Corporate computer networks have become an integral part in the way many organisations do business. Such networks not only form the structural backbone of many processes and applications, but also the communications infrastructure of the company.
Today, advanced networked telephony communication systems offer businesses of all sizes the high-powered, function-rich capabilities once available only to the largest, most sophisticated corporations, says Chris van Niekerk, country manager of 3Com SA.
He says most market indicators point to an increasing migration away from traditional private branch exchange (PBX) telephony systems towards networked voice-over-data - or IP-based - solutions.
"These solutions optimise the corporate network infrastructure to help users manage their operations more efficiently, economise on costs and enhance overall productivity."
He says IP telephony`s underlying benefits are that, as a technology, it can enhance or better fit in with the corporate network infrastructure and blend with the advances in networking technology.
"For example, networked IP telephony solutions offer sophisticated call routing options such as `find me, follow me` where a telephone system tries to reach its target in different places, and provides the possibility for users to customise the way the system interacts with them based on availability, time of day, who is calling and more."
He says new-generation networked IP telephony systems also feature built-in computer/telephony integration (CTI) functionality that enables sales or service departments to respond rapidly to customers and business opportunities by allowing their phones and computers to communicate with each other. Employees even can dial customers and vendors directly from their software applications.
"These and other facilities are of great attraction to companies within the MMICC - Multi Media Customer Interaction Centre market - one of the fastest growing segments in the digital economy," he says.
According to Van Niekerk, networked IP telephony now makes the power of customer interaction or call centres affordable and practical. He notes: "A robust call centre that offers the features, flexibility and sophistication of expensive, high-end systems can now be deployed at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems.
"A correct centre will deliver flexible, intelligent call distribution and extensive graphical monitoring, reporting and alarming features facilitating the management of call flow in real-time. Changes to the configuration and set-up can also be made dynamically.
"For example, it will feature real-time monitoring of agents, ports, queues, call status and queue assignments. These and other features enable users to increase both customer satisfaction and customer retention."
Due to regulatory constraints, IP telephony is not permitted to be employed as a long-distance solution in SA as yet. However, as Mark Boundy, a vice president (product marketing) at US-based AG Communications Systems says, the real value of IP telephony is not to be found in savings on toll bypass on long-distance calls.
It is in enabling workers to communicate better. He says that if a company can improve productivity by 2%, the value is far greater than any savings on telephone calls.
* According to research figures (Synergy Research) the global IP PBX market is expected to grow to over $3 billion in 2005. 3Com has currently secured around 50% of the US IP-PBX systems market.
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