broadband network.
I have personally invited many executives from our industry to stop by the BroadSoft booth in CTIA and encourage everyone to do the same.
Are you always the last to hear office gossip? Always seem to stumble over what-seemed-to-be good ideas in business meetings? Do work associates make jokes about your tie (“it’s just too trendy for them, right?”)? Well, now it’s your chance to be part of the in-crowd with BroadSoft’s Trend Watch 2011 report. Be the first to know what’s hip, what’s fresh, and what the great ideas are before they happen, as the worldwide leader and innovator of IP technology hands you a sneak-peak into what we think the telecommunication “do’s” of 2011 will be.
Do’s (2011) versus Don’t (2010):
- The Connected Consumer vs. The Mobile Consumer
Tablets and smartphones were on everyone’s hot list this holiday season. As we wind our way through 2011, we believe emerging devices will proliferate across the realm of operating systems- offering utilitarian technology benefits in speed and performance as mobile platforms battle. Whether reading an e-book, listening to a family member’s music playlist, or getting directions, we expect trendy consumers will not only seek out these mobile devices –they will find a seamless connection between their connected devices a must-have for 2011.
- Business Applications vs. Consumer Applications
On average, the U.S. downloaded about 3 million of the top 300 apps per day in December. In our view, 2011 will continue to be a year of mobile app craze; however, businesses will quickly become the new consumer. Already one of the fastest growing categories in the App Store, the business app category was up (+186%) in 2010, according to Distimo. We expect to see “in” service providers catching onto the craze by offering value-added applications for every business’s both niche and universal needs, such as: Productivity apps, Communication & Collaboration, CRM, Mobility, Business Process Integration (Act!, Lotus Notes, etc), and more.
Watch how:
- HD Video Conferencing vs. The Traditional IP Deskphone
Did you just click through your in-box as you talked to your business partner over the phone? That’s so 2010! Offering a cost-effective method to add value to your communications experience, we anticipate that truly trendy businesses and consumers will use HD video from the cloud in 2011. Offering an always-on virtual bridge, trend setters connect to business prospects, partners, and peers in HD Video from the cloud — a must for 2011 for the rich communications experience everyone deserves. Apart from this new staple, consumers have also caught wind of the trend and are using the up-and-coming technology to stay in touch with relatives and friends with family center.
2011’s Hit or Miss: UC from the Cloud
If you were on the fence in 2010, you’re already on the “miss” list as the New Year begins. We see hip businesses – large and small –taking advantages of UC services from the cloud in 2011. While even water-cooler dropouts are mostly likely “in” on the productivity and economic benefits of UC, we expect those service providers in-the-know to offer a continuation of UC perks for business offerings this year plus, now, the advantages of the new BroadCloud offerings. These include HD video, web-based collaboration, integrated message & presence features, and VoIP management solutions for the forward-looking service provider who can offer always on, effective communication services.
Don’t be a victim of the trend police this year. Follow the advice in this Trend Watch report and subscribe to this blog roll for continued in-the-know news, opinion, and advice on the latest in communication technology. Have something to add to the list? Disagree with a trend? Let us know below.
Congratulations to Verizon for the launch of their Global Fixed Mobile Convergence service, announced this month and immediately available in nine countries across Europe.
The Global FMC service has both “top-line” and “bottom-line” benefits to Verizon’s customers. On the top-line side, employees remain productive across Europe in any of the nine countries served by Global FMC; on the bottom-line, managers benefit from reduced costs for employees who use their mobile as an extension of their business handset.
According to Anthony Recine, vice president of network and communications solutions for Verizon Business, “With Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, companies no longer need to wrestle with productivity versus cost management to keep their business in full gear. This innovative new service helps on-the-go workers remain in touch with customers and other business colleagues while reducing the cumulative roaming charges for hundreds or thousands of roving workers.”
What’s been less noted, I think, is the positive impact this will have on Verizon Business’s hosted business service – Hosted IP Centrex (HIPC). Verizon already delivers a successful “cloud”/hosted business service that’s deployed across Europe and the Americas; the introduction of Global FMC extends this functionality to mobile handsets. It’s well-demonstrated that the value of hosted applications increases dramatically when you add a mobile component. For example, consider how many people update Facebook exclusively from mobile devices.
So congratulations to Verizon – another service provider igniting progress and changing the game with Global FMC and expanding their hosted business solutions to mobile devices.
IDC recently released a report with some astonishing figures on mobile workers, forecasting more than 1 billion worldwide by the end of 2010. But wait – Google took it one further, with the director of its European operations stating that desktop PCs will be “irrelevant in three years” (reported here in Read, Write, Web). And, as the same report identifies, this sentiment aligns with what Google’s CEO discussed in his keynote at Mobile World Congress, when he made it clear that a primary focus for Google going forward will be on the mobile market.
While three years seems dramatically soon for desktop PCs to disappear, it’s clear that we have reached a tipping point of sorts for advanced communications technology tools and services. There is no denying the impact VoIP has had on this explosion and its role in providing seamless, hassle-free remote access. Many work places have implemented enhanced, formal telecommuting policies and are encouraging employees to take advantage of them. A central part of this equation is unified communications.
We’ve been singing the praises of UC for quite some time, drawing attention to the practical applications and ROI of its integration aspects. For BroadSoft employees, UC was a lifeline during the recent Snowmageddon of 2010, allowing us to maintain productivity and not skip a beat over several days in which none, or few, of us were able to commute into the “office.”
As the world gets flatter and the demand to work remotely increases, we can expect to see a number of trends on the rise (besides more workers going mobile and the end of dinosaur PC’s under cubicle desks), including more businesses turning to SIP Trunking and dramatic increases in hosted UC deployments. A CDW survey, reported by TMCnet supports this, showing that many companies have already experienced increased ROI from UC.
The bottom line to all of this is that in the not too distant future, we can expect almost all businesses to offer telecommuting options, often supported by hosted UC tools and services, just as today they provide employees computers and internet access.
Michael Tessler
Scott Hoffpauir
Leslie Ferry
Mike Wilkinson
Curtis Hartmann
Paul Adams
