VoIP: the promise and the pain

For more mobile road warriors, a softphone installed on a notebook can provide an office phone in any location, even a hotel room or a Starbucks with a Wi-Fi hot spot. Some systems let you set up all calls to ring simultaneously on your IP phone and cell phone. This flexibility means better customer relationships, because calls get to the intended person much more often.

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Some companies, such as JetBlue, have taken this mobility to the extreme, creating completely distributed, virtual-IP-based call centers in which their entire staffs are actually working with IP phones in their homes across wide areas of the United States. "VoIP gives you access to labor pools that didn't exist before," Avaya's Jorge Blanco says. "You don't have to provide a roof over their head and you can get highly educated people from any location." Jenkins points out that you can take advantage of time zones to extend call center hours -- and that IP phones are great for the growing category of "day extenders" who continue working when they get home from the office.

IP systems also allow better collaboration with branches and telecommuters, because they often provide built-in, easy-to-use audio conferencing. The benefits are even more dramatic when you start converging VoIP with other real-time applications such as instant messaging, document sharing, and Web conferencing. Presence functions let users see on their PC screens exactly who is in the office and who is on the phone, so you waste much less time leaving voice mails or directing calls to people who are not available. It becomes much easier to pull people into instant virtual meetings, allowing for faster decision making. "IP allows the branch office to become much more integrated into the overall business," Bayerl says. "If Jane in branch x is the worldwide expert in widget y, it's as if she were right down the hall." VoIP also makes it easier to implement multimedia contact centers where the same people handle Web, chat, and voice interactions concurrently, and any of these communications can be routed quickly to available people with relevant expertise.

Many analysts and vendors agree that the next phase will be integrating VoIP and other real-time communications into ERP and other enterprise applications. "By bringing real-time communications into business applications you can get over hurdles that used to stop a business process," Bayerl says. "For example, if a process needs finance approval, the application knows that Joe in finance is the person with authority that is currently available and it can make a connection." Cisco offers phones with LCD displays that can replace PCs in retail and other environments that have limited data access needs. Cisco and Alcatel's phones support XML services that you can use to add access to billing, inventory, and other applications to the phone.

Another application that is generating excitement is VoIP over the wireless LAN, which can be useful in warehouse, hospital, and retail environments and possibly move into the mainstream office. SpectraLink has been involved in this category for several years and Cisco is offering phones with Wi-Fi capabilities. At the Spring 2004 VON (Voice on the Net) conference, Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia demonstrated hybrid wireless VoIP and cell phones that allow users to make calls over Wi-Fi networks when available, whether in the office or at a hot spot on the road, and via cellular when Wi-Fi is not. "I'd be happy to get rid of the phone on my desk if I could have a single phone to take with me that could tie into all those converged applications," Meta's Ussher says.

The Voice Choice

Such advanced benefits may be compelling, but not at the sacrifice of the typical call control features offered by a standard PBX. Fortunately, those who decide to take the plunge into VoIP will discover that IP-based phone systems now support all the basics -- call forwarding, caller ID, speed dialing, call hold, auto attendant, and so on. And voice quality is no longer a question. For most customers, the place to start is with their existing PBX vendor, which can help them deploy a hybrid system that retains legacy equipment.

The nature of IP telephony also lends itself to hosted solutions. Verizon, AT&T, and other players offer converged IP voice and data networks using a specification called MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) that permits these carriers manage different service levels to accommodate voice. They've also been replacing TDM switches with IP -- and some carriers have active plans to bring VoIP over the last mile directly to the home or business. This approach will make it easier for carriers to provide their own VoIP services, including videoconferencing, unified communications, and contact-center applications that could replace or complement whatever an enterprise has on site. Until now, carriers have mostly served as VoIP integrators or have provided IP Centrex services for small and midsize businesses.

Most agree that a major transition to VoIP in the enterprise is inevitable, but in most companies it will probably be a gradual process of greenfield branch office rollouts, deploying IP where it brings the most benefit, replacing obsolete legacy equipment, and gradually upgrading the data network infrastructure. Ultimately, every enterprise will find its own unique path to VoIP.