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IP telephony has been much talked-about in technology circles for over a decade, but recent large-scale adoption and high profile media attention has brought it into the mainstream.
Organisations such as House of Fraser, JCB and Ashford Council and SMEs including Claremont & May, Wayfarers and Acorn Recruitment, are using IP telephony in their day to day business. IP telephony is fast becoming the preferred way of communicating for businesses and consumers alike. Otherwise known as Voice over IP (VoIP), it is the convergence of voice and data communications over a broadband internet connection or company network, meaning lower cost calls and fewer wires. IP telephony is also enabling mobile and remote working, video conferencing, collaboration, unified messaging and online conferencing.
The term IP telephony has emerged as the commonly used description for turning phone calls into packets of data sent from one device to another over the internet, local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). This avoids the tolls from the traditional public switched telephone network.
In addition, IP telephony enables many devices to work together. This means a phone call links with PC applications, video conferencing devices, emails and more. The combination of voice, video and data transferred over a single network is often referred to as converged communications.
The primary benefits of this technology are two-fold – cost and application. IP telephony networks can provide a cheaper means of carrying voice, but more importantly also offer a much-enhanced range of applications. An OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report published in December 2001 summarises the advantages stating: “The potential for IP-based voice as a cheaper alternative to traditional telephony is considered to be less important than the opportunity for the integration in new IP-based applications that are considered drivers for broadband services.”
IP telephony allows organisations to integrate a wide range of enterprise and desktop applications to capitalise on the benefits of unified communications, ensuring that users always receive information in the most convenient format, wherever they are located.
The technology can also support flexible working practices, enabling staff to work from home, remotely or as part of a dispersed ‘virtual team’. An IP telephony solution introduces presence and collaboration applications whereby the status of a colleague is automatically displayed to indicate whether they are busy on the telephone or away from their desk or location. With the growing roll-out of broadband networks, the increased bandwidth makes video conferencing to the home or remote location a viable and cost effective option.
Organisations can also use IP telephony to enhance relationships with their customers. For example, converged call or contact centres allow agents to answer customers’ queries across a range of mediums – telephone, email, fax or even SMS. So improving the user experience by offering an integrated response.
IP Telephony and CRM
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the name given to a range of applications and services that are designed to help businesses manage their customer relationships by, for example, recording customer details and buying preferences.
The challenge for any company is to make it easy for their customers to conduct business any way they want and for that company to manage customer needs regardless of the communications medium.
Technological advancements have also moved the CRM goalposts. Consumers are becoming increasingly self reliant and adept at self-provisioning and are increasingly demanding services on a 24/7 basis. The financial services sector has been one of the first areas to recognise this trend and has capitalised on it with the introduction of online and telephone banking – now second nature to the current generation of banking customers.
The relationship between Customer Relationship Management and IP telephony is a marriage that can achieve results by improving customer communication and knowledge of customer habits. In fact, the Internet Protocol should be regarded as an enabling technology. It enables businesses, regardless of size, to use applications that previously only the very large corporations could access, for example multimedia services that help a business manage its customers more efficiently.
By enabling smaller firms to compete on a level playing field with their larger competitors, at a cost that is easily comparable with that of two separate voice and data networks, IP telephony looks set to revolutionise the business environment.
It is a technology ideally suited to the priorities and demands of the modern consumer, who is demanding 24/7 access and information. According to Mitel’s research, 59 per cent claimed they would prefer 24/7 contact with utilities, financial services companies and so on, to limited access personal service – reflecting the growing trend towards self-provisioning among consumers, who value autonomy and flexibility higher than old fashioned ‘personal service’. This pull from the consumer as well as a push from the vendor is ensuring that businesses and service providers offer greater integrated options to their customers.
While IP telephony and CRM are becoming increasingly linked, it is important to note that IP telephony provides the backbone for more than just CRM applications. Set-ups such as teleworking enable remote workers to access their office computing environment and voice facilities over a secure broadband connection from home or any remote location. By integrating different forms of communication, IP can offer the kind of functionality that has until now only been available back at the office – enabling remote workers’ (for example contact centre operatives) tools of phone, email and web access to work together.
With IP telephony users can access their email, voice mail and faxes wherever they are, and even listen to, respond and prioritise their emails remotely and also have the option of using text to speech functionality.
In combination, many of these applications are helping to forge effective call centres for example, where staff may work remotely. Both sales and service driven businesses can reap the benefits of providing customers with quick responses and accurate and relevant product information. In a single step, IP telephony implementation can knit call centre applications and enterprise databases together – with minimum disruption and maximum functionality.
Perceptions of IP Telephony have moved on significantly since the 1990s when it first came to public attention. In the early days of IP telephony there were concerns regarding voice quality, however today this issue has been overcome and call quality is now comparable (if not better) than traditional phone systems.
Research commissioned by Mitel shows that three quarters of business decision-makers (85 per cent) now recognise that IP telephony can offer a broad range of communications channels, two thirds (69 per cent) that it improves mobile communications and 64 per cent that it improves customer relationship management.
The Future
Many organisations are employing a migratory approach to IP, which provides an ideal compromise for firms that already have a traditional PBX, don’t want to write off their initial investment, but want to future-proof their organisation and ensure that they don’t get left behind as the future of networking evolves.
Analysts are predicting a strong future for IP telephony too. Research company Analysys predicts there will be 6.2 million users of voice-over-broadband services in the major Western European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and UK) in 2007 generating revenues of 1.3 billion euros. Juniper Research believes IP telephony will generate $47bn a year by 2009, as flat-rate IP-based voice tariffs gradually replace traditional services.
It is possible to see that businesses of all sizes can benefit now and in the future from IP telephony networks. While the cost benefits are attractive, it is the overall business-to-customer communication experience that stands to gain the most and this is where IP technology has a massive role to play over the coming years. While the internet has helped fuel the 24/7 society, demands for immediate contact and services from businesses are pushing the limits.
This is the next phase of consumerism. Continual price wars, the trend towards self-provisioning and the emergence of increasingly flexible working patterns are seeing a change in consumer expectations and the way in which we make purchasing decisions. Customer service is now a key issue for buyers so it is increasingly important for businesses to get closer to customers to understand their needs and to react accordingly. IP telephony is like the missing jigsaw piece to complete the customer service picture. Without it, all the visions of seamless interaction with customers regardless of communications medium would not happen, either now or in the future.
VTR
Graham Bevington is EMEA managing director Mitel. For further information, visit www.mitel.com or phone: 0870 909 2020
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