To quote the famous Rolling Stones song, “You can’t always get what you want, but you can get what you need.” That’s wisdom for communications service providers (CSPs) and the large, global enterprises, who own networks that rival the size, scope and scale of those service providers.
Naturally, it would be awesome to just blink and make years of investment sunk into quality Real-Time Communications (RTC) infrastructure disappear, only to be replaced by pure virtualized, cloud-ready, point-and-click software and cloud communications platforms of the future.
But real life doesn’t work that way, especially when CSPs and enterprise IT teams are responsible for supporting tens of thousands – hundreds of thousands – and multiple millions of end users and subscribers.
To “rip and replace” existing systems would be as difficult, expensive and disruptive as it would be for the property owner of a large high-rise building in Manhattan to replace all the elevators. The elevators still work, and while they may not be as fast or as easy to operate as software-driven elevators of the future, there is a lot of usefulness to be harnessed, while saving up financial and other resources for a larger, future renovation of that valuable real estate.
The good news about “technical debt” is that it has been amortized off the balance sheet.
And the good news about transforming the delivery of services from legacy technology to new technology is that it is in fact possible to create a solid roadmap through digital transformation, which brings more value to businesses and end users with little or no disruption.
Here are three ways CSPs and enterprises can build a pathway to full-on cloud-delivered, more flexible and ultimately less expensive RTC communications and collaboration platforms.
Address legacy systems early in the digital transformation process and leverage existing assets
The best place to start is to have a clear set of goals when moving to the next generation of technology, while also ensuring no disruption during the transition. For Unified Communications and other Communications as a Service solutions, the economic answer is clear – cost savings, which will vary from enterprise to enterprise, from small to medium sized business. It’s a proven fact that cloud-based UC solutions, for example, provide far more utility value than legacy solutions, at a fraction of the cost. Simply because of the nature of IP, powered by the SIP protocol, the same connection that is used for voice calls can also be used for video, or messaging, or web conferencing.
Furthermore, web-based technologies such as WebRTC are now ubiquitously supported across all major browsers including MSFT Edge and Apple Safari, further reducing complexity and removing the need to comprehend telco protocols including SIP. This latest technological inflection point will enable web developers to easily create new apps and lead to web clients superseding soft clients and hard phones, lowering IT application management costs and driving increased employee productivity by enabling contextual, in-workflow embedded communications. In addition, overlaying Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) capabilities will further augment the enterprise experience with advanced functionality such as push notifications, SMS, rich messaging and AI or bot integration.
Cloud -UC can offer all of the features you’d expect from an expensive legacy system, like multiple lines per user, call recording, conference calls, an advanced IVR to handle inbound calls, mobility, and more for easier collaboration and enhanced security.
With no hardware restrictions, flexibility is limitless, and with software-based administration from provisioning to helpdesk it’s obvious that “point and click” saves time and money. UC solutions also bring far more to the table than a basic legacy PSTN solution can. Instead of just phone, you get an entire set of capabilities on any device.
Irrefutable logic, proven out over the years – but then there are the existing systems to work with. The best way to move through the transformation and optimize and extend investments in existing phone systems is to apply a method to the madness. It’s never easy, but when a well-thought out plan is put together, shared or “socialized”, and people know what to expect, these transitions run smoothly.
Keep value from trusted longstanding relationships with customers
Businesses’ and consumers’ appetite for a diverse mix of communications modalities is driving innovation and competition and the price wars that go along with disruption. CSPs who have been unable to keep up have experienced a painful decline in average revenue per user (ARPU). Today, being nimble, developing and rolling out new offerings and processes is becoming table stakes for user loyalty, bolstering revenues, shoring up margins, and acquiring new customers.
And while CSPs will naturally need to make considerable investments in modernization, which will result in more scalable, cost efficient and reliable systems, with a solid strategy, roadmap and partners who can build technology the CSPs can simply white label and roll out, getting through the transition is easier, less risky and more successful. There is no longer a need to build everything in house – the real strength of the future CSP leader will be in understanding their customers and markets and delivering the best possible services (under their brand) with the best ongoing customers service.
Build new solutions based on a flexible enterprise architecture
CSPs are aggressively adopting new digital tools for their customers, including online chat, cross-channel integration, speech recognition, security services, and data/analytics. Their customers are looking at the same tools, and when they do not get what they need, they start to look for new suppliers – a very real risk.
As a result, CSPs must develop a digital transformation roadmap that is nimble enough to accommodate evolving customer preferences and includes the new technologies their buyers are increasingly interested in.
One way to do this is by rolling out new “over-the-top” cloud-based service platforms that provide a wide variety of digital services without a forklift upgrade in the beginning. This approach enables CSPs to deepen their customer relationships, while also setting the stage for increasingly valuable digital services beyond traditional voice and messaging, moving into cloud communications, collaboration, embedded services and more.
These digital strategies should leverage the power of mobile, given the movement of almost everything to mobile device access and interaction, particularly as 5G starts to grow and the edge experience becomes better and better.
CSPs who tie together these services with mobility and cloud can extend the VoIP PBX services out to edge devices to improve responsiveness and productivity.
The key is the roadmap and alignment of development and practical budgets, which can actually grow at the further end of the roadmap when money is saved in the early side of the transformation (extending legacy infrastructure until the CSP and their customers can afford to move 100% to next-generation cloud/mobile and data and analytics rich services.)
CSPs and enterprise can always get what they need, and evolution shows they will – the real question is turning what you envision into what you can reasonably deliver, then scale from there.
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