Info-Tech Research Group1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Develop a Telephony and Unified Communications Strategy VoIP and UC are remaking telephony, but it’s still about dial tone. Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group2 The project will help you make the case for a telephony and unified communications (UC) infrastructure that best meets the needs of the business. Complete this project to develop a compelling business case for an infrastructure that realize a greater return on investment. Introduction Business Executives seeking to optimize the strategic value of IT. CIOs and IT directors championing a telephony and UC infrastructure refresh. CIOs and IT directors considering combining on-premise telephony and UC services with similar cloud-based services. CIOs and IT directors exploring the wholesale adoption of hosted services. Develop a compelling business case. Form your steering committee and project team. Determine how your organization can benefit from UC and CEBPs. Document your current infrastructure and determine whether it is ready for UC. Design a target infrastructure and identify the return on investment. Develop an implementation plan to move the project forward. This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

Info-Tech Research Group3 Whatever cool new features you choose to add to your infrastructure, end users still expect a reliable telephony experience. UC-telephony is less reliable than traditional dial tone. A shortage of maintenance skills and parts are leading to the obsolescence of legacy phone systems, but the systems themselves are essentially solid. The sound of the dial tone drowns out the vendor’s migration to new product lines. Executive Summary VoIP and UC are remaking telephony, but some things don’t change. It’s still about dial tone You need a good reason to deploy UC Hosted services have different risk and cost implications than on- premise systems. Organizations considering this option must make peace with having someone else manage part of the infrastructure off-site and incurring the additional operating costs that implies. Be aware of the risks of hosted services UC implementations that don’t get a real business case are plagued with immature use cases and uneven adoption among end users, which undermines the return on investment. Work from a sound implementation plan If you want to justify the cost of UC, build deliberate use cases that develop communication-enabled business processes and other benefits of UC. If you want to make the case for hosted services, make sure you count the full operating cost of running the service on-premise.

Info-Tech Research Group4 Think about your telephony and UC infrastructure strategically to unlock its business value The Champion will complete an initial business plan and a stakeholder analysis. The Champion, Sponsor, and Stakeholders will attend a kick off-meeting and develop use cases for UC and CEBPs. The Champion and Stakeholders will document the current and target infrastructure, and assess its business value. The Champion will finalize the implementation plan and communicate the outcome to the Sponsor and Stakeholders in a final presentation. Develop a telephony and unified communications strategy: Project Champion Executive Sponsor Key Stakeholders The Champion can either lead the project on their own, take advantage of Info-Tech’s Guided Implementations, or request a workshop from an Info-Tech consulting analyst. Stakeholder analysis to form your steering committee and project team. Use cases to establish how you plan to use your communications capacities. Diagrams for the current and target infrastructure to clarify your starting and end point. Business value assessments of your end point to establish the return on your investment. Implementation plans to move the project forward. Who is involved? What will they do? What will they produce?

Info-Tech Research Group5 Invest in a sound implementation plan to maximize the return on your infrastructure investment Complete the project as a Do-It-Yourself Implementation in five days. Project Champion Executive Sponsor Stakeholders

Info-Tech Research Group6 Guided Implementation points in the telephony and UC infrastructure project Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your project. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion. Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points in the Telephony and UC Infrastructure project: Section 1: Develop an Initial Business Case Use the Business Case Template to estimate the cost of drafting an implementation plan and a projected return on investment. Discuss project scope and financial metrics, and work out scenarios to weigh the cost of the project against the cost of business as usual. Section 2: Perform a Stakeholder Analysis Identify everyone who is affected by the infrastructure refresh, and everyone who could affect its success. Analyze their interest, influence, and potential contribution. Clarify the different roles of these stakeholders to form your steering committee and project team. Section 3: Develop Use Cases for UC and CEBPs Distinguish between the benefit of VoIP and the benefits of UC to understand how they affect your business. Develop use cases to envision UC applications for your organization, and improve end-user adoption rates. Section 7: Assess the Business Value of the Target Infrastructure Discover the implications of your use cases on your target infrastructure, and assess the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI) for each candidate infrastructure. To enroll, send an to or call and ask for the Guided Implementation This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project.

Info-Tech Research Group7 What’s in this Section:Sections: Develop a business case Perform a stakeholder analysis Develop use cases Document your current infrastructure Determine UC fit Design your target infrastructure Assess its business value Develop an implementation plan Describe the project to set the context. Estimate cost-benefits to show the value of doing the project. Assess project risks to mitigate against them. Draft concise recommendations to secure sponsor approval.

Info-Tech Research Group8 Use Info-Tech’s Business Case Template to estimate the projected ROI The initial business case includes the following estimates: Project scope. Project cost. Capital and operating costs of your current infrastructure. Estimates of the cost and benefits of developing a new infrastructure. Scenarios comparing undertaking the project against doing business as usual. Goal: Explore the business case for a telephony and UC infrastructure refresh. Outcome: An initial understanding of the potential economic impact of an infrastructure refresh. Move to action This icon will prompt you to enter data in the Business Case Template and the “Project Estimate” tabs of the IPT and UC Business Value Assessment Tool.Business Case TemplateIPT and UC Business Value Assessment Tool The Business Case Template will help you draft an initial business case for the project. The Project Estimate tabs of the IPT and UC Business Value Assessment Tool will estimate the costs and benefits associated with the process, and provide a rough return on investment. Poorly planned telephony and UC infrastructure implementations undermine the project’s return on investment. A systematic implementation plan focused on the needs of your stakeholders will address low end-user adoption rates of UC features, and ward off the interoperability issues typical of haphazard implementations.

Info-Tech Research Group9 Mitigate the risk of a failed implementation with a clear roadmap Roadmap Cost Avoidance No Roadmap Topline Growth Cost Reduction There is a significant cost reduction associated with the transition from legacy PBX technology to VoIP telephony. VoIP increases functionality and efficiency to some degree in organizations that deploy it (Sacker et al. 2006). Hybrid and hosted systems also tend to have a lower Total Cost of Ownership than legacy systems under the right conditions. Revenue Growth Hosted services also make available the benefits of Communications- Enabled Business Processes (CEBPs) at a fraction of the cost. Whether on- premise or hosted, CEBPs are the most important source of topline growth for your infrastructure. However, without a solid roadmap, the benefits of UC and hosted services are less likely to materialize.

Info-Tech Research Group10 The purpose of the business case is likely to propose a plan of action to develop a telephony and UC strategy for the organization. Establish your objectives to define the plan of action Include a description of the factors prompting the project. Obsolete technology. Increased legacy PBX maintenance cost. Insufficient end-user capacity. Increased call traffic. Opening or moving an office. High mobile and long distance cost. The proliferation of hosted internet telephony services. Increasing adoption rate of UC among competitors and peers. Increased travel costs. High latency in key business processes. The proliferation of inexpensive hosted UC services. Inconsistent end-user adoption of UC consumer solutions. Common triggers for a telephony refresh: Common triggers for a UC implementation: Enter the objectives into the Business Case Template under “Introduction: Subject.”

Info-Tech Research Group11 Share essential background information to set the context VoIP continues to be the most recognizable and sought- after UC feature. A majority of organizations perceive a benefit in UC features, but a large enterprise is most likely to pursue them. SMEs have yet to move significantly in the space. The next most popular UC features are conferencing, messaging, and presence. Meanwhile, large enterprises are most likely to consider taking advantage of hosted services, but most remain undecided. IP telephony refers to the technologies that use the internet protocol’s packet-switched connections to exchange voice, fax, and other forms of information that traditionally have been carried over dedicated circuit switched connections of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Unified Communications (UC) refers to a family of features that integrate common business communication tools and makes them available through a single client, which makes possible Communication Enabled Business Processes (CEBP). A Communication Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) is the integration of communications capabilities into software-enabled business procedures, applications, and technologies. CEBPs mediate communication between applications as well as between applications and humans to automate processes and reduce human latency. Key TermsMarket Trends Include market research and key terms stakeholders may not know. Enter the key terms into the Business Case Template under “Introduction: Subject.”

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