Multi tenancy Vs Multi Instance in CCaaS / UCaaS clouds

Transcription

1 Multi tenancy Vs Multi Instance in CCaaS / UCaaS clouds Who Leads Whom!! If it works, why should I care? Don't make the common mistake of believing multi-tenancy is the same as multi-user or multienterprise. Having ACD box hosted in data center & converting Capex to Opex is not cloud. It needs different mindset, Passion & deep pockets to create a complete CC cloud offering!!

2 After spending over a decade in Unified Communications & Contact Center industry, I have put forward an attempt to share the learnings acquired in the UC/CC enterprise segment in various capacities and as a witness account subsequent transition into cloud. At this point, after selling & successfully implementing CCaaS cloud for about 100 enterprises and around 5 Telecom Service Providers in some of the most complex and demanding markets, I find myself with a better understanding level on the ever changing definitions of UC Cloud foundations Viz. Multi Tenancy & Multi Instance. Not just from one perspective of UCaaS cloud as Vendor, but also as customer & then as Service provider. Adoption of cloud-based UC & contact center infrastructure solutions is a worldwide phenomenon now and all segments have tailored Multi tenancy and Multi instance views as per their comfort and decision making situation. This paper provides an analysis of all three aspects of this flourishing and highly competitive cloud UCaaS/CCaaS sector. The three C s i.e. Cost, Consolidation and Consistent customer experience across distributed virtualized centers in different geographies, driven by margin pressure and economic reasons, with its long-lasting impact has been powering the adoption of cloud-based contact center solutions. It all started with companies which needed contact center infrastructure did not want to put up the capital to purchase it, have hesitantly tried cloud-based solutions as a short-term alternative in the past. These managers have soon realized that the cloudbased business model has more benefits than challenges Cloud-Based Topologies Cloud-based computing is used in SaaS environments because resources are scalable and the allocation of services is determined by actual usage. This section presents the ideal (and increasingly common) high-level topology that is typically used to support cloud-based Unified Communications and contact centers. The primary objective of a cloud-based design is to allow the vendor and user to take advantage of multi-site connectivity while centralizing contact center services in the vendor s data centers. Cloud-based topologies are intended to be distributed and load-balanced across multiple data center networks in order to provide resiliency in support of business continuity. Multi-tenancy is one of the essential elements of cloud-based contact centers. Multi-tenancy is a software architecture principle that allows a single instance of software to be run on a server while servicing multiple clients (tenants). Multitenant-based applications are designed to virtually partition every tenant s data and configuration, allowing each client to create their own customized virtual application instance. Clients running in a cloud-based multitenant environment do not share or have access to each other s data or configurations. At a high level, the topologies for most of the cloud-based UC/ contact center infrastructure vendors should be very similar because the concepts upon which these solutions are built are based on the same design principles. Where the offerings differ is in how they approach resilience, redundancy and business continuity for their own environments and their clients. Additionally, they also differ in their approach to multi-tenancy; most of the cloud-based infrastructure vendors use traditional multitenancy, as described above. Others employ virtualization, where each client gets their own dedicated virtual environment so that they are not sharing any of their contact center services or database. The most common cloud-based topologies: 1. Multi-instance model 2. Multi-tenant application model Multi-instance and Multi-tenant architectures, and what are the pros and cons of each? In fact, that s a really important question with fairly significant implications for the UC/contact center. A multi-tenant architecture is where multiple customers use a single instance of an application running on a single instance of an operating system on a common hardware platform. In contrast, a multi-instance architecture is where multiple customers run their own separate instance of the application and operating system running on a separate virtual machine, all on a common hardware platform. Many multi-tenant solutions leverage a common database instance, while both architectures can support giving each customer their own database. It s important to understand that both architectures leverage common hardware and other resources for economies of sc ale, which results in competitive pricing and financial benefits for subscribers.

3 Here are some of the pros and cons of the architecture respectively: Multi-Tenant Architecture Sl. No Pros Cons 1 Cost effective - using common hardware & resources Higher development/testing efforts & cost for providers 2 Requires less hardware in provider data center Inherently less secure and isolated environment 3 Less time & resources required to update/upgrade large numbers of customers More chance that a provider, user or malicious behavior will impact performance and reliability of multiple customers 4 Better suited to support consumer scale applications (hundreds of thousands to millions of customers) Less flexibility and control of configuration, updates and upgrades (timing, content controlled by provider and applied to all customers simultaneously), change management and SLAs 5 Requires less billing and contract management overhead Loss of investment if customer chooses to move to premise over time 6 Provider has greater insight into application usage and behavior across customer base Complex software architecture to support all users on same instance in a secure and reliable manner, especially as the number of customers grows Multi-Instance Architecture Sl. No Pros Cons 1 Cost effective based on the use of common hardware and Higher operational effort and cost for Service providers resources 2 Inherently more secure and isolated environment Requires more hardware in the provider s data center 3 Greater flexibility and control of configuration, updates and upgrades (timing, content controlled by customer), change management and SLAs 4 Less chance that a provider, user or malicious behavior will impact performance and reliability of multiple customers 5 Investment protection ability to migrate to premise over time should business needs, preferences dictate 6 Simplicity in software architecture, especially as the number of customers grows More provider time and resources required to update/upgrade large numbers of customers Less suited to support consumer scale applications (hundreds of thousands to millions of customers) Requires more billing and contract management overhead Provider has less insight into application usage and behavior across customer base Too early to reach to any conclusion right! I have further tried using three different lenses to view the above two scenarios Customer perspective: As a customer, why would I prefer a multi-instance architecture? It really comes down to requirements and preferences, but the simple answer is that customers are able to enjoy the benefits associated with a cloud solution increased flexibility, faster deployment time, minimal upfront capital expense, and reduced IT staff requirements while gaining a higher level of inherent security, reliability and control. For those with stringent security and regulatory requirements (core banking financial services, government, healthcare, etc.), this can be important for moving contact center applications to the cloud. The thought of running the company s mission critical operation on the same application instance as others, potentially competitors, just doesn t sit well with some organizations. Speaking of mission critical, most people will agree that contact center applications are much different than CRM applications, which happen to run just fine in a multi-tenant environment. End users are not enamored of the capabilities, financial stability and maturity of many of the cloud-based solutions, but they are thrilled with the flexibility and options that this acquisition model gives them. End users no longer feel hostage to the high purchase and maintenance costs charged by the leading premise-based vendors. A growing number of end users in contact centers with anywhere from 1 to 1,000 agents have decided that the trade-offs are worth the risk. They are comfortable with this decision because they know that if they make a mistake in choosing a solution, they can easily switch to another product. Conclusion: So, the nature of the company, industry and application are important factors when determining if a multi-instance architecture is preferred. You re probably aware that advancements and maturity in virtual server technology make it a safe and cost effective alternative to multi-tenant architectures. Multi-instance architectures also give customers an additional level of investment protection by letting them migrate from a cloud to premise solution if and when their needs or strategy changes, and this isn t possible with multi-tenant architectures.

4 Vendor Perspective: d. Contact center business process outsourcers (BPOs) e. Contact center system integrators and consultancies f. Hosted IVR vendors who expand into the broader contact center infrastructure market g. Cloud-based PBX providers who are expanding into contact center Licenses or Services Conclusion: While many of the premise-based contact center infrastructure vendors are still not fans of cloud-based solutions, they finally realized that it will be hurting them more to sit on the sidelines and watch their customers and prospects select these new competitors than to risk cannibalizing their current revenue stream by coming out with a cloud-based capability. Though it took way too long, many of them are now trying to catch up by introducing some form of cloud-based strategy or solution. Service Provider Perspective: Initial skepticism about cloud based solution is now seen off and it has clearly given way to a growing acceptance among end users in private and public institutions. Of course funding of capital investments is limited in the current macroeconomic environment and another reason - the contact center market leader (a well-known name) is still struggling to come in terms of its acquisition of another CC giant has resulted is a new opportunity window for cloud players across the globe. To seize this situation cloud-based contact center vendors are actively investing, enhancing their solutions and offering. So virtually taking the early entrant advantage against the premise-based competitors to enter the market. Although much research and development (R&D) investment is being made to catch up to functionality that already exists in leading premise-based solutions, some of the cloud-based vendors are introducing true product differentiators. They are also much more agile, which allows them to rapidly release capabilities to the market quickly. On the other hand, Cloud thought process for many is entirely multitenant, whose products were conceived and developed from their inception as SaaS or cloud-based solutions. Categories of Cloud-Based Contact Center Infrastructure Competitors Session Initiation Protocol is Facilitating the Transition to the Cloud The adoption of session initiation protocol (SIP) along with multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) data networks and the reduced cost of bandwidth are facilitating the transition to centralized data centers, both in enterprises and the cloud. In the contact center architecture of the future, solutions whether for routing, queuing, recording, quality assurance, customer relationship management or knowledge management will all be considered services that reside as applications in the enterprise data network. This will allow them to be delivered across standardized networks to anywhere in the organization a contact center, a remote site, an offshore location or the home of an agent, just as data is delivered today. As long as the solutions are already residing in a centralized environment, it doesn t matter whether they are in an enterprise data center or the cloud. Increasingly, IT and business leaders are turning to their cloud-based partners for delivery of cost-effective redundancy and disaster The one-size-fits-all upgrade approach isn t as popular in these environments. Well, from my perspective, there aren t many downsides to the multi-instance architecture from a customer or user perspective, if any. Some will say it takes longer to propagate software upgrades across the entire customer base. While this can be true, I ve found most contact center and unified communications customers prefer to have control over both content and timing of upgrades to ensure the business is ready and risk is properly managed. The following is the classification of cloud-based UCaaS /contact center as Service infrastructure providers a. Service providers trying to create their own service layer with a product Mix leveraging their existing line of voice, network and DC service b. Premise-based contact center vendors with a direct cloud-based offering c. Premise-based contact center infrastructure vendors who sell their solution to cloud-based vendors Data Center-Centric Contact Center Infrastructure SIP Data center-centric SIP model where all of the hosted contact center s services are in a shared SIP-based environment within the vendor s production data centers. In this design, all contact center services are centrally hosted within the vendor s data center environments. This allows for the operation and access of identical services across their customer base. The cloud-based vendor can utilize a dual-carrier MPLS network, to distribute basic and advanced contact center capabilities (services) to any user or location connected to their network.

5 Data Center Redundancy: Requires a minimum of two active data centers for redundancy and business continuity; data centers can be configured to support an active/passive or active/active configuration Allows establishment of multiple data paths between cloud-based data centers to ensure access to contact center applications and services Uses best practices to ensure that each data center is sized to handle 100% of all customer traffic during peak hours Ensures that no single point of failure exists for all contact center sessions for calls, s, SMS, chat, videos and collaboration Network & Voice: Adding to these, the below also carry significant make or break attributes Right commercial models(case specific-flexible) Right bundling End to end SLA Clear Service- Support Framework I conclude as: A service provider should have both the options of Multi tenancy as well as multi instance offering globally available with at least two technology players and on the basis of customer requirements or segment demand, appropriate solution should be pitched Employs multiple carrier routing paths for all interactions and access to data centers Deploys SIP trunks to handle primary data & voice needs Delivers all interactions to agents over the MPLS network as SIP sessions Has agents using SIP-based endpoints registered back to the vendor s call control environment Ideally Service Providers should work with System Integrators rather than competing against them as a System Integrator can never become a service provider and conversely the attempt of the other is also not good. The core strategy of a service provider as cloud player should be clear and acceptance to say no to premise based capex to opex deals should also prevail, as there will be no value add Cloud-based contact center solutions may not be appropriate for 100% segments or departments today, but they have altered the UC/contact center competitive landscape for the better. End users have more choices of vendors and options than ever before, which gives them great leverage in negotiating a deal. However, buyers still have to be careful and must appreciate that there still are substantial differences between the solutions. Additionally, given the large number of new competitors, in next 5 years, more than 50% of the current competitors will either be merged with another company or out of business. Like Data center business, big global Service Providers will rule this market along with OEM. Or OEMs will be forced to migrate their business model to usage cloud based offerings threatening their on premise run rate, AMCs etc. System Integrators will also change their mode of survival and will be seen more as resellers, partners or enablers for both above End users looking for a new UCaas /CCaaS solution are encouraged to follow best practices for selecting applications, and to invest the time and resources necessary to craft contracts that include vendor management programs and service level agreements to protect them for both the short and long term. My advice for customers evaluating cloud-based contact center and unified communications solutions is to ensure their corporate strategy drives supporting departmental and technology requirements. If security and privacy are critical success criteria, then do your due diligence to understand how each offering addresses your specific requirements. It s also important to realize providers taking the same architectural approach can implement solutions in very different ways.

6 For example, multi-tenant solutions may address database isolation differently some may provide a separate database for each customer, while some may use a common database for all customers but allow each customer to have their own tables, and some may use a common database and common tables but allow each customer to have their own rows which are associated with unique customer/tenant IDs. Get your security team involved and ask pointed questions to make sure your security and privacy requirements are met. And remember, contact center applications are very different than other applications found in the enterprise they are often the lifeline of your business. One size doesn't fit all when choosing between different degrees of multi-tenancy. The characteristics of the workload in question have to be carefully studied first, including the workload's utilitarian versus strategic value, volatility, etc. Higher degrees of multi-tenancy are best suited for cross-industry utilitarian workloads Whether an organization is going with Multi-Tenant or Multi Instance clouds, it's important to understand the nuances of architecture. For multi-tenant clouds, decision makers need to understand the degree of multi-tenancy supported by whichever vendor they are looking at. Ankush Gangwani, the author has co-authored one of the most successful Cloud CCaaS Strategy on multitenanted shared cloud Business, Incidentally he is cofounder of next upcoming Multi Instance global Cloud CCaaS business as well for a leading global Service Provider. He brings in more than decade of Unified Communications & contact center domain experience on premise as well as cloud.