Office communications of the future

About the author

This paper was prepared by Cliff Gibson who is a director of Gibson Quai International (GQI) and was reviewed by other senior GQI staff,

Cliff Gibson, B.E., BSc, FIE Aust.

Cliff Gibson has worked as an ICT consultant for 40 years. Prior to that Cliff was employed as a Communications Engineer by Telecom Australia.

In the late 1980ies and Cliff Gibson and Dominic Quai co-founded Gibson Quai – AAS which grew to become the largest privately owned ICT consulting business in Australia before being sold to UXC in 2001. In 2012 Cliff and Dominic restarted the company which is currently called Gibson Quai International.

Cliff’s key expertise lies in the provision of strategic advice related to the application of ICT and similar technologies to business. He is often involved in managing teams who develop telecommunications strategies for major corporate and Government clients. During his time as a consultant Cliff has provided advice on numerous Government and corporate communications projects for clients located in most Australian states and the N.T. Cliff also has considerable experience with the provision of telecommunications regulatory advice and advice on the application of new and emerging communications technologies.

?Disclaimer

This paper is confidential and is the property of GQI. It may not be amended or reproduced without the express permission of the board of management.

The information, opinions and conclusions provided in this paper are based on publicly available information and GQI’s experience and professional judgement.

GQI has assumed that the public information and documents that we have relied on are a true and accurate reflection of the information to which they relate and have made no independent checks of the accuracy of the information.

The conclusions and statements in this paper are based on information available at the time of preparing this paper.

GQI Consulting makes no representations or warranties for the opinions, conclusions and statements provided in this paper and takes no responsibility for any reliance on this paper for any purpose other than for which it was prepared.

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1??????Introduction

The last 30 years have seen enormous changes in office telephony and contact centre communications technologies. This white paper discusses those changes and sets the scene for the office communications environment of the future. This paper is written from the perspective of the end-user and is aimed at guiding management with the important decisions which will transition their organisation to one which enjoys the benefits of an omnichannel distributed communications and collaboration platform. This forward-looking environment will reduce costs drive operational efficiencies and enhance interaction between staff, customers, and other business support agents. ?

We have worked with many organisations to help them with their transition, and we have found that whilst initially, the transition may appear to be complicated in practice it is relatively simple once management realises that it is mostly about migration to a different commercial model. This new model shifts the responsibility for technical management of communications technologies to organisations that are technical specialists.

It also introduces a new management function focused on working with the communications and collaboration service providers and encouraging them to continuously improve the services that they provide. This model is less costly, offers considerable user flexibility and features, and supports different communications channels. It surrounds the user with the required communications functionality irrespective of their location and most importantly will enable the users to improve operational efficiencies.

2??????Background ?

The 1980ies saw the emergence of electronic PABXs and separate dedicated contact centres, although some PABXs did have ACD capability to support basic contact centres without real-time management. Initially, the PABXs were equipped with analogue trunks connected to the local telephone exchange. These were replaced in the 1990ies by ISDN and subsequently by digital SIP trunks. To minimise call costs across large organisations with multiple distributed offices PABXs were interconnected by tie-lines to create private networks. Most of this telephone equipment was acquired as a capital investment and was owned and managed by the organisation.

In the early 2000’s Unified Communications (UC) started to appear. Cisco was the major player in the provision of UC in the early days and managed to provide voice, video, messaging and presence using application stacking.

By about 2012 most major organisations owned many aging PABXs and carriers were starting to signal that ISDN was approaching end of life. Around this time some organisations began to purchase new UC systems for head offices. Hence a blend of communications technologies was emerging across major organisations. Contact centres were still stand-alone systems with limited ability to transfer calls to telephones not connected to the contact centre.

Major corporate networks had become an expensive mess with different services and functionality provided to office workers depending on where they were located. Major problems with office communications systems that were experienced by many organisations included:

·????????????????????A mixture of technologies from different vendors ranging in age.

·????????????????????Multiple maintenance contracts with different maintenance organisations.

·????????????????????Complex networks constructed from old PABXs, ISDN, interfaces to IT Systems, tie lines, a mixture of exchange interfaces and valuable floor space occupied by the technology.

·????????????????????Staff are required to manage the network, train other staff on its use, perform moves, adds and changes and liaise with maintenance organisations, especially during outages.

·????????????????????Limited communications functionality and end-user difficulty in the use of the technology.

·????????????????????Some of the technology had passed its used-by date and required replacement.

·????????????????????Generally, the whole communications environment was expensive to operate and maintain.?

This chaotic communications environment was of concern to management and over the years we have worked with many organisations to help them resolve some of the problems associated with their environment. However, since about 2019, a solution was starting to emerge driven by the arrival of telecommunications cloud services.?

3??????Cloud Services

The telecommunications cloud is a modern generation network architecture that combines software-defined networking, network functions, virtualisation, and cloud-native technology into a distributed computing network.?Since the network and the computing resources are distributed across multiple sites and “clouds”, automation and orchestration are required.

This evolution refers to the deployment of virtualised and programmable network infrastructure that takes advantage of automation and artificial intelligence.?Furthermore, it encompasses the adoption of innovative cloud business practices that change the way networks operate.

More specifically, a telecommunications cloud focuses on the creation of a common virtualised infrastructure to manage various network functions required to deliver communications services.?Each function now is disaggregated from the hardware, to be operated from a platform as a virtual network function or cloud-native network function. The following sections describe the telecommunications services that are currently available from the cloud.

3.1?????Unified Communications as a Service

3.1.1?????Introduction

UC is an umbrella term for the integration of multiple enterprise communication tools – such as voice calling, video conferencing, instant messaging (IM), presence, content sharing, etc. into a single, streamlined interface, to improve user experience and productivity.?UC technology supports a user's ability to switch seamlessly from one mode of communication to another within a single session, whether on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone.?UC also can support traditional hard-wired telephone handsets, with some functionality not available.

Gartner defines unified communications products (equipment, software and services) as “those that facilitate the interactive use of multiple enterprise communications methods.?This can include control, management and integration of these methods.?UC products integrate communications channels (media), networks and systems, as well as IT business applications and, in some cases, consumer applications and devices”[1].

It further defines “Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) as a cloud-delivered service that provides many of the same functions as premises-based UC solutions”[2].?However, It also notes that “UCaaS providers develop and operate cloud UC services offering superior collaboration, faster deployment and often lower cost compared to premises-based solutions”.

In recent years, UC and UCaaS[3] have gained traction with users and the market signalling their approval for the cloud-based technology.?Since about 2019, there has been a clear move away from on-premises-based UC to the cloud.

In a single year, between the first half of 2018 and the first half of 2019, operator and vendor revenue in the UCaaS space grew 23%, according to the Synergy Research Group.?And, according to Gartner, 90% of all new UC purchases will be cloud-based UCaaS by 2022, up from 50% in 2018.

Gartner2 has made a number of revealing predictions in relation to the future widespread use of cloud-based UC as follows:

·????????????????????By 2023, the number of remote workers will have doubled to over two-thirds of digital workers, shifting buyer requirements to demand work-anywhere capabilities.

·????????????????????By 2024, 75% of enterprise users will not use a desk phone, up from 30% in 2020.

·????????????????????By 2022, 15% of organisations will rely solely on cloud office suites (Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace) for their business communication needs, including telephony – a significant increase from 2% in 2019.

3.1.2?????The application and benefits of UCaaS?

UCaaS can deliver all the UC functionality as discussed above and can be programmed to deliver exactly what is required to support a specific user’s role and responsibilities. ?Changes can be made to the UCaaS functionality rapidly via remote management access. The integrated platform of UCaaS also makes it easier to secure communications channels, prevent downtime and account for business continuity and disaster recovery.?UCaaS provides a flexible and scalable platform that can be rapidly adjusted to meet changing business requirements and cope with the demands of political, demographic and climate-driven changes to services delivered to customers and the community.

UCaaS can also support contact centre requirements, such as auto-attendant, omnichannel working, interactive voice response, call routing, call recording, usage pricing and customer relationship management integration.

Typically, a UCaaS solution has three major components:

a)??????????Application servers run by the UCaaS provider, usually located in their data centre, hosted in a third-party data centre or hosted on public cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure;

b)??????????Software clients that are downloaded onto user devices or accessed via web browsers using WebRTC[4] (or a proprietary plugin); and

c)??????????Endpoints such as phones, video conferencing and whiteboard equipment that customers use to access UCaaS via the public internet or through private WAN links.

UCaaS will drive efficiencies through the provision of improved collaboration access to information and productivity enhancements.

Based on market research and our experience, the migration to UCaaS will deliver the following benefits to organisations:

1.???????????Administration responsibility shifts to the service provider hence reducing the internal risk of inadequate technical expertise and resourcing.?It also potentially reduces internal costs with fewer resources needed to support users and the network.

2.???????????Scalability concerns can be easily addressed hence meeting rapid change requirements.

3.???????????Rapid scaling up and down to reduce cost if required and allowing strategic changes to meet social and environmental-driven requirements. In particular, scaling up and down is often automated through simple authorisation processes.

4.???????????Updates and security patching are improved and handled by technically skilled specialists employed by the UCaaS provider often with little involvement by the organisation.

5.???????????Geographically dispersed deployments are very easy and UCaaS can be accessed from home or anywhere, provided the user has access to the internet with sufficient bandwidth.

6.???????????UC services are future-proofed and additional features are easily added by the UCaaS provider.

3.1.3?????Considerations relating to the acquisition of UCaaS

The acquisition of UCaaS involves certain considerations. There may be hidden costs, training, headset acquisition, policies to be addressed, user acceptance and overlap with other interested parties associated with the organisation.

Vendor support will be required which should include a help desk and performance management hence service-level agreements and vendor reporting which should be built into the contract may add to the cost.

Security should also be top of mind, ranging from how end users interact with the service to the role of IT and the vendor's threat vector.?For instance, updates on the provider side can unknowingly create vulnerabilities in the customer network.?Traditional security concerns such as passwords, patches and updates are still important considerations, even with an as?a?service model.

Attention to detail on how the provider houses the application and data needs to be considered, for example, if the provider utilises a single platform supporting multiple organisations (“multi-tenancy”).?If necessary, consider alternate options, such as moving from a multi-tenancy arrangement to a single tenancy, if greater protection or security is required.

Interoperability is another area that can impede implementation.?While many vendors provide an open application interface (API) so third parties can create interoperability with separate collaboration tools which send and receive messages seamlessly, working with those third parties still adds complexity to a deployment.?

Numbering plans for telephony are relatively flexible in UCaaS environments, and organisations can use multiple cloud service providers and still maintain control over their phone numbers, creating more flexibility and less lock-in.?However, consideration of issues associated with numbering plans and any re-numbering also form part of the suite of UCaaS considerations.

3.2?????Contact Centre

3.2.1?????Overview

Until recently, Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) was considered separately from UCaaS, with the former focused on the needs of contact centre agents and the latter serving the needs of other office staff.

However, organisations have started to look for a platform that can address the requirements of both user pools and vendors are providing the capabilities to do so.

A consolidated platform ideally would provide contact centre agents with access to the same UC tools as the rest of the organisation and, thereby, improve communication and collaboration across the entire organisation.

The decision to adopt an integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solution or a siloed approach will depend on a range of issues.?For example, while office workers might be able to handle the frequent upgrades and feature integrations common to UCaaS offerings, contact centres "can't endure service disruption to customers" that major changes might introduce.?Yet, on the other hand, the benefits of both agents and other staff sharing the same UC functionality may be considered to be desirable because of the benefits that can be derived from everyone having the same capabilities and similar user interfaces.

This consideration may also be influenced through market testing to examine other considerations like cost, availability and ability to meet the specific demands of multiple contact functions and related flexibility.

3.2.2?????Functionalities

Apart from the basic contact centre functionality and management, the type of higher-level CCaaS functionality that may be appropriate for an organisation to embrace to deliver the full extent of services to its customers includes the following:

·????????????????????Web messaging

·????????????????????Rich media chatbot

·????????????????????Email

·????????????????????SMS messaging

·????????????????????Social media and third-party messaging apps

·????????????????????Co-browse and screen share

·????????????????????Inbound voice routing (ACD)

·????????????????????Speech-enabled IVR

·????????????????????Voice-bots

·????????????????????Call-back

·????????????????????Voicemail

·????????????????????Multiple phone types

·????????????????????A.I. powered bot builder

·????????????????????Predictive engagement

·????????????????????Predictive routing

·????????????????????Agent Assist

CCaaS, as well as UCaaS providers, can support dynamic pricing models that allow for the rearrangement and scaling of licences and features automatically so that such costs can be a reflection of the features used and the time that they are made available.

3.2.3?????CCaaS example

To demonstrate the capability and flexibility of a fully meshed contact centre with the business when CCaaS, UCaaS and website integration are in place, the following hypothetical example of customer contact with an organisation is provided as a use case.?

A person needs to obtain some operational information on a product produced by a company.

They connect to the company website and search for the information without success.?Then they interact with the web chat bot which collects information about the person, the product and specifically what they are looking for.?The chatbot is unable to resolve the query and they are directed via voice prompts to an available CCaaS agent.

The agent can view the chatbot interaction and quickly ascertain the information that the customer is seeking.?The agent communicates with the customer by voice and on an interactive screen where the agent presents part of a guidance document for customers operating the relevant product. The agent highlights the relevant sections whilst discussing the document with the customer.

The agent realises that the customer needs help from an engineer with specific experience with the product and an expert on the information being sought. So, the agent searches their corporate directory, and the presence indication for that person shows that they are working from home, and currently in a video conference.

The agent sends a message to the engineering expert and some details relating to the customer enquiry.?The expert temporarily exits the meeting, and the agent passes the customer over to the expert who can talk to the customer, ascertain within minutes exactly what is wanted and whilst talking, can email the relevant document which resolves the enquiry.

The whole process was recorded and logged by the contact centre system and took a minimum of time to resolve.

Figure 1 Hypothetical example for use of CCaaS, UCaaS and web interaction

3.3?????Network

3.3.1?????Overview

As indicated above the convergence of traditional voice and data environments has been occurring over many years.?The result is that most organisations currently operate a single data network that is used to deliver voice and other communications services over.?

The legacy network environment of organisations is often further complicated by cabling infrastructure to support connectivity between PABXs and carrier networks or between PABXs to support voice.?

The WAN environment has undergone significant changes over the last few years, spurred on by the digital transformation of many organisations, the move towards web-based applications and the changes in the delivery of Information Technology services via both the public and private clouds.

Traditional WAN networks with fixed point-to-point pipes are not flexible enough to support the agility that cloud services provide to the business.?Many vendors, carriers and organisations are now opting for Software Defined - Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technologies and solutions for the provision of these “cloud agile” network services.?

The network may also cover the connectivity between the end user and the application being used.?As such, it is envisaged that Wi-Fi coverage is extensive and probably the norm for most organisations. In some locations, cabled connectivity may be used especially where particular security requirements or physical constraints necessitate this.

3.3.2?????The transition

The transition from a legacy office telephony environment to a UCaaS and CCaaS ecosystem can be achieved relatively simply because very little if any of the existing legacy network is reused. As indicated previously the cloud is part of the internet and to access the internet is usually provided by Wi-Fi connectivity to the end user device and internet access via a carrier’s customer access network connected to the organisation’s internal data network, whether this is via ethernet switches or routers. ?This provision of internet access may be incorporated into the contract with the cloud service provider to simplify the contractual boundaries and related responsibilities. Or it may be provided as part of the organisation’s IT infrastructure.

Once the internet access is set up and the user logged onto the relevant service UCaaS or CCaaS then usually the old telephony network can simply be abandoned.

4??????Economic and Other Benefits of the New Environment.

There have been several major studies undertaken in recent years showing the positive economic benefits of implementing modern Communication and Collaboration environments which should not be ignored. Furthermore, the COVID pandemic has demonstrated that businesses can operate effectively with many office-based staff working from home on a part-time (or even full-time) basis and improve productivity. However, to achieve these results organisations must be plugged into suitable technologies that seamlessly deliver the complete range of UC services irrespective of where the employee is working. UCaaS and CCaaS are the technologies which are proving to meet these requirements and the economic and social benefits that organisations are experiencing as a result of the transition to these technologies can be summarised as follows:

·????????????????????Savings on office accommodation and maintenance as a result of hybrid working.

·????????????????????Improved efficiencies including saving through collaboration, information sharing and reduced time in regular meetings.

·????????????????????Employee satisfaction – where employees are more satisfied working for an organisation that actively supports a working-from-home environment. This can reduce employee turnover.

·????????????????????A reduction in training requirements and a reduction of errors occurring due to incorrect operation of the technology.

·????????????????????Less requirement for detailed technical in-house expertise due to such capability residing with the service provider.

·????????????????????Contact centre efficiencies where the sharing of contact centre resources between multiple functional areas can occur which will drive reduced call waiting and customer queuing times.?There is also the potential for a reduction in voice traffic (and hence seats) due to UC/web enablement and more efficient call routing algorithms.

·????????????????????Public/customer benefit – where modern digital interfaces such as web access, social media, etc. expected by the community, and with UC enabled, will deliver a positive client experience enhancing the organisations' image.

·????????????????????Crisis benefit – where adoption of UCaaS capabilities will allow rapid, agile access for the community and clients during emergency events.

·????????????????????Restructure of businesses and implementation of new strategies can be rapidly implemented because UCaaS allows changes to be undertaken quickly without difficult and expensive reorganisation of legacy technologies.

·????????????????????Less travel for meetings at other offices resulting in less travel stress and travel time.

5??????Conclusion

There is considerable empirical evidence and related studies that indicate that within the next few years, most major organisations will transition their legacy telephony and contact centre environments to one where UCaaS and CCaaS will provide the platform for their internal and external communications and collaboration.

Organisations have found that their existing legacy communications systems are expensive to run, inadequate to meet current business demands including hybrid working, are aging and will need to be replaced in the short term.

The migration to a new UCaaS and CCaaS platform can be achieved rapidly and comparatively easily and will deliver considerably greater functionality than was ever possible from the older technologies.

Furthermore, the new environment is likely to be less costly and almost certainly will deliver greater productivity and enhance customer relationships.

[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/unified-communications-products

[2] Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, worldwide”, 15 February 2022

[3]“Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a cloud-delivered service that provides many of the same functions as premises-based UC solutions”

[4] Free and open-source project providing web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communication (RTC) via application programming interfaces (APIs).