The centralised voice discussion

The voice environment is one in other words critical to business and has been for many years. As a result, organisations are constantly looking to find ways of making voice run more cost-effectively from an internal perspective, first with networking, by running pipes between branches to physically connect them, and at that time with voice over IP research.

The issue that crept in with networking

The issue that crept in with networking was once again that of bandwidth, as it has been historically too expensive to dedicate bandwidth solely to voice traffic. Added to this was the cost of duplicating equipment in every branch and office, and the trouble of networking different brands at the same time, which happened with limited success.

"Centralisation ultimately involves one telephone number for the whole company, with one receptionist. Centralised administration will be put into place as a result, so only one IT manager is needed at the head office, who can manage branches remotely, and there is only one set of SLAs around the voice environment for the entire organisation, so managing this becomes a far simpler task," adds Bryant Dennis, co-owner of Converged Telecoms, a Webcom Group partner.

The last few years

While talk of centralisation has grown over the last few years, cost remains the biggest stumbling block as a lot of big brand solutions are incredibly bandwidth hungry, and from a hardware perspective the environment itself can be complex and costly to implement. But, innovation, as always, is evolving and solutions are beginning to chew up less bandwidth than earlier, as much as 90% less than before, making this type of solution a more viable and realistic option than earlier.

This model is particularly beneficial in South Africa as head offices tend to be based in Gauteng, which is as well the innovation hub of the country and as a result where all of the technical resources reside. Centralisation at that time has added benefits in that the main system is located in the same region as the people required to manage and maintain it, which once again furthers cost effectiveness as it saves on travel expenses and time for resources.

"Calls can be routed from the central number using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and with screen-based consoles it is easy to see if people are available on their lines. Fixed mobile extensions even allow for cellular phones and home telephones to form part of the network, enabling true mobile networking through seamless centralised communication."

Developing a business case for centralising the voice environment requires an understanding of specifically what it is the organisation wishes to achieve, as the solution must fit the needs of the organisation.

A multi-branch environment in an organisation that sees the value in the one-number concept is as a rule a good starting point for considering the centralised route, as if these factors are in place it is possible to reduce costs through free internal calls as then as reduce manpower costs, which can deliver significant savings through simplified IT administration.

"At its heart, centralisation takes multiple branches countrywide or even across the globe and joins them at the same time into one entity, saving on manpower costs and administration. It as well has the power to put the innovation where the brains are, and simplifies maintenance as VPN can be used to fix the majority of problems in branch systems," Webster adds.

"Now that the bandwidth issue in South Africa has normally been resolved and research has evolved to use less bandwidth than before, centralisation has become a viable solution in South Africa, and organisations can begin to take advantage of the numerous benefits it delivers," he concludes.