Unified Communications
Benefits, Considerations & Realities
Agenda
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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
Judy Blinn: Senior Account Manager, Public Sector
Roger Junkermier: President
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Cerium Networks established October 2000
Core Business
– Unified Communication Solutions: “A solutionbased 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
Increasing Complexities …
How can I do
MORE WITH LESS?
How can I REMAIN
PRODUCTIVE when
I'm out of the office?
How can I do 12
HOURS OF WORK in
only 8 hours?
I need to
MOVE FASTER.
I want government to
WORK THE WAY I
WORK.
I don’t need more
information, I need
KNOWLEDGE!
I want 24-HOUR
ACCESS to services.
… and their Impact on Government
How can we
CONTAIN COSTS?
We need to do more with
our EXISTING STAFF
We need to be able to
SHARE RESOURCES with
other agencies.
We need to make
BETTER DECISIONS
FASTER.
We need to be prepared
for all kinds of EVENTS
AND EMERGENCIES
We need cost-effective
ways to INVOLVE
CITIZENS.
We need to CHANGE
THE STATUS QUO.
Business Challenges Faced By Government
Improving
Citizen Service
Managing within
Constrained
Budgets
Providing Safety
& Operations
Continuity
• Simplify citizen access to government
• Provide additional communications channels
for citizen access, e.g. web sites, IVR access
• Balance between responsiveness and service costs
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Continued pressure to reduce network
and telephony expenses while improving productivity
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Projects need to show clear benefits/ROI
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Complying with policy mandates (i.e. Green, e911, etc.)
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Citizen and employee safety a high priority
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Communications interoperability between government entities
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Focus on continuity and disaster recovery
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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
Collaborative Tools
Voice, Video
Many
Number of
Stakeholders
Text
Social Networking
Discussion Forums
Wikis
Unified
Communications
Blogs
Email
One
IM
Documents
Video on
Demand
Contact
Center
Conferencing
TelePresence
Vmail
“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
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Productivity Gains
Efficiency Gains
Infrastructure Savings
Reduced Footprint
Disaster Recovery Improvements
Ease of Administration
Remote Access to Business Systems
Expansion of Citizen Service
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
Citizen Benefits
WEB
UC Core
Self Service
Portal
 Reduce Costs
• Consolidation of resources increases
productivity & efficiencies
• Leverage experts across all agencies
• Shift from agent to self-service options
• Application sharing across agencies
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Managing Within Constrained Budgets
 Consolidated Communications
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Controlling Costs
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Shared Applications
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Trunking
Consolidation of networks
Unified communications & messaging
Consistent features/functionalities
Connect remote agencies
Collaboration improves productivity
Government-wide reporting & analytics
 Mobility & Remote Workers
Avaya
UC
Core
TM
Aura
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The same applications and number wherever
people go
Remote workers reduce infrastructure costs
“Green” grant funding opportunities
 Shared Applications
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Combine budgets to move to new technologies
Providing Safety & Operations Continuity
 E-9-1-1
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Safety
Federal regulations will get tougher
Consolidation of networks & architecture increase
the complexity of 9-1-1
 Notification Solutions
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Avaya
UC
Core
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Emergency & non-emergency
Internal notifications
 Event or resource based
Outreach to citizens
 Event or geography based
 Communications Continuity
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Disaster recovery options
 Distributed across state/county/city
Remote/teleworker solutions
Mobile communication solutions
Government Solutions
Enhance UC with Multi-Media Communications
• 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
Campus Map
Enable Citizen Services with Video
• Video self-help and wait-treatment
• Live 2-way video collaboration
Citizen
initiates
query for
service or
information
Self Service
2-Way
Conference
Video
Agent share:
 Video
 Documents
 Web Pages
Interactions are Changing
No Single Interaction Channel: Need to be Proficient in all Channels
Source: Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Division
Social Media Integration
Scan and process events from social media using Contact
Center infrastructure
Standard
Media
Social
Networks
Web
Inbound
Contact
Social
Media
Manager
Enterprise Contact Center
Contact
Routing
Managed
Agents &
Experts
Customer Service
Enable Exceptional Customer Service
 Contact Center
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Unified agent desktop
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Social media integration
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Video enabled agents
 Voice Interactive Response
 Proactive Outreach
Proactive Outreach
Reminders and Collections
 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
Use Cases in Government
• Outage notifications and bill reminders
• Emergency medical services (EMS)
collections
• Revenue collections
• Fine collections
• Tax collections
• Court fines
• Reminders
Business Challenges Faced by
Government: The Evolution of Technology
Infrastructure
Legacy Utility
Converged Facilities
Business Enabled Services
SIP- Enabled Services
TDM & Analog
TDM, Analog, & IP
• Switch-specific administration
• Site specific dial tone
• Separate voice and data
services
• Limited wireless and mobility
(voice or data)
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Heterogeneous integration
Enterprise dial plans
Site specific applications
Integrated voice/data
Basic IP presence services
• 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
Applications
User-Centric
Network - Centric
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IVR “agency specific” gateways
Uni-directional speech access
Voice mail
Asynchronous Messaging
Organization - Centric
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Standalone video services
In-building mobility (voice, data)
Site-dependent collaboration
Reactive contact center services
Call control
Number portability
Asynchronous messaging
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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
UC as an IT priority
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But adoption hurdles still continue…
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UC Experiences Inform Better ROI Inputs
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Today’s Complex Government Architecture
Video
Systems
Enterprise
Applications
Contact
Centers
Conferencing
Services
Communication
Systems
Data
Centers
Communication
Systems
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IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
Feature Server
IVR
Future
Apps
Application
Messaging
SIP
Carrier
Service
Connection
Session/
Routing
Manager
Network/Access
3rd Party PBX/
IP Phones
SIP Phones
Legacy PBX
Legacy PBX
IP Connect Gateway
• Enterprise IMS
• SIP for all Connectivity
• Centrally Shared Applications
The Need for an Evolutionary Revolution
A common customer scenario
Business Challenge – Rip and Replace?
• 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
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Build for the Future - The Promise of SIP
Standard
Media
Social
Networks
SIP
Web
Cloud
Voice
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
Unified Communications Roadmap
Careful Planning Is Essential to Realize the Full Benefits of Unified Communication Solutions
Making Sense
of Confusing
Technologies and
Roadmaps
 Which applications should
we be considering?
 Where are the likely
departments/agencies for
deployment?
 How is this technology likely
to evolve?
How Do We Ensure
Multi-vendor
Interoperability?
Do Business
Processes
& Policy Need
to Change?
 Will the applications from
 Who should use which
one vendor work with
another?
applications?
 How should they use them?
 How can we make
 Are different
the most of our existing
investments?
IT policies and approaches
required?
 What’s the best approach to
How to Best
Approach
Initiatives?
 What capabilities should we
implement and in what
timeframe?
 How will we
measure and track
capabilities?
 How do we evaluate skills &
minimize risk when
deploying new applications
in
a mixed environment?
requirements for
employees?
 How do we communicate
changes to citizens?
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Network Assessments are Critical
• 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
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
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Converged NW Implementation Plan
User Training
Data Network and Wiring Closets –PoE & UPS
IP Phone Firmware Updates
Headset adaptation
Change Management Policy
Professional Methodology
Program Management
Plan & Design
Develop
& Integrate
• Technical Discovery
• Readiness & Capacity Study
• Business Case Development
• Technical Design
• Roadmap & Project Planning
• Application Implementation
• Requirements &
Functional Definition
• Solution Definition
• User Interface and Report
Design & Prototyping
• Software/Firmware
Compatibility Analysis
& Configuration
• Multi-Vendor Application
Integration
• System & Data Migration
• Custom Application
Development
Test, Train,
& Deploy
• 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
Optimize
• Custom App Support
• Transition to Operations &
Knowledge Transfer
• Call Routing Optimization
• Agent Desktop and
Workflow Improvement
• Proactive Contact
Productivity Analysis
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
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Demonstrate cost effective unified communications service
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Demonstrate access to services via multiple devices
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Demonstrate interoperability in a multi-vendor environment
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Demonstrate backwards compatibility with legacy phone system
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Collect feedback from participants
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Use formal test methodology
UW Telecom Pilot Architecture
Application
Unified
Communications
Video
Conferencing
Voicemail
Basic Telephony
Connection
UW Telephony Core
Session Border Controllers
Session
Manager
System
Manager
Public
Switched
Network
Internet
Access
ooo
Mobile
Devices
Analog
Digital
Legacy Avaya PBX
3rd Party
SIP Endpoints
Desktop
Softphones
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!