Reduce Telecom Costs

Mobile VoIP is a hot commodity despite global economic woes, according to consultancy Research and Markets. This is because the Voice over IP technology reduces telecom costs for companies, even as they invest in their mobile workforce.

The researcher sites “improved technology solutions” as a major factor leading to “a robust VoIP market in recent years.” The researcher is also anticipating growth to continue throughout the year, despite the economic downturn of 2009.

Noting the cost-saving benefits offered by VoIP, Research and Market said, “… while security and reliability concerns still need to be resolved; consumers and business are turning to VoIP in an effort to save costs.”

Continuing, the company noted global market trends, saying, “Japan, China and the USA continue to be some of the world's hottest markets for IP telephony. Over the last couple years, Europe has also become a prime innovator in VoIP services, whether stand-alone, bundled as a triple play offer, or through fixed mobile convergence packages.”

DiVitas’ VoIP solution helps companies reduce their cellular costs by mobilizing the business number onto smartphones in order to make it easier and less expensive for colleagues to reach one another. Companies can leverage DiVitas’ seamless roaming (FMC) to allow VoIP calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks, which results in substantially reduced cellular costs.

The more we communicate, the better off we are as a planet – words uttered earlier this week by an analyst that I respect very much.

He made the comment during a discussion about Enterprise Social Networking and how this new dynamic of communication stands to impact the world as we know it.

After all, consider the fact that the cell phone market only hit critical mass in the past ten to fifteen years. And yet today we live like we’ve always had them. Likewise, email took off during that same relatively recent timeframe, and now you simply must have an email address to be a functioning part of society.

In both of these cases, cell phones and email, the consumer has played a pivotal role in the market’s lift-off. The more accustomed we become to a certain behavior in our personal lives, the more the habit of using or needing it seeps into the other part of our world – the business part. Yes we use phones and email at our jobs, but it’s our personal use – those tasks that we do because we want to and not because we have to – that creates the hungry habit that must be fed.

For example, the projected popularity for iPhone's use among enterprises is not based on current sales. Rather it’s based on iPhone’s current market share among consumers, and the fact that people want to use the same mobile phone at work as they do in their personal lives.

We are in better communication as a planet because of mobile phones and email, but there is more to come. The latest frontier, Social Networking, is gunning toward the stratosphere, with Facebook claiming to have turned its first profit and Twitter taking a pivotal role in events such as the recent Iranian elections.

Social Networking’s Mobile Presence capability (i.e. Status update a la Facebook’s “What’s on your mind?” or Twitter’s “What are you doing?”) is proving to show tremendous value to businesses for enabling enterprise mobility.

And so the business counterpart to consumer apps, Enterprise Social Networking (enabled by the DiVitas Mobile UC solution), is now being used to provide that same Presence information on a mobile phone to improve reachability, productivity and collaboration in the workplace. By making Enterprise Social Networking available to you a smartphone, and tying it directly to your mobilized business number, DiVitas increases the probability of being reached on the first try to improve producivity and reduce telecom costs.

In your personal life, being able to quickly get in touch with somebody is nice to have. In the business world, it’s a must-have. Enterprise Social Networking is the next logical step for end-to-end global communications and worldwide connectivity.

Being able to check my colleagues’ Mobile Presence and status message before contacting them is as habit-forming as checking online traffic conditions before getting in my car. Just as I would avoid highway 880 when the Sig Alert website shows congestion, I would choose IM (mobile Instant Messaging) over voice when my colleagues are unavailable for calls.

The common denominator in each of these scenarios – checking traffic online and checking my colleagues’ availability – is that knowledge of a situation breeds efficiency. In fact, I have grown so accustomed to tools that provide that critical prior knowledge, it feels like I can’t be a productive human being without them.

For example, let’s say I need to contact Vivek, my CEO. One glance at my Nokia screen and I’ll know if he’s available, how he’s available, where he is, what he’s doing, etc. While that level of knowledge may sound Big Brotheresque, sharing these details means we colleagues can connect with one another on the first try.

• Looking at Vivek’s Mobile Presence, I see from the smiley face icon that he is available by voice or text, so I can either call or IM him. (I choose IM because I simply need to tell him that our 3pm meeting has been cancelled.)
   
• Reading his Status message, I see that he’s at the airport and catching a 5pm flight to New York – in other words I have a specific window of time when I can reach him before he is incommunicado for several hours. (Hence I know not to reschedule our 3pm meeting for today.)

From a business perspective, I save myself the time and effort of roaming the building looking for people. If I’m offsite, I save my company the expense of wasted cell minutes on missed calls and help reduce cellular costs (and hence overall reduce telecom costs). I am more productive and the cost of supporting my business communications needs has become minimal due to these mobile VoIP capabilities.

Knowledge at a glance is a powerful thing because it helps me make informed decisions throughout the day. After finishing this blog I have to call my doctor’s office to make an appointment. If only I could view the appointment desk’s Presence ahead of time so that I’d know if it’s a good time to call to avoid waiting on hold.

Deploying a Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is a very straightforward process. However, before you get started, you want to make sure your WLAN is up to spec in terms of being mobile VoIP-ready. Following are five survey questions to ask yourself first, and some answers to help fend off any potential problems.

1- Do you have an adequate number of WiFi Access Points (APs)?

Typically the answer to this question is “no.”

Organizations that have an existing WiFi infrastructure installed have most likely configured it for data.  Because voice is a real-time application, a WLAN that is configured for data will not be adequate for VoIP (Voice over IP).  Research suggests that businesses typically have as much as 20% fewer APs installed than what they really need for reliable VoIP coverage. This means there can be major coverage gaps in areas in between APs, which will cause WiFi calls to drop (similar to how cell calls drop when you roam in to gaps between tower coverage).

Be sure to create overlapping AP coverage in order to avoid WiFi signal gaps – and dropped calls.
 
2- Have you overlooked any high voice-traffic areas in placing your APs?

Businesses typically forget to include off-hand locations such as storage rooms, stairwells and elevator shafts in the AP plan. However, these are examples of quite popular areas where people tend to pass through during their busy day while on their phones. These places also offer weak or no cellular and may therefore benefit from WiFi for extended coverage in order to take advantage of seamless roaming and the benefits of reduced cellular costs (and hence reduced telecom costs).

Your voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) scheme needs to prepare for the idiosyncrasies of mobile VoIP – like the fact that mobile calls rarely happen at a predictable moment or location (like inside a storage room.) It is a common oversight because people typically think data first, and then plan around that need. These are key considerations when seeking to maximize enterprise mobility.

The lesson learned is: Watch traffic patterns among your own company’s mobile phone users when assessing your AP coverage. If your top sales people tend to use their phones in the stairwell, for example, or in front of the office building, you will want to put up some APs in those locations to make sure their calls don’t drop before closing a deal! Also, you want to give emlployees as much opportunity as possible to take advantage of free WiFi calls.

3- Is your WLAN future-proofed?

Choose a vendor that doesn’t require you to eventually replace your existing infrastructure. Some of the older WLANs required that businesses do a rip-and-replace in the event of a mobile VoIP-driven upgrade. Choosing a switched-based WLAN means you can extend your network very easily – a good thing because you want to be able to leverage your existing infrastructure.

4- Is your campus exactly like every other?

The answer is “absolutely not” because no two implementations are alike. Therefore, plan for the unexpected.

One installation I did in Hawaii, for example, dealt with an Army hospital that was built in the 40’s, and which therefore had walls so thick they had to put an access point in every room. (There was no hope for cellular penetration so WiFi was a wonderful mobile-communications alternative.)

Lesson learned: The older your building is, the harder it is to bring RF into it.

5- Make sure you are not trying to implement on the cheap.  

The lowest cost AP from even a highly reputable vendor may not be suitable for VOIP. Read case studies and do other research to identify a proven solution first.

Voice over WiFi Lessons Learned

One of my favorite WiFi-coverage mystery stories of all times, and one which can easily provide a learning lesson for anybody preparing their WLAN for the VoIP onslaught, is this one …

There was one deployment –a popular chain of lingerie stores – that called us for support one day (I was working for a well-known WiFi-phone manufacturer at the time.) We got the “911” WiFi-emergency alert when calls suddenly started dropping like crazy at one of the lingerie store locations, after having worked perfectly for months. Guess what we found? They had put up a dressing room with mirrors in the middle of the store. This caused shadows of RF that weren’t originally there, and Voila, a rash of dropped calls.

The solution: Adding more APs completed their WiFi coverage. In general, the more complete your coverage, the better your mobile VoIP experience will be.

Anybody second guessing the benefits of telecommuting is in for some enlightenment. Networking giant Cisco – and the $10 million annual savings it’s enjoying by letting employees work from home – is proof that telecommuting works as advertised. It helps reduce mobile telecom costs.

According to a recent NetworkWorld article, Cisco Sends Employees Home to Work, the networking giant has already realized productivity savings of $277 million thanks to its 18-month-old telework program. The company based its productivity savings on the “number of billed hours at an average of $91 per hour.” 

Ironically, the original intent behind Cisco’ Telework program – a program requested by CEO John Chambers and which began with 20,000 employees – was to “… evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting …”, according to NetworkWorld. The actual cost savings, says Cisco, are a bonus.

While Cisco’s productivity savings are significant, just imagine if you were to add DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), which runs seamlessly in a Cisco environment, to the telecommuting equation. You would begin to see hard cost savings from reduced cellular costs as well.

For example, because a DiVitas smartphone behaves just like a deskphone (carries the corporate phone number and performs call forward, extension dialing, etc.), telecommuters would be reachable by a single device – a mobile phone that runs over WiFi, which would result in several telecom cost reducing benefits:

• Free WiFi phone calls - callers benefit from free international calls on WiFi and local calls on WiFi.
• Only one device (a smartphone) needs to be purchased and managed for each telecommuter.
• Companies can discontinue subsidizing home-phone service for telecommuters.
• Costly cellular data plans are only necessary for highly mobile telecommuters i.e. sales; telecommuters working strictly from a home office can place and receive voice calls strictly via WiFi.

In addition to traditional desktop collaboration tools used for enabling telecommuting programs, DiVitas offers specific Mobile UC-related benefits:  
 

• Single Number reach and Caller ID on the DiVitas handset shows the company direct dial number – nobody knows that the individual is working from home.
• Has integrated mobile social networking capabilities such as Mobile Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) and Status message.
• Is integrated with the corporate directory, so placing a call or addressing an email or IM can be done directly from the smartphone interface.
• Supports Dual Persona, which allows personal calls to be routed through a native cellular number (Personal Persona) and business calls to be routed through a mobile phone (Business Persona ); highly mobile telecommuters need only carry one device.
• Supports Fixed Mobile Convergence (seamless roaming), allowing phones calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular.
• Has landline-like voice quality over WiFi.
• Is under IT control and supports remote over the air (OTA) installation, configuration and update management.
• Supports Visual Voicemail and Single Voicemail Inbox, allowing individuals to retrieve messages directly from their smartphones and eyeball which messages have priority status.

Cisco’s telecommuting results are very promising in the argument for companies instituting telecommuting policies.

According to NetworkWorld, “91% of the nearly 2,000 respondents to a late 2008 survey [of Cisco] believed the ability to telecommute is “somewhat or very important” to their overall satisfaction on the job.”

Also, “69% of employees surveyed cited higher productivity when working from home and 75% said the timeliness of their work improved.”

Like Cisco, we at DiVitas practice what we preach – we use our own solution to the point that our company can share the news about productivity and cost-savings benefits.

Managed Service Providers are leveraging DiVitas for a major revenue opportunity that is particularly timely given the down economy.

Clearfly Communications, an infrastructure-based provider of integrated communications solutions for the small and medium business community, is among them. The company is selling its Mobile UC solution branded, “Mobile SIP”, as a managed service to its customers throughout the Western United States.

Clearfly offers integrated service packages in 14 Western states, excluding California and Nevada. It is deploying DiVitas Mobile UC to its customers, which range in size from 10 to 500 employees, as a managed service; the DiVitas solution is helping these organizations reduce cellular costs and improve productivity while leveraging their PBX and WiFi investments.

“Layering DiVitas Mobile UC on top of an existing mobile-communications infrastructure is painless for our customers, and they begin realizing benefits from day one,” says Mauro Calvi, CEO, Clearfly Communications. “Cellular bills drop immediately, and voice quality improves right away – our customers are on the way to realizing cost savings and improved productivity as soon as they start using DiVitas.”

This managed-services model for Mobile UC is practical for the SMB-sized customer Clearfly serves. As IT organizations downsize, or are expected to do more with the same staffs, they are turning to third parties and managed services.

This cost saving benefit has great appeal to companies needing to cut costs without sacrificing productivity. With Mobile UC, voice calls are mobilized and coverage is increased, but free WiFi calls offload cellular minutes to reduce costs. For example, the average Clearfly customer spends about $90 to $100 per mobile user, per month, and saves up to 30 percent off that cost by deploying DiVitas to displace cellular with WiFi.
    
“The tougher the financial conditions, the harder organizations look for ways to stretch their dollars,” continued Calvi. “Companies want to take advantage of the significant investment they’ve already made in their PBXs and their wireless LANs, and they want maximum value from their corporate smartphone purchases. DiVitas Mobile UC meets these challenges head on.”

I often get asked about cellular-only alternatives to Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) when I’m sitting on various industry panels at tradeshows and elsewhere. Members of these audiences have cut their mobile teeth on cell phones, and are understandably loyal to this technology. They are still learning about how they can add WiFi to the mix in order to reduce mobile-communications costs while improving productivity.

I always explain that cellular-only options such as a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) or Picocells have several serious shortcomings. And these shortcomings are especially significant in today’s tough economic climate.

DAS and Picocell systems are horrifically expensive to deploy: A company can spend as much as $100,000 on the DAS or picocell equipment and implementation alone – unless they are subsidized by a carrier. If so there will likely be payback in form of a very large and/or long service plan. In contrast, DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (which includes Fixed Mobile Convergence technology for seamless roaming) is a software solution that integrates with any vendor’s communications-infrastructure equipment (WLAN, PBX, handset, carrier etc.). It is a fraction of the DAS or picocell cost to deploy because, most often, the WiFi network has already been deployed by the hosting enterprise. And it is managed in-house by a company’s IT department as opposed to a carrier.  Don’t get me wrong – DiVitas utilizes and respects the carriers for the great cellular wideservices they offer, but IT departments both want and need to control mobile phone usage in a similar way they control desk phone usage.

DAS and picocell systems are horrifically expensive to maintain: Many of our customers have mobile workers who spend all (or the majority of) their time in-building. If a company were to use a cellular-only solution i.e. DAS or picocells, it would cause mobile workers to use precious cell minutes to make every call when away from their desks – even if they are just across the building. While reachability has been increased, so has the cost of mobilizing their employees. They also lose out on Mobile Unified Communications capabilities such like “one number reach” and PBX functionality.

In contrast, if they were using a Fixed Mobile Convergence solution, all in-building calls would take place over free WiFi. There is no cost to place or receive calls via WiFi. As a cost-savings example, we have one customer who is replacing their DAS with a DiVitas Mobile UC solution in order to significantly reduce their nearly $40,000-per-month cell bill. And DiVitas voice quality over WiFi is toll quality, making it equal to a desk phone.

DAS and picocell systems fail to integrate with, or take advantage of, PBX features: This means cellular-only, in-building systems don’t do extension-dialing, forward calls to co-workers, etc.

In contrast, Mobile UC integrates with the PBX, extending the deskphone to the mobile phone so that mobile workers can be reached, regardless of where they are. And they can still communicate as if they were sitting in their office, using their deskphone.

Femtocells are another option floating around out there, but they are primarily targeted at home users and small businesses vs. enterprises. They do, however, serve to highlight yet another major shortcoming of an all cellular-approach to increasing reachability: When you deploy Femtocells, you are paying to make up for a deficiency in your carrier’s coverage, according to Michael Finneran in his blog Femtocell Reality Check. Finneran is also not too keen on how Femtocells rely on your broadband connection to work, so if there is a power outage, poof you have no cell phone service.

Yes, DiVitas is of the mind that a solution that provides seamless roaming based on Fixed Mobile Convergence technology vs. cellular-only technology is an obvious choice. But it’s not to say that carriers don’t have a pivotal role in the Fixed Mobile Convergence (and Mobile UC) space. In fact, DiVitas is successfully partnering with carriers today.

For example, we have a carrier customer – Sawtel of Hartford, Conn. – which is deploying Mobile UC to 200,000 subscribers worldwide. Sawtel is leaping ahead of its competition, saving itself years of development time – and millions of dollars in engineering resources – by working with DiVitas.

Cell-based calls have their place – when mobile workers are out of WiFi range. The more cost-effective solution for mobilizing workers in-building, or anywhere on-campus, is one that uses WiFi for free calling whenever possible. The goal is to let companies reduce costs - without sacrificing their ability to remain competitive.

I have some new and interesting data that is related to mobile Instant Messaging (IM) and how this method of communication is experiencing a growth trend. Why? Because it can significantly reduce monthly cellular bills.

IM is a part of Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) – and it is a tool that can be used to communicate brief messages for free, rather than wasting precious cell minutes. Like IM, text messaging is another alternative to calling, but there is a per-message cost that is associated with sending a text message. In contrast, IM messages can be free.

For example, by using DiVitas Mobile UC, mobile workers can communicate via IM for free when they are in WiFi. And there is no additional charge for using IM in cellular because the fee is included in the monthly data plan.

This is how U.K.-based Portio Research sums it up in a recently published study, Mobile Messaging Futures 2008 – 2013  (as reported in the article, Worldwide messaging revenues exceed USD 224 billion by 2013).

- The rising star in the mobile messaging constellation is Mobile Instant Messaging (IM).
- Portio predicts exponential growth in mobile IM users, surging from a worldwide total of 111 million users in 2008 to hit a massive 867 million users by the close of 2013.
- This massive growth in users will be accompanied by an equally impressive 5-fold increase in revenues from approximately USD 2.5 billion in 2008 to approximately USD 12.4 billion in 2013.

This prediction is important news to current and future Mobile IM users because it reveals the underlying gains offered by Mobile UC. After all why place a costly cell call when a simple, free IM will do?  And if its use is so high – given the current economic climate and emphasis on reduction of business costs – there is something to be learned by this trend. And that is, anytime you can replace an expensive cell minute with free communication, your organization reduces costs.

ROI blog series (#4 of 4):  DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications can achieve ROI based on international toll-cost savings alone.

Professionals living outside the United States pay incredibly high cellular costs on outbound calls. But inbound calls are significantly less expensive -- and in some cases even free. Transparent Callback™ is a capability offered by DiVitas that lowers the cost of outbound cellular calls, making them equal to the cost of inbound calls. International travelers can take advantage of Transparent Callback while traveling on business as well. But it is important to note that in order to benefit from the lower incoming call rate (and avoid additional cellular roaming charges); the caller must have a SIM for the country in which the caller is currently located within and calling from. 

How Transparent Callback works

As stated in my previously posts in this blog series, calls placed via DiVitas are always executed and managed by the DiVitas server. This process enables the DiVitas server to honor rules and policies that have been instituted by the PBX. It also allows DiVitas to bypass the expensive cellular carrier in many cases

When an individual places a call via the DiVitas client, it initiates a call request to the DiVitas server.   

The request is processed by the DiVitas Unified Communications server, which then simultaneously places one call to the intended recipient and one call back to the originating requestor. This happens transparently to the caller and is performed in a matter of seconds. Technically both the caller and the recipient are now communicating via two inbound calls. 

All outbound calls made internationally in this manner using DiVitas are now billed as inbound calls – which are significantly less expensive (or even free) than the outbound call would be. It is interesting to note that Transparent Callback is used for virtually all calls placed through DiVitas, but because of the fee structure imposed by international carriers, it is only those calls where the savings is so significant.

Without DiVitas:

USA To:	Cost per minute	Typical cost for 5 hours a month	Cost per Year	Cost for 100 Employees per Year
Canada	0.49	$147	$1,764	$176,400
Europe	0.99	$297	$3,564	$356,400
South America	2.99	$897	$10,764	$1,076,400
Japan	1.99	$597	$7,164	$716,400
China	2.99	$897	$10,764	$1,076,400
India	2.99	$897	$10,764	$1,076,400

With DiVitas:

USA To:	Cost per minute	Typical cost for 5 hours a month	Cost per Year	Cost for 100 Employees per Year	Savings per Year Using DiVitas
Canada	$0.15	$44	$529	$52,920	$123,480
Europe	$0.30	$89	$1,069	$106,920	$249,480
South America	$0.90	$269	$3,229	$322,920	$753,480
Japan	$0.60	$179	$2,149	$214,920	$501,480
China	$0.90	$269	$3,229	$322,920	$753,480
India	$0.90	$269	$3,229	$322,920	$753,480

ROI blog series (#1 of 4. ):  DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications can achieve ROI based on international toll-cost savings alone.

1- DiVitas Lets Companies ROI on International Cell Cost Reduction Alone
2- WiFi calls initiated from the United States to an international destination cost: $00.00 per minute (free)
3- WiFi hotspots reduce international call costs to ... free
4- Reduce Costs on Outbound Calls From International locations

WiFi hotspots reduce international call costs to ... free
DiVitas has an exceptional ROI story. And by exceptional, I mean extremely fast. In fact, a company deploying a DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution can achieve a return on their investment based on international toll-cost savings alone. Skeptical? I have the proof and I will be dedicating a few blogs to this topic. DiVitas can save organizations thousands of dollars on international cellular costs (whether they are made from within or outside the United Status) … and the magic doesn’t happen by limiting the number of calls being placed. Saving money by not placing international business calls is simply not an option.

Scenario #1:

Mobile call initiated from the United States to an international destination. In this example, it is important to note that all cellular calls made from a mobile handset are billed at *international cellular call rates.

Without DiVitas

USA  to:	Cost per minute	Typical cost for 5 hours a month	Cost per Year	Cost for 100 Employees per Year
Canada	$0.19	$57	$684	$68,400
Europe	$0.69	$207	$2,484	$248,400
South America	$0.99	$297	$3,564	$356,400
Japan	$0.69	$207	$2,484	$248,400
China	$1.49	$447	$5,364	$536,400
India	$1.49	$447	$5,364	$536,400

With DiVitas

DiVitas integrates with any IP PBX, taking on all of the attributes and capabilities offered through that PBX. When placing or receiving a cellular call via the DiVitas Mobile UC handset, all calls are routed through the organization’s PBX, which avoids the high price levied by the wireless carrier. The cost of the international call will be based on the PBX-based calling rates negotiated with an organization’s carrier of choice. In this example we used the rates we negotiated with our carrier. 

USA to:	Cost per minute	Typical cost for 5 hours a month	Cost per Year	Cost for 100 Employees per Year	Savings per Year Using Divitas
Canada	$0.02	$6	$72	$7,200	$61,200
Europe	$0.04	$12	$144	$14,400	$234,000
South America	$0.17	$51	$612	$61,200	$295,200
Japan	$0.06	$18	$216	$21,600	$226,800
China	$0.15	$45	$540	$54,000	$482,400
India	$0.25	$75	$900	$90,000	$446,400

*The numbers used in the scenarios below were taken from a large carrier’s published pricing.  Because this carrier offers very aggressive and competitive pricing – comparing DiVitas with other carriers will result in even greater savings.  This information is not meant to indicate the competitiveness of the carrier.  Rather, it is to support our claim that in every case an international call made through DiVitas will be less expensive than calls made by a cell phone at carrier rates. And in some cases international calls made through DiVitas will actually be free.