Promising times

A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED to discover that the development of VoIP technology goes back at least 12 years – software-based products started to appear in 1995. We are not talking about technology that came out of the labs last week. In actual fact, a huge amount of resources has been invested in VoIP by talented individuals and companies large and small around the globe. There was a time when VoIP applications were rather ‘clunky’ – but we are well past that point now; the basic technology is mature.

VoIP is based upon a set of internationally- accepted standards. This has huge benefits for the consumer. We tend to talk about points such as assured inter-operability between products and services from different vendors, and the fact the open standards tend to deliver cheaper products (we have seen this dynamic over the years in networking products, for example).

Perhaps the most important benefit of open standards is more fundamental – open standards VoIP has delivered a lot more choice to the consumer. Only a few years ago we could choose between a handful of telcos – now there are conservatively 250 or so ITSPs consumers can look at as well as the traditional carriers. There is a whole new generation of VoIP hardware manufacturers. Consumers can choose between service companies from the data networking worlds as well as the traditional PBX resellers when deciding who to use for system maintenance. Choice is always good for the consumer.

A lot of attention has been centered on the issue of call cost reduction. Of course, adopting technology that has the potential to reduce ongoing costs is always going to be a headline grabber. Alloy concentrates mainly on VoIP products for resellers who work in the SMB sector, most if not all of whom can confidently expect to reduce call costs. However, we find that most companies looking at implementing VoIP are much more interested in TCO – the total cost of ownership. Call costs are only one part of this, and telcos are already reacting to VoIP plans and call costs, so the gap is narrowing – which is great for the customer. When business people look at the overall cost of putting in a VoIP system, they realise that there are very significant gains to be made alongside reduced call costs; simplified cable infrastructure and lower maintenance costs for a converged voice/data network for example.

In fact, we have often noticed how little informed comment there is on the overall benefits of converged voice and data networks. A large part of the worth of VoIP resides in the ways the technology can be applied. It’s particularly exciting to look at what VoIP can bring to smaller organisations who don’t have huge budgets. VoIP products are now available that offer SMBs very sophisticated PBX features at a significantly lower cost than they would have had to pay in the past for similar functionality on a traditional PBX device. The use of features such as call groups, call redirection and routing, group and individual voicemail services and multi-level IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menus streamlines the flow of voice communications. Equally important is the high levels of flexibility in the application of these features. It is becoming much easier for even small organisations to apply those areas of functionality they require, tailored to the processes of their organisation. Small businesses can now benefit from very sophisticated voice communications systems whose counterparts in traditional PBX products were previously priced at levels usually out of their reach.

In addition to the lower cost entry point to VoIP systems with high levels of functionality, we are now seeing the promise of converged voice/data systems being realised. CTI – ‘Computer Telephony Integration’ – is supported by many VoIP systems, and brings significant added value, functionality and efficiencies to a telephone system. IP phones can now interact with the users much like a web browser would do. VoIP PBX systems can query SQL databases, CRM packages, legal and billing systems, and a host of other data sources available through the converged network, to determine call flows and call manipulation requirements in real time prior to the call even being answered. These technologies are delivering advanced CTI applications that can significantly enhance business efficiencies, functionality, and most importantly customer satisfaction.

In the past it has been possible to implement outbound ‘click to dial’ applications through TAPI type interfaces. But in most cases TAPI was complex and expensive due to the use of proprietary connectivity methods. CTI delivered via a VoIP system can provide a whole lot more than just dial out features at a much lower cost point due to open standard IP connectivity and the simplicity of software development that this delivers. VoIP with CTI is a must-have technology for any industry which derives its business revenue from customer phone interaction.

Looking into the future, it is clear that VoIP technology will become the norm. There is, of course, a huge installed base of traditional TDM equipment – but the trend of shipments of VoIP products and services indicates strongly that VoIP technology will become pervasive over time. Further development of the technology is well underway. IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), a general-purpose, open industry standard for voice and multimedia communications over IP networks, promises users a whole suite of services enabling person-to-person and person-to-content communications, including voice, text, pictures and video.

In an increasingly competitive world with high levels of customer choice, businesses must make themselves highly available and exploit all possible mediums to get their message across.

“There was a time when VoIP applications were rather ‘clunky’.”

“Looking into the future, it is clear that VoIP technology
will become the norm.”

Greg Round, product development manager at Alloy