Develop a Telephony and Unified Communications Strategy
VoIP and UC are remaking telephony, but it’s still about dial tone.
- This project will help you make the case for a telephony and UC infrastructure that best meets the needs of the business.
- Members who need to replace or upgrade their telephony and UC infrastructure face a seemingly bewildering number of choices with radically different implications for capital costs, operating costs, and return on investment.
- Clients who have legacy PBX systems are facing the rising maintenance costs of obsolete technology. Those who have moved to VoIP telephony are looking to take advantage of unified communication features that can potentially increase revenue and decrease costs.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- It’s still about dial tone: 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.
- You need a good reason to deploy UC: 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.
- Be aware of the risks of hosted services: 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.
Impact and Result
- This project will help you make the case for a telephony and UC infrastructure that best meets the needs of the business.
- Complete this project to develop a compelling business case for an infrastructure that realizes a greater return on investment.
Workshop: Develop a Telephony and Unified Communications Strategy
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Develop a business case for the project
The Purpose
- Define goals and objectives for the workshop.
- Develop an initial business case.
- Perform a stakeholder analysis.
Key Benefits Achieved
- An initial understanding of the potential economic impact of a telephony and UC infrastructure refresh.
- A communication strategy that identifies steering committee members, project team members, and potential interviewees.
Activities
Outputs
Develop an initial business case
- An initial understanding of the potential economic impact
Perform a stakeholder analysis
- A communication strategy
Module 2: Develop use cases for UC
The Purpose
- Develop use cases.
- Document the current infrastructure.
- Assess the current level of UC fit.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A prioritized list of the communication opportunities to consider during the telephony and UC refresh.
- A visual account of your current telephony and UC infrastructure.
- A score that relates to expected success, benefits, and challenges of implementing UC.
Activities
Outputs
Develop use cases
- A prioritized list of communication opportunities
Document the current infrastructure
- A visual account of current telephony and UC infrastructure
Assess current level of UC fit
- A score that relates to expected success, benefits, and challenges of implementing UC
Module 3: Design a target infrastructure
The Purpose
- Draw out the implications of use cases for the infrastructure.
- Assess the business value of your target state.
- Develop an implementation plan.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A visual account of your target infrastructure.
- Meaningful insight into the economic value of your target infrastructure.
- A schematic description of the implementation plan.
Activities
Outputs
Draw out the implications of use cases for the infrastructure
- A visual account of your target infrastructure
Assess the business value of your target state
- Meaningful insight into the economic value of your target infrastructure
Develop an implementation diagram
- A schematic description of the implementation plan
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 4 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
- Call 1: Develop an Initial Business Case
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.
- Call 2: Perform a Stakeholder Analysis
Identify everyone who is affected by the infrastructure refresh, and everyone who could affect its success. Clarify the different roles of these stakeholders to form your steering committee and project team.
- Call 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.
- Call 4: 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.
Contributors
- 10 professionals from different organizations contributed information that assisted with the development of this solution set.
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