In recent years, enterprises across various industry verticals have realised and leveraged the benefits of IP transformation. IPfication has made their communication networks future-proof to a large extent and paved the way for convergence of data and voice services on this platform, making unified communications (UC) a top priority amongst enterprises.

UC is defined as the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging, presence information, telephony (including IP telephony), videoconferencing, desktop sharing, data sharing, call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, email, SMS and fax). UC may be a single product or a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface across multiple devices and media types. It differs from standard telecom systems because it uses server-based technologies and digital IP networks, which are the same type of networks that route internet traffic.

UC benefits

A UC set-up offers multiple benefits for enterprises. An enterprise can achieve enhanced efficiency and productivity with an integrated communications system. By integrating telephony and business data on the same network, firms are able to combine and use voice, data and video information in their common business applications. Unlike analog telephone systems, digital systems send voice information over the network as digital packets in the same way as an email is sent.

Since a number of applications are based on a single network, UC requires low maintenance costs. With voice and video being carried as data over the unified network, UC is capable of offering cheaper calls than traditional telephony. In addition, a UC system can potentially lower the overall costs of conferencing by combining dissimilar services through one vendor. Further, a UC set-up enables simplified IT administration and real-time monitoring by converging data and voice networks. With time, UC has become a way of not only integrating networks but also extending them, thus enabling greater connectivity.

The UC space has been dominated by IT service providers such as Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya. These companies specialise in providing such services and offer wide-ranging products suiting different business needs.

Key UC offerings

Cisco is the most popular service provider in the UC domain. It offers multiple products for enterprises wishing to opt for such a set-up. It offers call-control platforms such as Cisco Business edition 6000 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. While the former is capable of offering UC for up to 1,000 users and 50 sites, the Manager Express enables a simplified transition from legacy telephony at branch offices. The company also provides communication gateways that offer UC services for all types of gateway and session border-control deployments. UC applications such as Cisco Jabber, Unity Connection and WebEx Meetings allow users to stay connected through instant messaging and telepresence on multiple devices. Further, the company offers add-on solutions such as Unified Attendant Consoles and Emergency Responder to address additional customer requirements.

The service provider has a different line of products that specifically addresses the communication requirements of small businesses. It offers basic IP and digital enhanced cordless telecommunication phones, with support from Cisco Small Business and third-party hosted IP telephony systems. These products have been designed keeping in mind the fact that small businesses depend on service providers for IT support since they lack in-house capacity for the same.

Avaya offers a wide range of products for unified communications and collaboration. All products have been designed with the aim of simplifying daily activities at the workplace and can operate on multiple devices. Solutions for activities such as conferencing, mobility, video and collaborative applications are available in the form of products such as Avaya Communicator, Aura Messaging and VDI Communicator. Avaya also has separate solutions available for mid-sized enterprises.

Microsoft’s most popular offering is the Microsoft Lync. It is an enterprise-ready UC platform, which runs on Windows 8 and other operating systems to connect employees through computers and mobile devices. It provides a consistent, single-client experience for telepresence, instant messaging, voice and video services. Since Microsoft does not provide phones, video end-points, and voice and video gateways, Lync has taken a backseat in the fiercely competitive UC landscape. However, the integration of Lync with Skype is being seen as a step towards strengthening its presence in this segment.

Telecom operators gain ground

The popularity of this segment has grown over the past years with a large number of large and small enterprises opting for a UC set-up to manage their daily tasks. This presents immense opportunities for telecom operators to venture into an area that has traditionally been dominated by IT service providers. This has prompted operators to invest significantly in rolling out these services.

Indian telecom operators like Reliance Communications and Tata Communications are offering their networks as platforms for launching UC-based solutions for enterprises. Reliance Hosted Unified Communications is a platform for conducting activities such as videoconferencing, webconferencing and other telephony services. Similarly, Tata Communications’ Jamvee UC offering has been designed with interoperability and uses open application programming interface such as WebRTC to enable customers to use the same enterprise network as they use internally to communicate with external parties. It is hosted on the operator’s network and offers enterprises the option to choose additional UC tools that work best for them commercially. In addition, while Airtel, in collaboration with Cisco and Microsoft, has launched several such services, the business service arm of Vodafone India’s managed videoconferencing service provides high definition (HD) videoconferencing for enterprises. It also offers solutions for voicemail, desktop communications, presence management, messaging, conferencing and social media.

Challenges in shifting to UC

There are a few issues that organisations face while shifting to a UC set-up, the biggest being the high roll-out costs involved. In order to move to a UC set-up, enterprises have to forgo their extensive legacy infrastructure. This can add to the initial capital expenditure that an organisation incurs. However, many providers have developed solutions that leverage the legacy infrastructure of enterprises for setting up a UC system. For instance, for videoconferencing, Avaya offers Avaya Scopia videoconferencing infrastructure, which leverages the existing videoconferencing infrastructure of enterprises to deliver HD-quality results.

Further, the complexity and interoperability issues that arise while upgrading to UC have been cited as one of the persistent challenges in the widespread roll-out of UC services. Interoperability requires a free flow of communication across multiple devices. For instance, making a video call on two different platforms is a frustrating experience due to lack of interoperability. The most effective way to overcome this issue is committing to interoperability and developing standards that are ratified by recognised industry bodies. This would allow service providers to innovate in an open environment and share resources to deliver a better consumer experience.

Conclusion

In sum, in order to improve collaboration, increase worker productivity and contain telecommunications costs, enterprises are shifting to a UC set-up. However, UC requires a unified supporting infrastructure that has visibility and collaborative capabilities to span multiple deployment locations and servers. The absence of such supporting infrastructure coupled with issues such as high roll-out costs can constrain growth in the UC market. At the same time, IT service providers and telecom operators are actively investing in developing solutions that minimise the challenges and maximise the benefits offered by UC. Going forward, the move towards greater UC deployment is likely to gain momentum as service providers innovate and enterprises expand their operations.