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Justin Hamilton-Martin, managing director, 8el an established communications provider focused on managed voice and data communications solutions, says that it is possible to cut the cost of telecoms
Data centres have long been under pressure to reduce expenditure while maintaining an excellent service to their customers. Providing a market differentiator which is not based on price competition can often prove a challenge.
By leveraging the benefits of IP telephony solutions data centres can save money and at the same time, offer their clients a better business environment and even create a new revenue streams.
The cost benefits of VoIP and IP Centrex have long been documented, but historically, there have been concerns about service quality. However, ‘business grade’ VoIP is now becoming more commonplace, with companies taking advantage of services that provide the best of both worlds: the flexibility and economic advantages of IP telephony. Cost savings for the organisation
Outsourcing telephony as part of a managed service transforms traditional capital expenditure into operational expenditure (OPEX), making it easier to budget. Indeed, the ability to predict annual costs by using managed services is one of the reasons why companies choose to go this route. Nick Mellor, technical operations director for Swift Research has said, “With 8el, we just have one point of contact for all our telecom services. It also helps us to look at the whole of our telecommunications spend and work with us to develop a cost-effective call plan that enables us to predict costs.”
Having a single provider for both voice and data services makes it easier to understand and control overall communications outlay. However, watch out for hidden costs: are site visits extra? Does your monthly fee include upgrades, service fees and maintenance? Supporting new ways of working
VoIP also supports new ways of working offering business benefits and a reduction in ‘soft costs’. For instance, staff can have access to the company’s businesses telephony solution, whether they are working from home or the mobile. This allows data centre staff to manage how they handle calls in a professional manner without the need to be on site.
For data centres, this can be a massive benefit as part of a disaster recovery plan. I can give an instance where a data centre disappeared from our network map when a power outage led to a UPS problem. Of course, when we tried to call we couldn’t get through because the data centre had no power (they were not an IP Centrex customer). This is just the time where a data centre needs to be communicating with its clients. With IP Centrex a disaster recovery routing plan can be implemented immediately diverting calls to other locations or mobiles.
There are other benefits to IP Centrex: with its advanced ‘virtual receptionist’ features, the latest generation of business VoIP based on this technology eliminates the need for dedicated receptionists too.
More data centres are offering the facility for their customers to ‘hot desk’ within an area of the site. When hot desking is a feature on the telephony system, a PIN and password provide customers with access to full suite of features traditionally associated with a fixed line telephony solution such as DDI, call recording and conferencing - all of which is rechargeable to customers. SIP trunking
Other innovations enable yet more cost efficiencies. For data centres that want to get more out of their existing PBX - and perhaps have data capacity to the internet or other data centres - Session Internet Protocol (SIP) trunking enables customers to reduce or even eliminate dependency on the traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network). Applications include business VoIP, by routing traffic across an IP circuit instead of via ISDN lines.
Other benefits include scalability – whether up or down – on a ‘per channel’ basis. SIP trunking is also not dependent on geography, so the network will route calls to wherever the recipient is located, without creating any call-forwarding costs. SIP trunking is a relatively new direction and not many operators are offering it yet. Network monitoring leads to better cost control
Many companies are literally ‘leaking’ money by not understanding how their networks are being used. Fortunately, a raft of new monitoring and reporting tools are now available, including real-time services that enable companies to track network usage even down to an individual IP address, so areas of ‘waste’ can be identified and managed. Detailed monthly reports should be provided by the telco to assist with further analysis. There is also a link between call costs and security: we have seen instances where a company’s voice network has been hacked and hijacked: make sure you know who is using your system by having the right security measures in place.
The pressure may be on to reduce costs, but telephony is one of the areas where some immediate and tangible savings can be made, using a combination of the latest technology, together with better control and service management.
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