The Convergence Wave Hits Enterprise Messaging

With IP telephony, Unified Messaging is beginning to win general adoption Within the telecommunications industry, drumbeats are increasing for the universal adoption of IP to replace both the wired Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and internal enterprise telephone systems, as well as to integrate wired and wireless network access for voice communications. A ripple effect is being felt in a mainstay application of voice technology: messaging. Even though cellphones have been making people more directly accessible for conversations, and even though voice over IP (VoIP) phone services promise lower costs, it will always be a challenge to make business contacts with people wherever they may be. Messaging is the technology that aims to resolve this challenge. As a mission-critical adjunct of traditional TDM (circuit-switched) systems, voicemail remains an important application in the migration to converged communications. However, IP telephony and VOIP infrastructures are causing next-generation enterprise voicemail to be converged with Web access, email and other text messaging applications, as well as with multi-modal user interfaces for wireless mobility. As one prominent example, Microsoft has openly targeted unified messaging as a major desktop application for the coming release of Exchange 12, and major IP telephony vendors are integrating the telephone with presence and instant text messaging through Microsoft’s Live Communication Server (LCS) 2005. To effectively plan for the migration from existing voicemail technology to next-generation messaging, it is necessary to understand what traditional TDM-based voicemail systems really do for users, and how new voice messaging/unified messaging will fit into the converged future. Unified Messaging and Multi-modal CommunicationThe Internet expanded the reach of electronic messaging communications beyond simple voicemail into text-based messages, first via email and then, in real time, with Instant Messaging (IM) to PCs and to wireless text devices. The role of voicemail has been slowly diminishing because of both the growth of text messaging and greater personal accessibility by wireless phones. Despite the growth of text messaging, voice is still the most effective medium of person-to-person communications, and Unified Messaging (UM)—coupled with new multi-modal endpoints—provides the bridge between text and voice messaging, as well as between phone conversations and all forms of messaging. For years, we have heard about the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) benefits of unified messaging, where voice and text messaging are consolidated at an infrastructure level to reduce technology and support costs. The big hangup was that proprietary TDM technologies made it difficult and expensive to integrate, and product implementations didn’t get very far. While UM was "nice to have," only some users really needed it, e.g., mobile users who needed to resolve time-sensitive business issues. Now we are seeing UM being efficiently delivered as a major benefit of IP telephony. Aside from extending email’s visual interfaces to voice messaging, UM also extends telephony and speech interfaces to text messaging, especially when handsfree or eyes-free control is required by mobile users. Convergence also exploits the flexibility of traditional voicemail "outdialing" to provide one-number find-me/follow-me capability for important calls or urgent message notification and delivery. This feature can apply to any text message, whether created by a person or generated by a business application sending alerts by email ("application messaging"). In preparation for this article, we did a quick survey of the leading enterprise voice messaging providers to see where their UM product offerings were going in the enterprise markets (see "Voice Messaging Providers View the Enterprise Market," page 12). The enterprise voicemail market is migrating slowly to the next generation of UM; the slow pace is largely because technologies such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) are still evolving, and because wireless mobility is in a state of flux. Because the market is still in transition, even greenfield IP telephony system procurements require a future-proof approach for voice messaging. Enter IP Telephony and Multi-modal PhonesAlthough unified messaging was initially designed to work with traditional TDM-based voicemail systems and enterprise email servers, IP telephony has simplified the integration of the two applications. Convergence through open, standards-based SIP signaling has also paved the way to integrate other forms of person-to-person contacts, notably IM and presence management, to support a variety of communication devices and endpoints. This move to IP infrastructures and multi-modal devices will also help resolve some of the limitations of traditional enterprise voicemail listed in the box below. IP telephony enables the following communication infrastructure benefits to the enterprise:> Centralizing communication application servers across distributed enterprise environments. > Centralizing and consolidating message storage for text, voice and fax messages (including attachments). > Simplifying synchronization of message stores, if they’re not being consolidated. > Sharing centralized and "federated" user directory information. > Consolidating software clients for communication endpoints to accommodate either visual or voice user interfaces or a combination of the two. > Enabling business applications to easily exploit personalized, multi-modal messaging for flexible, device-independent information delivery services (alerts, notifications, etc.) across public networks. > Enabling all messaging activity to become "transmodal," allowing users to escalate their response to any text or voice message to IM, a return voice call or an instant, multi-party conference call. Although therße are both cost-reducing and productivity benefits associated with moving voice messaging to an IP infrastructure, there are also new organizational challenges to reorient enterprise telecommunications technology management and administration staffing. This will be needed to more efficiently and effectively plan and support a graceful migration from existing telephone technologies, as well as for future converged and mobile communications. Most important, perhaps, is that communication application convergence will change interactions between people, both inside and outside of the enterprise organization, as the new forms of text messaging integrate with IP telephony. The Rubber Meets the Mobile RoadFrom a user perspective, the big change for business communication is the convergence of wired and wireless telephony applications with all forms of multi-modal messaging to support greater accessibility and responsiveness for mobile users. Mobility means more than just communicating while traveling; it now includes just being away from a desktop device. Wireless communication mobility has moved into the enterprise with the growth of Wi-Fi networking. Dual-mode handheld devices will enable users to be accessible through either carrier services or enterprise-supported "hotspots" for either voice- or text-based contact.Why is converged and unified communications so important for mobility? Because mobile users have the greatest need for communication flexibility, to be accessible and responsive to other users in doing their jobs collaboratively. With the development of end-to-end SIP standards and presence management technology, both contact initiators and recipients can efficiently communicate in any way that works at the moment. This, in turn, means that converged, IP-based enterprise communications must now be network and device-independent, to support both intra-enterprise and inter-enterprise business contacts, as well as for enterprise interactions with customers. ConclusionAs voice communications migrates to IP telephony, traditional voice messaging functions will move there as well. Voicemail functionality still has value for the enterprise, only now it will integrate with all forms of text messaging, not just email. As the traditional telephone converges with screen GUIs, voice messaging features may transition to IP-based call servers and software clients in a variety of multi-modal endpoint devices. Since voicemail systems still function adequately today, the question is when, how, and for which enterprise users should they be replaced? Enterprise voicemail migrations face a number of internal challenges that will be handled differently by individual organizations. As unified messaging exploits text messaging client-server infrastructures, voicemail may focus more on call processing and trans-modal communication among all forms of messaging and real-time voice. This will become particularly critical for mobile enterprise users who need multi-modal flexibility and personalized access controls in order to guarantee timely interactions. Current enterprise voicemail vendors are taking the first steps to migrate their products to IP infrastructures, while adding new functionality, e.g., rules-based, one-number "find me, follow me" call routing; speech recognition interfaces; and interoperability with enterprise email servers. They have also started to exploit the evolving benefits of SIP and personalized presence management technology to integrate with IM. However, it is not likely that enterprise customers will replace their existing voicemail systems with next generation products until they are organizationally prepared and have done their homework on specific operational needs for a new communication framework that embraces IP telephony, enterprise text messaging (email, IM) and wireless mobility. Industry analyst Art Rosenberg is principal of the Unified View (www unified-view.com). Reprinted by permission of Business Communications Review (www.bcr.com). Traditional Voicemail System LimitationsWhile TDM voicemail products can still function usefully with new IP-PBXs and VoIP networks, they always had some deficiencies that could be improved by migrating to a CTI-friendly, IP telephony network infrastructure. These shortcomings include: > Dependence on proprietary PBX integrations for call answering, station set message waiting lights and multi-site network messaging. > Specialized and expensive voicemail storage, which limited residency of voice messages and resulted in frequent "mailbox full" situations for users, as well as limitations for archiving. > One-way external-caller messaging (no message reply to caller’s mailbox). > Unless back-door access to the enterprise voicemail system was provided, voice messages usually could only be left after a call attempt was made in the telephone answering mode (i.e., you couldn’t call and choose to simply leave a message without first ringing the person’s phone). > Lack of "personal call monitoring" as a second-level call screening option for recipients, similar to the monitoring option of residential telephone answering machines. > Two-way mailbox messaging was limited to internal, premises-based subscribers, or to subscribers sharing dedicated voicemail TDM network connections. > The telephone as a user interface, on both the caller and recipient’s end, was confined to the limited capabilities of voice menus and DTMF inputs. This made message management awkward, error prone and inefficient. > Voice messages lack a voice "subject field" (like email’s) for the sender to facilitate recipient message filtering and management. > With the growth of business email, voicemail has become even more focused on caller messaging, rather than subscriber mailbox messaging, but caller facilities remain limited, compared to those available to internal enterprise subscribers. > Voice mailbox administration was consolidated with PBX telephone administration for proprietary voicemail adjunct systems offered by the PBX providers, but didn’t integrate with other forms of messaging (email, IM). > There was no comprehensive mechanism for enterprise managers to track user access and responsiveness to time-sensitive messages across all modali-ties of communication. Voice Messaging Providers View the Enterprise MarketIn preparation for this article, we did a quick survey of leading enterprise voice messaging vendors. Responses were received in time for this article from: Adomo, Avaya, AVST, Callware, Cisco, Comdial, Interactive Intelligence, NEC’s AVT, Nortel and Siemens. To meet our deadline, we weren’t able to analyze all the survey data in terms of product offerings and capabilities. However, we have selected some key observations that reflect what both the industry is offering to the enterprise market and their perceptions of the market transition from TDM voicemail to IP-based unified messaging. > The majority of respondents claim that most enterprise implementations of IP voicemail/UM are taking place either before or after implementation of an IP-PBX, but not at the same time. Given that most IP voice messaging products support integration with both legacy TDM and new IP-PBXs, that flexibility enables the messaging application to be provided to users with or without changing their phone systems. > Most respondents now support integration with the two dominant enterprise email systems, i.e., Microsoft Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Notes/Domino, as well as IMAP/POP3 services. A few also support Novell’s GroupWise as well. Microsoft Exchange users account for a range of 60% to 100% of current customer unified messaging integrations. > Migration statistics are somewhat misleading, since IP voice messaging systems can provide traditional voicemail functions, UM, or a combination of both for selective usage within the enterprise. For telephone answering, any kind of station phone can be used (i.e., PC softphones, analog phones, digital phones or new IP sets). Furthermore, individual enterprise users can also selectively use existing voicemail systems, new IP voicemail or new UM, depending on what is available and what their job responsibilities require. > The biggest driver for implementing IP voicemail systems is the end-of-life of older voicemail systems. This also provides the desired reduction in costs for the supporting technologies. The biggest implementation barriers in the market today appear to be the lack of user demand and understanding of value for IP voice messaging/UM within the enterprise. Initial technology costs and interoperability with existing enterprise technologies are also major barriers. > Implementation decision making for unified messaging in small enterprises is being done mainly by a combination of CEOs and technology managers, including telecom managers. In medium to large organizations, the CIO and IT/telecom management make the UM decisions. > Traditional voicemail providers indicate that anywhere between 10% and 35% of their customers have started their migration toward UM, while 60% to 90% of the customers of "pure" IP telephony vendors are doing so. > Most respondents indicated that they have started integrating their call processing functions with SIP-based presence management and IM servers in their voice messaging offerings.

The Convergence Wave Hits Enterprise Messaging

News | 01/01/2006 5:00 am EST

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