SMB Guide to Improving Business Performance through Unified Communications An InfoTrack White Paper

Transcription

1 SMB Guide to Improving Business Performance through An InfoTrack White Paper Susan Hobart InfoTrack Research Director T3i Group

2 SMB Guide to Improving Business Performance through by Susan Hobart, Research Director T3i Group Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that are using unified communications applications to improve their productivity and profitability are flourishing. Vendors now offer the SMB market scalable, affordable solutions providing functionality previously available only to large enterprises. These adaptable communication systems can help reduce bills for telephone service and system maintenance, and solve common business problems, such as helping customers quickly connect with the right employee. Popular features and benefits include the following: Caller ID and find me/follow me that enable customers to rapidly reach the right experts Unified messaging, which allows mobile users to get office voic messages in near real-time Instant messaging and presence, which enable immediate access to key employees Audio and web conferencing so employees can set up ad hoc group calls without monthly fees Twinning of desk and mobile phones to ring simultaneously and transfer calls Contact center software that intelligently routes callers, with their call histories, to experts. Despite considerable evidence describing the advantages to businesses, many SMBs, which we define as companies or institutions with 5 to 500 employees, have been reluctant to adopt these IP Telephony/unified communications (UC) technologies. Our research confirms that this is the case. For those unconvinced or unsure of how to proceed, this whitepaper may help. In it we analyze the following: the reasons SMBs have given for not adopting IPT and unified communications actual case studies of SMBs that use IPT and UC to improve their business results. Market Segmentation Based on SMB Buying Behavior for UC Our InfoTrack division conducts annual primary market research studies in which we systematically survey demand for IPT and UC applications among SMB decision-makers. We have identified two unique segments regarding the buying behavior for IPT and UC: Business Value SMBs expect IPT/UC to improve the way they do business Basic Communications SMBs just want cost-effective, basic communications In 2010, the Business Value segment represented 38% of U.S. SMBs, and Basic Communications SMBs accounted for 61%. To confirm this segmentation, we asked SMBs if they believe that UC applications, such as unified messaging, audio/webconferencing, mobile features and others, can help improve their 2

3 business processes. Business Value SMBs Strongly or Very Strongly Agree. Communications SMBs Mostly Agree, Partially Agree, Mostly/Strongly Disagree. Conversely, the Basic "UC applications can deliver business value by significantly improving key business processes" Business Value SMBs Very Strongly or Strongly Agree 38% Basic Communications SMBs Mostly Agree Partially Agree Disagree 24% 37% The largest single response group was 37%, who Mostly Agree. This group has the potential to progress to the Business Value segment in the future if they learn more about specific UC applications, but for now we classify them as Basic Communications SMBs. The Business Value Gap Despite strong agreement about the potential to benefit from UC apps, only 24% of the Business Value SMBs indicated that they had begun to implement UC applications at the end of Adoption is lower than expected, but a correlation between the Business Value segment and UC adoption is evident, as only 3% of the Basic Communications SMBs indicated that they have begun to adopt UC. We classify the percentage of Business Value SMBs that have not deployed UC to represent a Business Value Gap because a clear gap between the perception of business value and actual execution exists. Business Value SMBs 38% 24% Have Deployed UC Business Value Gap 76% 62% Basic Communications SMBs 3% They believe it, but haven t acted on it. If Business Value SMBs strongly believe that UC apps can deliver business value, why do 76% of those Business Value SMBs not use any of them? 3

4 Our survey found that the top reasons SMBs are not implementing UC applications are: Most important reasons for your SLOW progress in implementing the phases of UC We aren t convinced that we can achieve hard savings from UC apps Most UC solutions are targeted at bigger companies We are more focused on basic communications than on new applications We are waiting for our vendors to show us how to achieve business value from UC apps We are waiting for the early adopters in our industry to prove in these apps first All respondents indicated the need to understand how IP Telephony systems and related UC applications can help them improve business processes before investing. SMBs are looking for guidance from their IPT/UC vendors, but are finding that many of these vendors lack the understanding of their particular business issues or are targeting their UC solutions, and business process knowledge, at the Enterprise market. These reasons are consistent with our finding that 37% of SMBs Mostly Agree that UC can help their business processes. With more knowledge of how UC could help their businesses, many would be likely to move up to the Business Value segment. We believe that proper support and education can help virtually all businesses move into the Business Value segment. Case Studies In the Appendix are nine case studies that clearly demonstrate the business value of IPT/UC in the following industries: legal services accounting services publishing healthcare: regional and rural hospitals equipment rental and delivery services warehousing and distribution education a university local government a township. The companies profiled range from 10 to 600 employees, and have deployed a variety of Mitel s standard solutions that specifically addressed their unique needs. The case studies revealed two generic reasons for investing in IP Telephony and UC applications: 1. COST: Cutting outside vendor bills, such as telephone service, or reducing IT workloads through IP Telephony drove the decision. Some new features were then adopted by employees not involved in the decision, which dramatically improved their day-to-day operations. Based on these early successes, the businesses decided to take advantage of other Mitel capabilities. 2. CLIENT ACCESS: Delays in reaching the right employees jeopardized business performance. The solutions varied, as did the target employees, such as remote or mobile sales, customer support or professional services experts. The most common problems were: reaching employees who weren t desk-bound, either due to their jobs or grow plans routing inbound calls quickly and effectively. 4

5 The solutions that the SMBs chose varied based on how the employees conducted their work. Most deployed systems gradually, starting with IPT, but as they recognized improvements to their business operations, began adding new applications to tackle other issues. All SMBs experienced smooth conversions and were satisfied with the training and technical support. Those that solicited bids found Mitel s solutions to be very competitively priced. Their investments paid for themselves, either in terms of immediate cost savings or growth opportunities. Why Mitel? InfoTrack monitors and annually reports market share for Enterprises and SMBs. In 2009, Mitel was again the market share leader in IP Telephony line shipments among U.S. SMBs. As the case studies demonstrate, Mitel s success is attributable to the company s and its partners making the effort to understand their customers needs, proposing cost-effective solutions appropriate to their needs, and providing ongoing support Market Share of IP Telephony Line Shipments U.S. SMB Market Vendors Mitel 16.6% Avaya 13.7% NEC 12.9% Panasonic 11.7% Cisco 10.9% Toshiba 9.7% 0% 50% InfoTrack has developed a survey-based tool called the Business Value Index (BVI). BVI measures the extent to which companies have benefitted from UC applications, and correlates that to their stage of deployment. To compute BVI, we defined several phases of UC implementation, such as developing a plan, conducting a trial, achieving hard or soft savings, etc., and assigned unique point values to each. We survey U.S. businesses annually about their progress in deploying UC, add their points and compute their BVI scores. These scores are then analyzed and tracked by business segments, verticals and vendors. 5

6 In both 2009 and 2010, Mitel scored the highest SMB BVI among major vendors. The average BVI of Mitel s SMB customers was higher than Microsoft s, Cisco s and Avaya s. Mitel s SMB customer BVI averaged 2.6 in 2009, vs. 2.3 for Avaya and Cisco and 1.3 for Microsoft. In 2010, Mitel s SMBs spiked to 4.4, followed by Microsoft with 3.8, Cisco with 3.7 and Avaya with SMB BVI Mitel Microsoft Cisco Avaya This comparison confirms that the Mitel customers understood the process improvement opportunities presented by unified communications sufficiently well to invest in the technology and achieve a positive return on investment. Conclusions UC applications have been proven to deliver real business value to SMBs. Regardless of the vertical market, businesses can use applications to solve their specific problems in the manner most appropriate for them. SMBs should expect their vendors to help them identify solutions that provide specific, practical benefits with rapid return on investment. 6

7 Appendix SMB Case Studies 1. Law Firm 2. Accounting Firm 3. Publisher 4. Regional Hospital 5. Rural Hospital 6. Supplier of Portable Sanitation & Heating Equipment 7. Distributor of Commercial Packaging Supplies 8. University 9. Township 7

8 CASE STUDY 1 International law and lobbyist firm with 10 employees Global clients reside in multiple time zones Offices are in and outside of the US; key employees occupy multiple offices in different time zones Principals travel extensively Dynamic issues require geographically dispersed team to work together and respond rapidly Firm doesn t have in-house IT support Communications among key team members and clients were slow, cumbersome and distracting, which risked business results and client satisfaction Travel and multiple office locations impeded communication, which jeopardized productivity as well as client satisfaction, and therefore, growth opportunities Monthly bills for Centrex basic telephone service were high Monthly conferencing, mobile and international phone bills were very high New voice system enables company to appear as one office with intercom and onebutton dialing, for streamlined customer interaction Inter-office calls eliminate long distance or international charges Single voic box per user forwards to smartphone for immediate access Twinning rings up to five phones simultaneously, for rapid accessibility and reduced cell phone bills Conference calls that can be set up real-time through the phone system reduce the need for outside conference bridges Chosen Technology: Mitel 5000 CP, Dynamic Extension Express, 5340 IP phones This company is small but poised for growth. With a simple technology solution, the client has improved productivity and eliminated many frustrations. Furthermore, the client is beginning to research other Mitel applications, such as Audio Web and Conferencing, which will help grow the business to a larger audience. 8

9 Accounting firm with 100 employees in multiple locations 9 CASE STUDY 2 Tax season requires temporary/part-time accountants and staff to be added quickly, and employees want flexibility to work remotely during overtime periods Auditors working on clients premises need connectivity to office Data must be secure, retained for seven years Clients couldn t reach the firm s 50 accountants when they were on their phones or out of office Accountants couldn t screen for client calls Employee phone, voic , password changes took 2+ weeks with Centrex service Data back-up to offsite bank vault was highly manual, and reliability was a risk Multiple unconnected offices: Centrex and Nortel BCM50 Monthly bills for Centrex were high and features were limited Integrated voice system empowered accountants to respond efficiently to clients due to multiple incoming lines and features such as caller ID, and enabled IT staff to set up seasonal, new employees with phones and mailboxes immediately. Teleworker provides secure access for remote workers, which facilitates staffing part-time workers and gives accountants the flexibility to work from home on nights, weekends Dynamic Extension enables incoming calls to ring on multiple fixed and mobile phones, and UM integrates voic and to a single mailbox with find me/follow me for accessibility where, when and how each employee prefers, which improved productivity, responsiveness and client satisfaction UC Advanced provides Auditors with laptop softphone, presence, Instant Messaging, conferencing when on client sites, which improved productivity Audio & Web Conferencing enables multiple auditors, accountants to conference and view information spontaneously without incurring conference service fees Virtualization of voice and other applications in the data center changed the back-up process by replacing daily manual tape back-ups of all systems with virtual disk images, which eliminated the risk of human error and contributed to a reduction of IT staff by 50%. Monthly telecom expenses were slashed by 75%. In addition, the number of servers was cut by almost 90%, which reduced the number of hardware service agreements and costs to about 15% of previous levels, and centralized control on one console. Lower electricity costs from not having to cool as many servers qualified the firm to receive rebates from their utility company s green audit program. Chosen Technology: Mitel Virtual MCD; Mobile Application Suite (MAS: Teleworker, NuPoint Unified Messaging, Unified Communicator Advanced, Audio & Web Conferencing) In a structured and cyclical industry, this accounting firm has improved bottom line profitability by gradually deploying solutions that changed processes. The accountants now enthusiastically ask the IT staff for features they ve seen, which, with MAS, can be accomplished simply by adding licenses.

10 CASE STUDY 3 Publishing firm with 100 employees Sales and marketing are conducted primarily by phone Day-to-day operations depend on effective inbound and outbound telephone communications with authors, customers and prospects worldwide Profitability depends upon selecting products to publish based on their demand and costs No dedicated IT staff can respond to problems or analyze call patterns Marketing and sales people were missing calls unless at their desks, which was difficult with a global client and author base spanning time zones Information about customers calling in couldn t be mapped to products and locations Company growth was being stifled by lack of information to optimize product decisions Old digital Avaya system was expensive to run and difficult to administer New IP voice and unified messaging systems allow employees to control when they can be reached, wherever they are The Contact Center solution accurately sizes staffing to meet inbound calls without sacrificing productivity, and routes calls to match language and expertise of the employee Call Accounting software with data mining of call patterns and global regions cuts expenses in international and US telecom costs by matching telephone service plans to their real needs and identifies opportunities for investment and growth The Contact Center reports help marketing identify new opportunities based on customer inquiries, purchase patterns and global locations Teleworker provides growth flexibility by placing remote workers in target time zones System operating efficiency lowered power consumption by 40% and reduced the IT workload Chosen Technology: Mitel MCD, Contact Center, Call Accounting, Mobile Application Suite (MAS: UC Mobile, Teleworker, NuPoint Unified Messaging) in a managed service contract This company plans to continue growing, and expects to increase its use of Mitel s applications as their needs grow. Because they have a managed service contract, they will receive upgrades and be protected against obsolescence. 10

11 Regional hospital complex with 600 employees in seven locations 11 CASE STUDY 4 An extensive multi-year extension and expansion into several campuses required moving employees in and out of temporary, older and remote buildings Medical staff are mobile within the complexes, and must always be reachable Quality patient care is based on state-of-the-art technologies, education and progressive processes Always-on communications and redundancy are essential Cost control is very important but problematical with advancing technology and processes Patient phones need only basic dial tone, are frequently damaged/stolen, so must be very low price Employees needed to be relocated quickly and efficiently, and stay reachable at all times Conferencing service costs were substantial The old Harris PBX was out of production and provided limited functionality Full IP Telephony deployment was not affordable, as IP phones are more expensive than analog/digital and unnecessary in patient rooms [Cisco s proposal, an all-ip solution, was twice the price of Mitel s] The hybrid voice system and UPS (uninterruptible power sources) for full redundancy and single console to control provided seamless communications throughout the expansion Teleworker phones backed up with the Line Interface Module, deployed in remote clinics and temporary sites, give secure access without having to configure an office, provide local line connectivity in the event of a network failure and reduce local telephone line service charges Three Mitel features give employees full access, control and flexibility whether they re being relocated to temporary quarters or routinely moving among locations: Unified Communicator Mobile rings their mobile and desktop phones simultaneously, and provides conferencing, four-digit and outbound dialing identical to their office phones Unified Messaging consolidates voic boxes and and enables the user to define the access mode and route calls with find me/follow me Dynamic Extension allows multiple desk-, soft-, homephones and mobile devices to ring simultaneously Cordless handsets, compatible with Mitel 5330 and 5360 phones, provide medical staff coverage while in patient rooms Audio & Web Conferencing enables adhoc meetings and file sharing among staff in different locations and saved significant hosted conferencing service expenses Replacing dedicated point-to-point circuits among each location with IP controllers eliminated dedicated voice circuits, which reduced carrier trunk costs by 50% Chosen Technology: Mitel MCD with MXe server, Dynamic Extension; Mobile Application Suite (MAS: UC Mobile, Teleworker, NuPoint Unified Messaging) This hospital selected Mitel and its partner over Cisco, Avaya and Nortel for reliability, flexibility and total cost of ownership. Since deployment, they have downloaded new MAS licenses and anticipate that technology solutions will continue to improve their processes as they grow and evolve.

12 Rural community hospital with 300 employees in two locations CASE STUDY 5 Hospital is building new facilities and also integrating coverage responsibilities with other rural hospitals An area health network could support disaster recovery and failover with IPT technology Medical staff are mobile throughout the facility, but must always be reachable Cost control is very important but problematical with advancing technology and processes Patient phones need only basic dial tone, are frequently damaged/stolen, so must be very low price Existing Nortel Option 51 was at capacity and unreliable, as evidenced by a six-hour crash Upgrade was needed to accommodate new facilities, integrate with other hospitals and leverage local health network for failovers Existing paging system was loud, disruptive and not always successful at reaching staff members The hybrid MCD provided sufficient capacity to support the new facility, and could use the fiber connection designed to connect the new facility for a single, integrated environment that saves technical support expenses. Simple features such as caller ID, call groups and directories improved staff efficiency and responsiveness. Wireless IP-DECT enables staff to be immediately reached anywhere within the hospital complex and eliminated paging Unified Communicator Mobile twins smartphones and desktop phones to ring simultaneously so that staff were always reachable when not in the facility Teleworker enables administrative staff to work from home with full office features and security for patient privacy Audio & Web Conferencing provides nursing staff with requisite training remotely, so they don t incur travel expenses or extra staffing Enterprise Manager simplifies administration and time, such as department relocations, in which phones are moved and remotely configured in minutes Call Accounting improves profitability and service by cost tracking and billing to tenants, as well as identifying where clinics should be placed based on calls from user populations Chosen Technology: Mitel MCD; IP DECT; MAS (UC Mobile, Teleworker, NuPoint Unified Messaging, Speech Auto-Attendant); Enterprise Manager; Call Accounting This hospital selected Mitel over Cisco based upon total cost of ownership, as Cisco had required an expensive SMARTnet and replacement of all handsets, and expandability. As their health care requirements continue to evolve, they believe that Mitel will provide the technology solutions to enhance their processes quickly and cost-effectively. 12

13 CASE STUDY 6 Provider of portable sanitation and heating equipment, with 53 employees Sales and delivery teams are frequently off-premises and must be reachable Since adding a second location five years ago, the 20-year old company is continuing to add offices Logistics among offices is critical to current performance and growth plans Customer event-based business necessitates timely, reliable, accurate service delivery Sales and delivery teams couldn t be reached by customers and colleagues when out-of-office Employees in one office didn t know who was available in another office when an urgent opportunity arose Communications network costs were rising The old Avaya system couldn t handle mobile and inter-office communication requirements The MCD in the headquarters location connects to satellite sites by SIP trunks, which eliminated long-distance charges among offices, and abbreviated dialing reduces response times. Dynamic Extension enables employees to designate up to eight devices to ring simultaneously, and all voic goes to a single mailbox so sales people never miss an opportunity. Calls are handled over the company s Mitel network, so call quality is consistently high and mobile bills were reduced. With Presence on all phones and the Unified Communicator Mobile, employees always know who is in each office, and whether sales and delivery team members are on the phone or available to be talk, so speed and productivity have improved. Sales team members have been able to increase the number of quotes they send out, which increased revenues. Teleworker currently connects two small satellite offices so each employee has full and secure access to the company s network and applications. Teleworker will be used for other start-up locations for instant expansion. Embedded Voice Messaging s auto-attendant routes incoming after-hours calls to technicians who are on call 24/7, so customers can reach someone directly or through the company s main number anytime. Chosen Technology: Mitel MCD with SIP trunking; Dynamic Extension; Embedded Messaging; Mobile Application Suite (MAS: UC Mobile, Teleworker) This business is determined to seize growth opportunities, and now has the tools to do so affordably and quickly. 13

14 Distributor of commercial packaging supplies with 50 employees CASE STUDY 7 Locations and sales representatives are dispersed across three states Warehouse building, remote from sales and office staff, lacks infrastructure to upgrade communications Client relationships are based on industry expertise, breadth of available products and rapid shipping One IT manager covers all routine and special requests The old Avaya system was costing over $2,000/month for leasing and maintenance, but couldn t provide even basic features such as call forwarding and caller onhold reminders Voice conferencing services through a hosted service provider were costing $800-$900/month Weekly sales calls, critical to the business, were awkward with new passwords each week, background noise and dropped mobile calls Customer calls were frequently dropped when placed on hold Staff and sales often couldn t reach each other rapidly The new voice system leased cost was $700/month, or 35% of the old system cost. it also included a buyout option, which they previously did not have with Avaya. Audio & Web Conferencing enables weekly sales calls to be automatically scheduled, with standard passwords and consistent call quality UC Express Presence allows sales and staff to know instantly who is available to support a customer Unified messaging allows users to customize and consolidate message handling themselves, without requiring IT support 30-second on-hold reminders were programmed so calls aren t dropped or forgotten, and with Presence, are rapidly routed The new system s physical footprint is smaller than the old, and requires less electricity for additional savings Chosen Technology: Mitel 5000; Mitel Application Suite (MAS: NuPoint Unified Messaging, Audio & Web Conferencing); Unified Communicator Express This business reduced monthly costs by over 50% with a technology upgrade that resolved several problems that jeopardized their client relationships. In addition, MAS features streamlined the sales and marketing processes. 14

15 CASE STUDY 8 University with 2,000 students University is growing and evolving in its curriculum and teaching modes Student and staff grew by 20% and the number of PCs, by 50% over past five years IT staffing and budget are flat Multiple locations and systems require maintenance, management and disaster recovery plans 22 applications running independently in different locations all required maintenance PC and IT support demands were growing in number and complexity Step 1, virtualizing all 22 applications on 3 servers with Mitel partner VMWare, reduced their energy bill by 50%, hardware replacement budget for servers by 80% and IT time spent doing back-ups by 75% Step 2, upgrading from an old Mitel PBX to the Mitel IP solution, saved $15,000/year With centralized management of voice and data in the hosted environment, management will be able to focus on the evolving needs of the academic community Implementing virtualized MAS will empower the academic community with new functionality, including video learning through Audio & Web Conferencing Implementing Border Gateway will allow remote users secure access Chosen Technology: VMWare; Virtual Mitel MCD;, Mitel Application Suite (MAS: NuPoint Unified Messaging, Speech Auto-Attendant, Unified Communicator Mobile, Audio & Web Conferencing); Mitel Border Gateway This university is taking a gradual approach that will provide them world-class capabilities without new investment. By virtualizing first, they diverted budgets from maintenance to new capabilities that will benefit students, professors and administrators. 15

16 CASE STUDY 9 Township of 110 full-time employees and 140 part-time employees/volunteers Ten buildings each have their own Centrex or PBX and separate phone lines The need to disseminate information to the community is growing Six fire departments are located in different buildings throughout the township Volunteers work part-time in Senior Center and other locations Insufficient inbound lines and 50-message voic capacity resulted in busy signals for inbound callers, which generated complaints Existing analog equipment was obsolete and failing Monthly Centrex costs were high Multiple daily community announcements had to be recorded manually on answering machines attached to dedicated inbound lines, which was time-consuming, expensive and unreliable Stringent fire department training requirements necessitated out-of-office coverage expenses An integrated voice solution using an existing fiber data network that interconnects township buildings replaced Centrex and analog systems. This reduced monthly Centrex and telephone line expenses by 70%, and eliminated most telephone move/add/change expenses to more than justify managed service expenses. With the larger system and features such as Caller ID and Unified Messaging, all citizen calls can reach the right employee, which improved community relations and productivity The paging feature to communicate among buildings improves responsiveness and productivity A new, streamlined process using Autoattendant and Direct Inward Dialing to deliver daily township announcements and receive messages about citizen concerns enhanced communications quality and speed while improving township efficiency Audio & Web Conferencing delivers training remotely, which reduced fire department expenses as they can deliver live video training to their sites without back-up staffing expenses Chosen Technology: A managed service contract for Mitel MCD; Mitel Application Suite (MAS: NuPoint Unified Messaging, Audio & Web Conferencing) This local government was able to reposition its relationship within the community by modernizing its communications at a comparably lower budget. Despite many part-time employees and volunteers, training on the new 5324/5330 IP phones and Audio & Web Conferencing was easily accomplished and the new processes were readily accepted. 16