REDCENTRIC WHITE PAPER CLOUD COMPUTING: IS YOUR PHONE SYSTEM ON THE RIGHT LINES FOR THE JOURNEY?

Transcription

1 REDCENTRIC WHITE PAPER CLOUD COMPUTING: IS YOUR PHONE SYSTEM ON THE RIGHT LINES FOR THE JOURNEY?

2 Private and public sector organisations feeling the pinch of the government s Comprehensive Spending Review and ongoing repercussions of the global economic crisis are all facing the same fundamental business question how to get more from less financial resource. Nowhere are the effects more biting than in IT and telecoms budgets. This paper demonstrates the immediate and substantial savings businesses can make by switching telephone provider, and investigates the important role the network plays in enabling further savings. It highlights how getting the right telephone provider can set organisations on the right track for a later journey to fully hosted, Cloud-based services. INTRODUCTION IT budgets are likely to remain timid and lacklustre between now and the end of 2014 according to technology analyst Gartner. 1 Although there s a glimmer of hope for 2011 in its prediction of a 3.1% growth in IT budgets, IT departments in the UK remain under severe pressure to reduce costs a similar report by TechTarget predicts an average global growth of 2.8% but this decreases to 1.6% in Europe. 2 In response, IT departments need to look for innovative ways to enable their ferociously tight budgets to continue to support competitive advantage and business agility. The need for economy is centuries old, but today s economic climate gives the problem new resonance. So what s the answer? Well clearly there s not one simple cure-all. But as a starting point, you could do a lot worse than looking at how much you re paying for your telephone calls and lines, and simply doing a like-for-like swap. Many organisations don t realise the huge savings over 40% off their phone bill that can be achieved by this simple action, as Table 1 demonstrates. The whole process can be accomplished in just a few days with zero upheaval. You supply your latest bill so that the potential new provider can analyse what types of call you re making, what lines you re using and so on. They then present you with a report detailing what it would cost if you were with them. And that really is it. HE WHO WILL NOT ECONOMISE WILL HAVE TO AGONISE. Confucius, 551BC 479BC Chinese philosopher Table 1 SERVICE BT CALLS PRICE ( ) NEW CALLS PRICE ( ) Line to Local and National total Line to mobile total Line to International total Line to other total (inc. special calls) TOTAL Savings per month % Savings per month 40.52%

3 WHILE YOU ARE LOOKING AT SWAPPING YOUR PROVIDER, IT IS WORTH BEARING IN MIND THAT THIS COULD BE JUST THE FIRST STEP IN PREPARING YOU FOR MUCH GREATER SAVINGS AND EFFICIENCY IN FUTURE. Combined with other organisational efficiency measures, the savings can be even greater. In his October 2010 Efficiency Review of government spending and procurement, UK businessman Sir Philip Green identified significant failings in the procurement of fixed line telecoms. 3 Quoting an external report (Kable s UK public sector ICT overview) that estimated total Government spend in this area to be in excess of 2 billion a year, he estimated: It could be 30 40% cheaper for the Government to buy its own capacity. And this was largely down to consolidation of processes and buying power across departments. If you then consider the reductions in finding a more cost-effective supplier, Benjamin Franklin s sinking great ship becomes a lost armada. Beyond the straightforward cost of lines and calls, there are also all kinds of other benefits that you might not be getting with your current provider. In investigating the options and looking beyond the face-value quotes you receive, you should make sure you get consultancy from your supplier on how to reduce your costs. There is no reason why the thinking in the public sector needs to be different from the private sector, said Sir Philip Green and of course the reverse also applies. Both public and private organisations should be asking providers searching questions such as: Can we automatically route expensive 118 calls to cheaper alternatives? Can we identify calls to premium rate numbers and block them if necessary? Can we run reports to identify Top 10 number spend? Can we monitor numbers to see if calls are being made to expensive conference bridge numbers? All of these can fundamentally change the bottom line either by actively preventing expensive calls being made, or by helping you identify where the expense lies so you can raise awareness with your employees. While you are looking at swapping your provider, it is worth bearing in mind that this could be just the first step in preparing you for much greater savings and efficiency in future. As long as your provider has the capacity to handle future upgrades you could see immediate savings now and then look to migrate to better systems that will bring even greater savings later. PBX SIP CONNECTION CLOUD SERVER ROOM ETHERNET / ADSL / LEASED LINE (DATA PATH)

4 THERE CAN BE NO ECONOMY WHERE THERE IS NO EFFICIENCY. Benjamin Disraeli, 19th century UK Prime Minister WHEN IS YOUR NETWORK NOT JUST A NETWORK? The enterprise network is the backbone of every modern business. So start here. Are you paying for two circuits into your organisation, one for your phone system and one for the computer network? Is your prospective telephone provider s network just a piece of wire that will connect your telephones or will it be able to deliver the full range of hosted voice and data services in future if you decide to go down that route? Does it cover the whole country? Does it connect to BT s latest 21CN network? Is it a private fibre network or just capable of routing your calls? This is the crux of the issue what else are you going to be able to do to maximise your investment in the network? Not all telephone providers are equal. Several may be able to give you significant savings on your call tariffs and line rental but for many this will be all they give you. There s an argument that you don t need to worry about much beyond the immediate telephone network because the Internet will be able to handle the traffic. And sometimes it does. However, the reality is that the Internet simply isn t fit for purpose for many services and they require a much more efficient enterprise-grade, fibre network. SIP TRUNKING YOUR FOOTSTEP TO THE CLOUD Once you re connected to your telephone provider s network, the very first thing you should consider is seizing the opportunity it offers for SIP trunking. It s estimated that approximately 70% of the UK s business call traffic is still made using ISDN lines, a long-established technology that is considerably more expensive a staggering 70% more expensive in some cases than the latest SIP trunks. Most modern telephone systems have built-in SIP connectivity. Even if they haven t, a supplier worth its salt will be able to install a SIP gateway making connection possible. A SIP trunk simply connects your existing telephone exchange (the PBX) to the public switched telephone network via IP connections. It removes the need for a separate physical voice network, converging it with the data path onto a single network. SIP trunking can also be used by telecoms companies to link your voice network into their network. This allows them to centrally manage your calls extremely cost-effectively and there are literally hundreds of companies offering cheap business calls. BUT THEN WHAT? Choose the right supplier and their network will enable you to travel a straightforward and highly efficient and cost-effective upgrade path to hosted Cloud-based voice and data services. Many organisations are already benefiting from the flexibility and scalability of converging their services from IP telephony to hosted OCS, from virtualisation to a complete suite of data storage management services onto one secure, efficient pipe from a single Managed Service Provider (MSP). Offering savings in both capital and operational expenditure, the MSP will meet the costs of buying, maintaining and upgrading the hardware, securing the data and putting in place disaster recovery processes.

5 SEVEN QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR PROSPECTIVE TELEPHONE PROVIDER 1. How much can you save me on my calls charges and line tariff? 2. Do you manage your own infrastructure or are you a reseller? 3. Is your network a private fibre network? 4. Do you provide SIP trunk services? 5. Do you provide hosted IP telephony? 6. Do you provide hosted OCS and Exchange services? 7. Do you monitor and repair your network 24/365? WITH INSTANT SAVINGS OF UP TO 40% POSSIBLE, SWITCHING YOUR TELEPHONE PROVIDER IS A NO-BRAINER. SUMMARY With instant savings of up to 40% possible, switching your telephone provider is a no-brainer. However, by asking the right questions now, you can make sure that if further down the road you decide to migrate to fully hosted, Cloud-based voice and data services to help retain your operational agility and competitive edge, your new telephone provider will be able to support you on the journey. REFERENCES 1. itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/ /budgets-inch-up-as-it-copes-with-emerging-trends.htm 20/10/10 2. searchcio.techtarget.com/news/ /it-budgets-priorities-returning-to-health-in download.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/efficiency/sirphilipgreenreview.pdf Redcentric Solutions Ltd. Registered Office Address: Central House, Beckwith Knowle, Harrogate HG3 1UG. Registered Company Number REDCENTRICPLC.COM

6 HARROGATE (HEAD OFFICE) Central House Beckwith Knowle Harrogate HG3 1UG THEALE 2 Commerce Park Brunel Road Theale, Reading Berkshire RG7 4AB CAMBRIDGE Newton House Cambridge Business Park Cowley Road Cambridge CB4 0WZ READING 3-5 Worton Drive Reading Berkshire RG2 0TG LONDON John Stow House 18 Bevis Marks London EC3A 7JB INDIA & Block II, 4th Floor, White House Kundan Bagh, Begumpet Hyderabad sayhello@redcentricplc.com