Making convergence work

Today, organisations of all sizes rely on a plethora of communication technologies and tools, from phone, email, fax and GSM to instant messaging, document sharing, Bluetooth and WiFi. This creates all sorts of new opportunities but, if not properly managed, can also create cost and complexity that can threaten the successful running of the organisation.

By using a single IP network for all voice and data traffic, and by converging fixed and mobile communications, organisations can drive down costs, minimise complexity and work more efficiently.

However, while everyone agrees that convergence is the way forward, it is not something to be entered into lightly. Rush at it and your organisation could find itself facing a whole set of new risks. A managed, migratory approach will keep these risks to a minimum.

When planning for convergence, you need to think about:

• which areas of your business will benefit most and prioritise them

• making sure any equipment you buy is future proof. Many organisations, for example, will converge their voice and data systems and only afterwards look at fixed-mobile convergence

• your employees. Convergence is complex and many of the technologies will be new to your IT and IS teams. Introducing convergence across the whole organisation in one go would be a huge challenge for them as well as for all the rest of your staff who will need to change some of their working practices

• security. Botched convergence can open up routes for malicious attacks. Failure to place security at the heart of any design will expose an organisation to unnecessary risks

Convergence is all about improving the ability of an organisation to deliver a better service to its stakeholders. But rush at it and you could seriously impair your organisation’s ability to function.

Please talk to us for a no nonsense approach to the world of converging technologies. We'll give you the down to earth advice that's critical to your business! Check out our services for VOIP and give us a call... Don't forget your talking to engineers, not sales people...

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