Voice Transformation Enables Many Business Benefits - AT&T Business

A Custom Technology Adoption Profile Commissioned By AT&T

Voice Transformation Enables Many Business Benefits June 2012

Introduction Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions enable enterprises to streamline and transform their corporate telecommunications infrastructure by converging voice and data. Enterprises are not only migrating to VoIP, they are evolving their VoIP deployment initiatives and overall communications road map to incorporate a variety of unified communications features and functions such as: audio, web and videoconferencing, skills based routing, and mobile device integration. Firms who deploy VoIP solutions expect to achieve key benefits such as reducing costs, improving employee productivity, and creating a flexible working environment.

VoIP Migration Initiatives Are Key Priorities For The Majority Of Enterprises North American enterprises are focusing their telecom priorities on a variety of IP-related initiatives in the coming year (see Figure 1). In fact, 51% of large North American firms identify migrating more voice traffic to VoIP as a critical or high priority in the next 12 months, and 50% of them give the same priority to implementing or expanding unified communications solutions in the coming year. Some firms also include other types of IP initiatives as their key telecom priorities in the coming year. Specifically, about 30% of North American enterprises are focused on upgrading their contact center to VoIP, and nearly 25% highlight that migrating their network to an all-IP environment is a critical priority in the coming year.

Forrester Consulting

Voice Transformation Enables Many Business Benefits

Figure 1 More Than Half Of Enterprises Identify Migrating More Voice Traffic To VoIP As A Key Telecom Priority “Which of the following initiatives are likely to be your firm’s top telecom/mobility adoption priorities over the next 12 months?” Migrate more voice traffic to VoIP

14%

37%

35%

12%

2%

Implement or expand our unified communications solutions

14%

36%

35%

13%

2%

Upgrade the contact center to VoIP or multichannel

7%

Migrate our network to an all-IP environment 5%

Critical priority

High priority

Low priority

22%

19%

12%

34%

30%

Not on our agenda

11%

33%

27%

Don’t know/does not apply

Base: 722 North American technology decision-makers Source: Forrsights Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, Q1 2012

Implementation Activities Highlight The Importance Of Deploying IP Solutions The high priority enterprises place on deploying IP solutions is validated by the results of a custom study commissioned by AT&T. Nearly 55% of surveyed North American enterprises are currently implementing or expanding an IP service migration initiative or have already completed one (see Figure 2). An additional 38% of enterprises are planning to implement or considering implementing an IP service migration in the future. It is also important to note that only 6% of surveyed North American enterprises were not interested in carrying out an IP service migration initiative. Figure 2 54% Of Enterprises Are Implementing Or Have Completed IP Service Migration Implementation “What stage of IP service migration is your firm currently at?” Completed

14%

Expanding the implementation

26%

Currently implementing

14%

Planning to implement within the next 12 months Planning to implement within one to two years

12% 4%

Considering implementing it, but no current plans Not interested

22% 6%

Base: 50 North American technology decision-makers (percentages do not total 100 due to rounding) Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of AT&T, May 2012

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Results from Forrester’s study also highlight significant corporate deployment of and demand for VoIP solutions among North American enterprises. In fact, 85% of them have implemented VoIP services or are expanding or upgrading those services (see Figure 3). This is a significant increase over Forrester’s 2011 survey results, in which 70% of North American enterprises reported being at the same stages of VoIP solution implementation. Many firms are implementing other types of IP-based services. Nearly two-thirds of firms have deployed IP audioconferencing services or are expanding or upgrading their implementation of such services; more than half (52%) have implemented IP-based conferencing services or are planning to implement them. Some enterprises are also expanding their IP network access services. For example, 57% of enterprises have implemented, are expanding their implementation of, or are upgrading their site-to-site WAN VoIP using T1s, E1s or PRIs. In addition, 39% of enterprises are implementing, expanding, or upgrading their SIP trunking to replace ISDN, BRIs, and PRIs. Figure 3 Many Enterprises Have Deployed VoIP, Webconferencing, And IP Conferencing Services “What are your firm’s plans to adopt the following VoIP technologies/services?” VoIP (IP phone/softphone and IP/PBX)

55%

IP audioconferencing

34%

Integrated conferencing (IP audio/web/desktop video)

33%

Migrate the network to an all-IP environment Site-to-site WAN VoIP (using T1s/E1s and PRIs)

12%

30%

17%

19%

28%

8%

31%

8% 2%

14%

8% 4%

19%

12%

25%

26%

9% 4%2% 1%

29%

10%

20%

17%

9% 5%

5%

4%

1%

SIP trunking (to replace ISDN BRIs/ PRIs)

25%

14%

18%

16%

19%

7%

1%

Traditional (non-IP) audioconferencing Voice over Wi-Fi (e.g., VoIP over Wi-Fi or VoWLAN) Expanding/upgrading implementation Planning to implement Decreasing or removing Don’t know

4%

13%

45%

9%

14%

5%

13%

32%

29%

26%

3%

6%

Implemented, not expanding Interested but no plans Not interested

Base: 344 North American technology decision-makers Source: Forrsights Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, Q1 2012

Enterprises Are Expanding VoIP Feature And Function Deployment VoIP solutions enable enterprises to cost-effectively deploy a variety of value-added telephony features to improve employee productivity and collaboration. Results from AT&T’s custom survey show that some VoIP functions, such as three-way conferencing, call forwarding, videoconferencing, and electronic messaging, are widely deployed by many North American enterprises (see Figure 4). For example, 74% of surveyed

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enterprises had implemented, were upgrading, or were expanding implementation of three-way conferencing; 62% of enterprises were in the same deployment stages for videoconferencing and call forwarding features. Other VoIP features that are less commonly deployed but which represent the next wave of feature adoption include skills-based routing and mobile device integration. For example, 48% of enterprises have implemented skills-based routing or were expanding or upgrading their implementation; 40% were at the same stages for mobile device integration. VoIP-enabled mobile device integration allows firms to support VoIP features over smartphones and improves the productivity of the growing number of employees who use smartphones for work-related activities. Results from Forrester’s survey of North American enterprises shows that 23% of enterprises estimate that one-quarter to one-half of their employees regularly use a smartphone for work, and 21% of enterprises estimate that one-half to three-quarters of their employees use a smartphone for work on a regular basis. Figure 4 Enterprises Are Expanding VoIP Solutions By Deploying A Variety Of Basic And Advanced Features “What types of VoIP features and functions are you using or planning to deploy?”

Three way conferencing Electronic messaging

Mobile device integration Skills-based routing

2%

32%

26%

Videoconferencing Call forwarding

50%

24%

30%

32%

28%

22%

Expanding/upgrading implementation Planning to implement in the next 12 months Interested but no plans Don’t know

12%

26%

6%

12%

16%

6% 4%

4%

12%

12%

18%

12%

22%

6%

8%

6%

14%

12%

8%

48%

14%

8%

14%

10%

8%

10%

8%

4% 4%

10%

Implemented, not expanding Planning to implement in a year or more Not interested

Base: 50 North American technology decision-makers Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of AT&T, May 2012

VoIP Solutions Help Enterprises Achieve Many Benefits Firms achieve various benefits from deploying VoIP solutions. The leading category of benefits focuses on reducing costs, with 60% to 66% of enterprises identifying lowering overall costs or lowering the total cost of ownership as the benefits they have achieved or expect to achieve from deploying VoIP solutions (see Figure 5). Another category of VoIP solution benefits include improving employee productivity, with 48% of

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enterprises expecting to achieve or already achieving this benefit. Forty-four percent of enterprises identified providing a flexible work environment as a benefit. Some enterprises are also achieving or expect to achieve broader types of VoIP solution benefits, including streamlining and simplifying processes. For example, 46% of enterprises expected to streamline their communications infrastructure and 38% of enterprises expect to simplify administration and maintenance as a result of deploying VoIP solutions. Another category of benefits focuses on integrating with other technologies; around 40% of enterprises identified integrating with additional communications applications (e.g., unified communications) or integrating with mobile devices as key benefits they have achieved or expect to achieve from VoIP solution deployment. Figure 5 Enterprises Expect To Achieve Various Benefits From Deploying VoIP Solutions “What benefits have you achieved or do you expect to achieve from deploying a VoIP solution?” Lower overall cost

66%

Lower total cost of ownership

60%

Improved employee productivity due to easy accessibility of advanced features

48%

Streamlined communications infrastructure as a result of consolidating onto a single network

46%

Creation of a flexible working environment Integration with additional communications applications (e.g., unified communications) Integration of the phone system with mobile devices

44%

42%

40%

Making current investments more efficient

38%

Simplification of administration and maintenance

38%

Base: 50 North American technology decision-makers (multiple responses accepted) Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of AT&T, May 2012

VoIP Momentum Will Continue As Enterprises Focus On Solution Integration Enterprises will continue to focus on deploying VoIP solutions. More than half (52%) of North American enterprises participating in the custom survey identified integrating communication features as a critical or very critical priority in the next 12 months (see Figure 6). In addition, 46% of firms identified implementing unified communication functionality as a critical or very critical priority in the coming year. More than 40% of survey respondents also gave these same critical priority ratings to implementing SIP trunking service with integrated access for PBX and key systems.

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Emerging solutions, such as converging mobile services with fixed communications services and incorporating new IP conferencing capabilities into technology solutions, were identified by 36% of enterprises. These initiatives will provide firms with new features and functions to expand the value of their VoIP solution investments. In addition, some firms are considering using new types of delivery models to support their VoIP deployment activities. Specifically, 36% of surveyed enterprises said that implementing a hosted VoIP solution is a critical or very critical priority in the next 12 months. These broader delivery models will provide additional opportunities for enterprises to expand VoIP solution deployment throughout the organization. Figure 6 Future Corporate Technology Priorities Focus On Expanding VoIP Features And Functionality “How critical do you believe the following initiatives will be to your organization over the next 12 months?” Integrating communications features Implementing unified communications (UC) functionality Implementing an SIP trunking service with integrated access for PBX and key systems Integrating productivity solutions into your VoIP service Converging mobile services with fixed communications services

12%

Very critical

Critical

12% 14%

Somewhat critical

30%

32% 24%

28%

10%

10%

24%

28%

18%

Implementing a hosted VoIP solution Incorporating new IP conferencing capabilities

40%

12%

4%

16%

4%2%

20%

32%

22%

28%

26%

32%

Not on our agenda

24% 22%

4%

10% 12%

44%

24%

Not critical

20%

6% 8%

14%

24%

8%

Don’t know

Base: 50 North American technology decision-makers Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of AT&T, May 2012

Methodology This Technology Adoption Profile was commissioned by AT&T. Forrester leveraged its Forrsights Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, Q1 2012, isolating responses of North American telecommunications decision-makers at large enterprises with more than 1,000 employees. Forrester Consulting supplemented this analysis with custom survey questions asked of 50 North American telecommunications decision-makers. The custom questions focused on identifying VoIP implementation plans and the benefits achieved from deploying VoIP solutions. Respondents were also asked about their current and future plans to deploy various types of VoIP solutions, unified communications, mobility, and IP conferencing capabilities. The supplementary survey was conducted in May 2012. For more information on Forrester’s data panel and Tech Industry Consulting services, go to www.forrester.com.

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About Forrester Consulting Forrester Consulting provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders succeed in their organizations. Ranging in scope from a short strategy session to custom projects, Forrester’s Consulting services connect you directly with research analysts who apply expert insight to your specific business challenges. For more information, visit www.forrester.com/consulting.

© 2012, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com. [1-KKQLNP]

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