Wireless Mobility
Define your mobility strategy
Companies can equip a mobile workforce for greater productivity, cost savings and enhanced security.
by Shane Yu
Deploying one-number converged voice systems enables enterprises to have greater control over levels of security and compliance.
Mobile solutions for
enterprises have primarily consisted of
personal or business-owned mobile phones
deployed on an ad hoc basis that permitted
little control by the company. Today's
dramatically growing virtual workforce,
however, requires new tactics to keep
workers responsive and productive, to rein
in spiraling telephony costs, and ensure
security and compliance with regulatory and
company requirements.
Choosing, integrating and
successfully deploying a mobility solution
that serves a diverse workforce can be
challenging. There is no one standard
solution that simultaneously meets the needs
of road warriors, telecommuters, campus
nomads and desk workers in every type of
enterprise.
As the number of mobile
workers increases, the cost to keep them
connected to their workplace is one of the
fastest-growing components of the IT budget.
This has been spurred for the most part by
the availability of new applications, such
as mobile e-mail and data, that end-users
have driven into adoption. These costs are
destined to increase unless enterprises
proactively define a mobile communications
strategy.
To compound problems,
enterprises are realizing that ad hoc
solutions lack the necessary security and
compliance features. These devices can be
easily lost or hacked, and potentially
provide entry points into corporate
systems-threats that will only grow with the
power and proliferation of devices if not
mitigated by enterprise controls.
Additionally, when a
company relies strictly on its cellular
carrier as its mobility strategy, retaining
call logs, call recordings or voice mails
can be difficult, perhaps creating
compliance issues. Cellular call information
resides on the carriers' systems and is not
integrated with enterprise calling or
messaging systems. Enterprises will
eventually have to take control of these
assets in order to enact their own business
and security policies.
Map out a mobility strategy
Determining the most
critical applications and user populations
to target and then integrating all the
necessary components into a cohesive
solution is not the simplest of tasks. Some
vendors are beginning to develop
professional service capabilities to fill
this gap. Whether an enterprise utilizes
them or moves forward on its own, it needs
to map out a mobility strategy and start
deploying to develop the knowledge and
skills necessary to support the rapidly
growing mobile enterprise.
Most organizations today
take the "one-size fits all" approach to
equipping mobile workers, whether they are
international travelers, domestic travelers,
telecommuters or campus wanderers: They arm
them with cell phones. Most have some
mechanism to expense some or all of the cost
of the device and service fees back to the
enterprise, but these will not provide the
responsiveness, productivity gains, cost
savings or necessary security of true
enterprise class solutions.
Some enterprises have
started integrating corporate assets such as
e-mail and directory servers with cell
phones to enable mobile access. The next
natural step is consolidated voice access
and messaging. Many vendors are now
providing single-number functionality so
that dialing an office number will reach the
caller on her cell phone, as well. This
"one-number" capability can be expanded to
enable any number of phones to
simultaneously ring, such as cell phone,
home office or a site. The objective is to
increase the ability for customers,
co-workers and partners to reach their
contacts on the first attempt.
The single-number
approach also consolidates voice mail and
call logs, saving the end-user from managing
multiple channels. Further, a wide range of
adjunct applications can be added to enable
visual voice mail, speech access, unified
voice and e-mails, and preferential routing
for VIP contacts. These deployments can
lower costs if administered appropriately.
Carrier costs can be reduced through plans
optimized to usage patterns or technologies
deployed.
After monthly charges,
the second largest element of cost is
international long distance and roaming. For
domestic travelers calling internationally,
converged mobility solutions allow users to
route mobile calls through their local PBX,
thus taking advantage of cheaper wire line
rates or free voice over IP.
Enterprises can also
utilize global-system-for-mobile gateways to
route calls, which take advantage of
in-network free minutes. For international
travelers, the bulk of the costs are
international roaming fees, which can be
high and unpredictable. Increasingly,
third-party consolidators are offering
roaming SIM cards that enable phones to work
across large geographies without incurring
roaming charges. By utilizing these roaming
SIM cards along with one-number
functionality, users can both place and
receive international calls without being
subjected to variable roaming costs.
Companies can also
uncover significant savings by diverting
cell phone usage to hard-wired phones or
softphone-enabled laptops. New generation
softphones can provide full access to all
communications tools, including telephony,
directories, conferencing and instant
messaging, and are a means to reduce cell
phone usage, especially in international
situations.
Design processes and policies
In addition, preferential
routing and mobile switching, which allows
users to switch a call from a mobile device
to a hard phone in mid-call, can offload
cell phone usage when a landline is nearby.
The key to these technologies is designing
processes, policies and training so user
adoption is high.
Additional cost-saving
technologies for workers who predominately
work in a campus setting can be found with
in-building wireless IP phones or dual-mode
phones. These solutions have been widely
adopted in the healthcare, manufacturing,
retail and hospitality industries.
Deploying one-number
converged voice systems enables enterprises
to have greater control over levels of
security and compliance, as well as customer
contact channels, voice mail and call logs.
Call-recording equipment can be placed on
the enterprise switch and capture all
business-related calls, including those
extended to mobile or remote devices.
The other critical
security element is unauthorized access
through hacked or lost cell phones that can
be addressed by security features such as
password lock, remote lock, remote wipe and
control of applications, which are currently
built into some corporate mobile e-mail
solutions or into separate mobile
device-management (MDM) solutions. Many of
these allow end-users to wipe phones via a
Web interface without requiring a call to
IT.
Higher-level encryption
and over-the-air protection are also
available on some MDM systems. Determining
the correct level of security to protect the
organization without impeding usability is
important, as is developing the right
policies and controls that support it.
Some keys to success:
Understand the
demographics of your organization. Take the
time to understand what the distinct worker
groups in the organization are and how they
actually do their work. The solutions will
likely vary between groups.
Determine which
applications are most important now. Focus
on the applications and practices that will
yield immediate and measurable gains first.
They will form the core on which to build.
Do a baseline technology
assessment. The optimal solution will likely
encompass multiple vendors, and integration
may be an issue. Be careful to understand in
detail the current state of existing and
proposed technology and how all the
components will work together.
Assess current security,
compliance and usage policies in conjunction
with deployment. If they are not right now,
security and compliance will become major
factors. Do not design a solution without at
least an understanding of how mobile
solutions will fit into the overall context
of corporate security and policy.
Assess all associated
costs and systems, including carrier and
support plans. The business case for
deployment may be highly dependent on the
types of carrier and support plans being
used. Additionally, carrier optimization may
yield cost savings that may be used to fund
the deployment.
Design with adoption in
mind. Make sure to involve line-of-business
leaders and end-users in the design process.
Success is dependent on end-users adopting
and evangelizing the solution. This differs
from many IT rollouts in that users are
likely to utilize these tools constantly and
change their daily processes because of
them.
Start small and build.
Reasons to deploy an enterprise-class
solution are growing, but there is still
time to get the skills and vision necessary,
without immediately moving to a huge
deployment. Try to find technologies that do
not lock into a specific, proprietary
standard or infrastructure. Flexibility is
key.
Whether this work is done
in-house or in partnership with a
specialized professional service group,
enterprises should take the time and
resources to plan accordingly, but not delay
initiating deployments. The drivers forcing
this move are growing: high numbers of
mobile workers, spiraling costs, and growing
security and compliance threats.
While planning and
deployment are not necessarily easy, the
benefits can be immediate and substantial.
If deployed and planned appropriately, the
impact of a mobility deployment is likely to
be significant, fundamentally changing the
way an organization reacts internally, as
well as with customers.
Shane Yu is the director of Avaya's enterprise mobility consulting practices, Basking Ridge, N.J.
For more information (click here)
Flexibility is fundamental
by Lou Martinage
To address their indoor
coverage needs, companies typically deploy
in-building wireless coverage systems to
bring wireless signals inside and then
distribute those signals throughout their
facilities. As the communications industry
continues to tap into more wireless
spectrum, however, these companies will need
to select in-building solutions with the
built-in flexibility to accommodate emerging
frequencies and services.
Today's commercially
licensed wireless communication broadcasts
over a set of frequency bands, which occupy
a relatively small amount of spectrum. Over
the next few years, new frequencies will be
introduced, licensed and allocated, yielding
an increase of nearly 300 percent in the
available spectrum. Additional bands for
commercial and public safety uses are
quickly emerging, and several unlicensed
bands are being used more frequently.
From an in-building
coverage perspective, organizations will
need to deploy solutions capable of
delivering multiple bands simultaneously,
even if they are just supporting a single
wireless operator. Sprint, for example,
currently has services operating in the
800/900/1900 MHz bands and is now in the
process of rolling out its mobile WiMAX
service operating in the 2.5 GHz range -
meaning it must operate in four separate
frequency bands. Verizon and AT&T will be in
a similar situation as they add long-term
evolution services in the 700 MHz band to
their current offerings.
The in-building coverage
challenge is not just about frequency
agility, however. While most current
wireless offerings focus on voice
communications, the emerging breed of
wireless services will be optimized for
high-speed data connectivity. To realize the
full throughput potential of data-oriented
services, in-building solutions will need to
provide more than just coverage; they will
also need to deliver signals at power levels
higher than those typically required for
wireless voice communications.
In addition, wireless
operators are employing advanced antenna
technologies, such as multiple
input/multiple output, to boost the data
throughput of emerging wireless services.
The concept of transporting multiple signals
operating at the same frequency adds another
level of complexity that organizations
should address with in-building
infrastructure solutions in order to
maintain service performance indoors.
An in-building system
should offer more than basic coverage. It
should also support multiple bands
simultaneously, deliver signals at high
power and accommodate a new class of antenna
technologies that ensure carrier-class
performance for end-users. IT managers need
in-building solutions with the versatility
to accommodate the multiple frequency bands
in use today, and the emerging frequency
bands and services of the future.
IT managers have the
option of addressing their wireless service
requirements on a one-off basis by
installing separate coverage systems for
each new wireless service. In today's
multiservice world, however, this sort of
parallel networking approach often cannot
scale and requires installing and
maintaining multiple separate networks.
Instead, IT managers should deploy coverage
solutions that can readily scale and adapt
to rapidly evolving wireless requirements.
To build for the future,
organizations should pursue an in-building
coverage solution with the following key
attributes:
- delivers
multiple frequency bands simultaneously,
without interference;
- ensures
pervasive coverage and capacity
throughout the facility;
- provides
high-power signal coverage essential for
high-speed data services;
- supports
the advanced antenna technologies
integral to many emerging services; and
- enables
new wireless services to be added
seamlessly, without disruption.
An in-building
infrastructure with these capabilities
allows enterprises to integrate new wireless
services and applications cost-effectively,
without interrupting productivity.
Lou Martinage is director of marketing and business development for MobileAccess, Vienna, Va.
For more information
(click here)