Unified CommunicationsBenefits, Considerations & Realities

Agenda• Government Business Challenges• Business Benefits of Unified Communications• Government Solutions with Unified Communications• A New Architecture for Government Communications• Session Initiation Protocol – the “Glue” for UC • Unified Communications – Planning for Success• UC Case Study-University of Washington• UC Case Study - Stevens County• Migrating UC to the Data Center

• Cerium Networks established October 2000• Core Business

– Unified Communication Solutions: “A solution-based approach to unifying telephony, instant messaging, presence, video, collaboration, and conferencing”

• 100+ Technology Professionals• 7 Offices in the Northwest• Unique Value

– Technology Professionals– Strategic Alliances– Business Practices

Judy Blinn: Senior Account Manager, Public SectorRoger Junkermier: President

Increasing Complexities …

How can I do MORE WITH LESS?

How can I REMAIN PRODUCTIVE when I'm out of the office?

I need to MOVE FASTER.

I don’t need more information, I need KNOWLEDGE!

How can I do 12 HOURS OF WORK in only 8 hours?

I want government to WORK THE WAY I WORK.

I want 24-HOUR ACCESS to services.

… and their Impact on Government

How can we CONTAIN COSTS?

We need to be able to SHARE RESOURCES with other agencies.

We need to do more with our EXISTING STAFF

We need to CHANGE THE STATUS QUO.

We need cost-effective ways to INVOLVE CITIZENS.

We need to make BETTER DECISIONS FASTER.

We need to be prepared for all kinds of EVENTS AND EMERGENCIES

6

Business Challenges Faced By Government

• Simplify citizen access to government• Provide additional communications channels

for citizen access, e.g. web sites, IVR access• Balance between responsiveness and service costs

ImprovingCitizen Service

• Continued pressure to reduce networkand telephony expenses while improving productivity

• Projects need to show clear benefits/ROI• Complying with policy mandates (i.e. Green, e911, etc.)

Managing withinConstrained

Budgets

• Citizen and employee safety a high priority• Communications interoperability between government entities • Focus on continuity and disaster recovery

Providing Safety& Operations

Continuity

Challenges in Government are driving….

• Stronger case for IT consolidation & virtualization

• More collaboration and shared services• Service delivery productivity and

operational efficiency investments• New methods for cost reduction, shift from

capex to opex, managed services, cloud computing, procurement management

Changing the Way We Work

Text Voice, Video

Num

ber o

f S

take

hold

ers

Collaborative Tools

Documents

One

Man

y

EmailIM TelePresence

Unified Communications

Vmail

Discussion Forums

Video on Demand

Wikis Blogs ContactCenter

Conferencing

Social Networking

“Unified Communications capabilities have enabled us to save thousands of taxpayer dollars in infrastructure. At the same time, we are helping the department achieve its mission and deliver better service to Alabama residents. ”

— Gene Hill, County Support Manager, Alabama Department of Health

Benefits of Unified Communications

• Productivity Gains • Efficiency Gains• Infrastructure Savings• Reduced Footprint• Disaster Recovery Improvements• Ease of Administration• Remote Access to Business Systems • Expansion of Citizen Service

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Citizen Benefits

Improving Citizen Service Enhance Citizen Experience

• Consistent access to government Multi-channel/Multi-device Citizen choice

• Speech and web self service• Increase productivity of agencies • Increased first-call resolution• Real-time access to knowledge• Closed-loop communication• Proactive citizen outreach

Reduce Costs• Consolidation of resources increases

productivity & efficiencies• Leverage experts across all agencies• Shift from agent to self-service options• Application sharing across agencies

UC Core

WEB

Self ServicePortal

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Controlling Costs

Shared Applications

Managing Within Constrained Budgets Consolidated Communications

• Consolidation of networks• Unified communications & messaging• Consistent features/functionalities• Connect remote agencies• Collaboration improves productivity• Government-wide reporting & analytics

Mobility & Remote Workers• The same applications and number wherever

people go• Remote workers reduce infrastructure costs• “Green” grant funding opportunities

Shared Applications• Combine budgets to move to new technologies

Trunking

AvayaAuraTMUC Core

12

Safety

Providing Safety & Operations Continuity

E-9-1-1• Federal regulations will get tougher• Consolidation of networks & architecture increase

the complexity of 9-1-1 Notification Solutions

• Emergency & non-emergency• Internal notifications

Event or resource based• Outreach to citizens

Event or geography based Communications Continuity

• Disaster recovery options Distributed across state/county/city

• Remote/teleworker solutions• Mobile communication solutions

AvayaUC Core

Government Solutions

• Enable click-to-call directly from unified communication client.

• Allow mash-ups of government applications such as maps, floor plans, directions and timings within UC Desktop

Enhance UC with Multi-Media Communications

Campus Map

Enable Citizen Services with Video

• Video self-help and wait-treatment• Live 2-way video collaboration

Agent share: Video Documents Web Pages

Citizen initiates

query for service or

information

2-WayConference

Video

Self Service

Interactions are Changing

No Single Interaction Channel: Need to be Proficient in all Channels

Source: Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Division

StandardMedia

Social Media Integration

SocialNetworks

Web

Managed Agents & Experts

Contact Routing

Inbound Contact

Social Media

Manager

Enterprise Contact Center

Scan and process events from social media using Contact Center infrastructure

Customer Service

Contact Center• Unified agent desktop

• Social media integration

• Video enabled agents

Voice Interactive Response Proactive Outreach

Enable Exceptional Customer Service

Proactive Outreach

Use Cases in Government

• Outage notifications and bill reminders• Emergency medical services (EMS)

collections• Revenue collections• Fine collections• Tax collections• Court fines• Reminders

Automated outbound agent

Preempts and reduces delinquency

Voice, SMS, email contacts

Credit card payment, account withdrawal, promise to pay

Campaigns created

Voice Portal and Media Processing Platforms

Reminders and Collections

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Legacy Utility

• Switch-specific administration• Site specific dial tone• Separate voice and data

services• Limited wireless and mobility

(voice or data)

Business Enabled ServicesConverged Facilities

• Standalone video services• In-building mobility (voice, data)• Site-dependent collaboration• Reactive contact center services• Call control• Number portability• Asynchronous messaging

• Integration of non-heterogeneous systems

• Core Trunking and tail-end hop-off• Networked messaging• Centralized multi-vendor services• Network-available application services• Enterprise-wide consistent services &

function• Borderless connectivity & services

TDM, Analog, & IPTDM & AnalogSIP- Enabled Services

• IVR “agency specific” gateways• Uni-directional speech access• Voice mail• Asynchronous Messaging

• Heterogeneous integration• Enterprise dial plans• Site specific applications• Integrated voice/data• Basic IP presence services

• Enterprise mobility (voice, data, apps)• Social Network integration• Integrated skills based call routing • Proactive call center applications• User specific services & control• Device independent information acquisition and

access• Device, Application, and System (e.g., CRM,

GIS,) integration• Context based messaging• Real time, synchronous messaging

Infra

stru

ctur

eA

pplic

atio

ns

User-Centric

Organization - CentricNetwork - Centric

Business Challenges Faced by Government: The Evolution of Technology

20

UC as an IT priority

21

But adoption hurdles still continue…

22

UC Experiences Inform Better ROI Inputs

Today’s Complex Government Architecture

. 23

VideoSystems

Communication Systems

DataCenters

Communication Systems

Contact Centers

ConferencingServices

EnterpriseApplications

23

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

• Enterprise IMS• SIP for all Connectivity• Centrally Shared Applications

Network/Access

Connection

ApplicationFeature Server

Messaging

IVR FutureApps

Session/Routing Manager

3rd Party PBX/IP Phones

SIPCarrierService

SIP Phones

Legacy PBXLegacy PBX IP Connect Gateway

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The Need for an Evolutionary RevolutionA common customer scenario

• Manage heterogeneous multi-vendor mix of TDM and IP• Avoid complex and costly “rip and replace” everything in one step• Realize significant cost savings now• Reduce network spend• Simply manage a complex network• Deploy applications to users that need them• Accelerate the business – improving results and extending services• Securely add incremental UC and mobility applications now• Evolve old costly stand-alone systems

Business Challenge – Rip and Replace?

StandardMedia

SocialNetworks

Web

Build for the Future - The Promise of SIP

SIP

CloudVoice

Session Initiation Protocol

• SIP is the application integration protocol of the future

• SIP – Ubiquitous within all types and classes of UC products, from gateways to endpoints to applications

• SIP support is pervasive throughout UC portfolios• SIP improves interoperability and leads to new

applications

Cerium Networks – Unified Communications at Work

UC - From Hype to Adoption

“Ninety-nine percent of all Unified Communications network implementations that fail

do so because IT departments didn’t do their homework.”

-- William Stofega, VoIP research director, IDC

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Unified Communications Roadmap

Careful Planning Is Essential to Realize the Full Benefits of Unified Communication Solutions

Making Senseof Confusing

Technologies and Roadmaps

How Do We EnsureMulti-vendor

Interoperability?

Do Business Processes

& Policy Needto Change?

How to Best Approach

Initiatives?

Which applications should we be considering?

Where are the likely departments/agencies for deployment?

How is this technology likely to evolve?

Will the applications from one vendor work with another?

How can we makethe most of our existing investments?

What’s the best approach to minimize risk when deploying new applications ina mixed environment?

Who should use which applications?

How should they use them? Are different

IT policies and approaches required?

What capabilities should we implement and in what timeframe?

How will wemeasure and track capabilities?

How do we evaluate skills & requirements for employees?

How do we communicatechanges to citizens?

• Conduct an Assessment to…– Review WAN link bandwidth levels– Current traffic flows– View existing switches/routers/firewalls for bottlenecks and choke

points– Determine needs through testing and modeling– Placement of analysis tools

• The more you know about your network the better prepared you are to properly deploy UC

Network Assessments are Critical

Myth: UC without Quality of Service (QoS) is Acceptable

• Why is Quality of Service important?– Managing VoIP means managing delay– Even a network with large bandwidth capabilities can

have poor call quality due to network contention– QoS measures can help make VoIP traffic less susceptible

to adverse network conditions– QoS offers VoIP traffic more consistent availability

Challenges with VoIP and UC Deployments

• Converged NW Implementation Plan• User Training• Data Network and Wiring Closets –PoE & UPS• IP Phone Firmware Updates• Headset adaptation• Change Management Policy

• Technical Discovery

• Business Case Development

• Roadmap & Project Planning

• Requirements & Functional Definition

• Solution Definition

• User Interface and Report Design & Prototyping

• Software/Firmware Compatibility Analysis

• Test Plan Development

• UAT Development & Management

• End to End System Test

• System & Role-based User Training

• Operational Readiness Planning

• Simulation & Load Testing

• Go Live Support

• Business Case Validation

• Readiness & Capacity Study• Technical Design• Application Implementation

& Configuration• Multi-Vendor Application

Integration• System & Data Migration• Custom Application

Development

• Custom App Support • Transition to Operations &

Knowledge Transfer• Call Routing Optimization• Agent Desktop and

Workflow Improvement• Proactive Contact

Productivity Analysis

Professional Methodology

Plan & Design Develop & Integrate

Test, Train, & Deploy Optimize

Program Management

UW Unified Communications

• Voice over IP: Deliver voice over data network

• Video conferencing: Desktop and conference room

• Web Collaboration: Share desktops

• Unified Messaging: integrate various forms of messaging – e-mail, texting, voicemail, fax, etc

• Mobility: Access via mobile devices

UW Pilot Objectives

1. Demonstrate cost effective unified communications service

2. Demonstrate access to services via multiple devices

3. Demonstrate interoperability in a multi-vendor environment

4. Demonstrate backwards compatibility with legacy phone system

5. Collect feedback from participants

6. Use formal test methodology

UW Telecom Pilot Architecture

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Session Border Controllers

Access

Connection

Application

DesktopSoftphones

3rd Party SIP EndpointsLegacy Avaya PBX

o o o

Basic Telephony Video Conferencing

Unified Communications

Mobile Devices

UW Telephony Core

Voicemail

Analog Digital

SessionManager System

Manager

PublicSwitched Network

Internet

UC Case Study - Stevens County

• Multiple offices of standalone systems• Dispersed staff requiring mobility• Aging data network that would not support gigabit switching, QoS and

devices that required PoE for VoIP• Data core was a single point of failure• Legacy PBX system & voice mail that was end of life & support• Stevens County Counseling Services(NEWACS)

– Multiple offices – Mobile staff – Need for effective and efficient methods to support client care delivery

UC Case Study – Stevens County

• Investment in a data network infrastructure to increase reliability, redundancy and capacity

• Developed a phased migration plan from the legacy PBX to Cisco Unified Communications Manager

• Leveraged IP infrastructure to connect remote offices– Voice, Video & Data

• Utilized mobility clients to link remote and mobile workers to the Unified Communications Manager – Improved first call contact, improved productivity by eliminating call backs,

and improved responsiveness to external and internal customers

UC Case Study – Stevens County

• NEWACS (Northeastern Washington Alliance Counseling Services) using Unified Communications video clients to link offices improving access to staff and counselors

• Unified Video Communications is utilized for providing counseling services to clients– Leverages clinical and counseling resources– Reduces expense of delivering care– Improved communication between administration & staff—more

efficient & effective in managing and delivering of care– Improved Clinical Resource utilization

UC Success – Assess, Plan, Execute

• Understand your business priorities and the ROI from addressing them (Quantify!); focus on the most important and ROI rich opportunities first

• Assess your network infrastructure and make the investments required to deliver the performance and availability your customers require

• Apply a professional Program Management approach

• Training and executive sponsorship are key

• Identify quality partners that can apply their expertise to your process

Thank you!