SIP in the Enterprise

SIP - how many positive and negative things do you read these days on this topic?  A great deal - right?

Multi-location businesses know the process of connecting multiple offices to facilitate effective site-to-site communications can be complicated, expensive and time-consuming. Enterprise SIP is a new solution designed for multi-location businesses that enables you to serve your distributed offices with voice and data services through one or a handful of centralized PBXs – eliminating the need for PRIs or business lines at each location.  Can your MPLS network help drive enterprise wide communications and efficiency?

Do you feel we have reached another tipping point in the telecommunications industry? Do you agree that SIP trunking is the fastest growing service in our space right now and we all have an opportunity to capitalize on this trend, but we must be smart about our approach?  Do you have SIP enabled devices on premise already?

SIP Trunking’s growth presents a new revenue opportunity, but only if the trunk offers services above and beyond PSTN quality voice. If a service provider simply provides VoIP connectivity, they will see their revenues erode. SIP Trunking offers service providers a tremendous opportunity to deliver valuable services to enterprises by providing new communication services in demand by the enterprise market. Enterprises are becoming more educated on SIP Trunking. Practically every large enterprise has read a case study that demonstrates how an enterprise can reduce their trunks by 30% - 40%, which is obviously a negative revenue proposition for the service provider. So service providers must develop a comprehensive managed service offering to enhance and complement their SIP Trunking service. So you need an internal driver on this project, not just leave it up to a service provider.

There are several market trends, which are driving adoption of SIP Trunking by enterprises. Over the next 5-years:

• Enterprise workforces will become increasingly mobile

• Video calling will be widely adopted

• High-definition voice will be the new standard for voice communications

• PBXs will migrate to unified communications

• Enterprises are demanding comprehensive business continuity capabilities

We can easily talk about how SIP Trunking is enabling new revenue opportunities for service providers of each of these trends, but in this post we will focus specifically on the prospects with Unified Communications.

ABI Research recently issued a report “Vertical Market Opportunities in Unified Communications,” which predicts that the unified communications solutions market will reach nearly $4.2 billion in 2014 – a sharp increase from 2008 when the market reached around $302 million.  Should you make an investment in the same old technology of a PBX or is now the time to move to Unified Communications?

We all know that Unified Communications (UC) is the integration of varied communication options, like voice, video, email, instant messaging and conferencing, presence on a single IP platform. The primary benefit of UC is the ability to speed the rate of communications, keeping everyone more closely connected and improves collaboration among employees.

Another capability of UC is the greater control it provides a user over their communications options. With a single Web-based account, individual users can decide when, where and how they can be reached -- and users can define these parameters without the need for IT support. In addition, it gives greater flexibility to move between facilities, or home office.

SIP Trunking enables the delivery of Unified Communication capabilities now, from the “cloud, offering service providers an immediate, new revenue opportunity versus shifting that revenue opportunity to the PBX manufactures. With a “cloud-model”, enterprises no longer need to purchase additional equipment to have a full-featured UC solution. But is security a concern in this option?

I propose to you that as your aging communication systems need replacement, now is the time to look at next generation telecommunications.  Integrate that MPLS network to deliver voice, video, data, and leverage your teams to enable SIP in the enterprise. 
Take a holistic approach to looking at your Unified delivery of Communications.
 
Stay positive and engaged!

Scott Arnett
scott.arnett@charter.net