Unlike traditional voice features, UC applications typically require a more complex configuration of multiple network and application elements, including dial plan management, i.e. the way that calls are routed across the network, based on abbreviations of the numbers dialed, including the numbers that a user is not allowed to dial.
The traditional open access SDP model does not apply to the enterprise UC environment. Enterprises do not want open access to their networks. They want ready access from a range of approved, best in class, UC application providers and they don’t want to be locked into a single vendor’s UC roadmap.
Enterprises also want a range of commercial options for the delivery of these services (dedicated, managed, hosted, UCaaS) independent of their carrier or service provider.
There are two additional areas where traditional service delivery platforms will struggle to support unified communications:
1. Large enterprises, or the managed service providers to those enterprises, today support diverse technical networks. These typically include a mix of business units operating across multiple regions, each with various combinations of vendors and technology (i.e. TDM vs IP, and each with a mix of software versions). In addition, there is rarely a common, uniform dial plan, nor a common set of interconnections to the public PSTN.
Launching a unified communication application that needs to bridge the entire enterprise network, to gain maximum productivity benefits, becomes an integration nightmare. Unified communications services require interworking with the physical telecom network functionality and dial plan at a multitude of levels and occurrences. The more complex the underlying network, the greater the requirement for each part of the network and dial plan to be uniquely configured and maintained.
2. Unified communications applications themselves are complex. Unlike simple dial tone based telephony features, such as call forward or call waiting, which are configured for one user on one network device, unified communications applications require configuration for groups of users and generally involve multiple, geographically-diverse, network devices, often from multiple different vendors.
So each service needs to be delivered slightly differently across the network, depending where it exists in the network. In other words new unified communications services need to be “network aware” and those same networks need to be “services aware”.
For example, providing a new UC service may demand feature and settings configuration on not just the application server, but also the central directory, the IP-PBX, the routing engine and the gateways, even other related UC applications and enterprise applications. So, when launching new UC services, the relevant network must be made aware of those services and in turn, the services must be made network aware, such as for feature restrictions due to network limitations.
It is the ability to effectively deliver UC services that determines success. In today’s competitive environment, the business that can rapidly deploy new products and services and increase profitability, by accomplishing more from the existing infrastructure at no additional cost, will gain true competitive advantage.
This is where a unified communications service delivery and management platform comes into play. VOSS is the only true platform to deliver and manage UC services and applications for service providers and large enterprises around the world.