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THE IMPACT OF VOIP ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of [INSERT FACULTY NAME HERE] [INSERT SCHOOL NAME HERE]

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science

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Abstract The ever-growing sector of customer relationship management (CRM) depends on the network industry as a back-end hardware support for communication. The current study observed voice-over-Internet protocol or VoIP as one of such technology, which offers feasibility with many added advantages than other traditional communication technologies like PBX and PSTN. In order to understand the real impact of VoIP on CRM, the study took the concern of complete background of VoIP. The study observed the trends of CRM and the convergence factors of CRM with VoIP and the precautions that need to be taken before implementing the VoIP for CRM applications. The study mainly observes the challenges put before CRM with telecommunication adaptations and how VoIP is able to solve the questions. Technology architecture of VoIP, VoIP standards were closely observed. The myths of VoIP deployment,

implementation issues and influencing factors of VoIP growth and the challenges involved with VOIP deployment in particular to CRM are also observed. The impact of VoIP on CRM is analyzed under Productivity and Cost as prime concentration. Return of investment in VoIP is understood in terms of costs at different levels of implementation. The Study has been conducted under the method of Historical case study analysis and observed the results of VoIP implementation in two CRM companies – Key com and Click Communications. The study found that VoIP deployment results in reduction of costs for CRM operations with increased efficiency. But still the wall power dependency and the complexity in technical adaptations resulted as major limitations of the

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deployment. The study recommends for a thorough business plan before pursuing technical deployment of VoIP for CRM and usage of integration software as connector to realize the maximum interoperability and savings. Also the research suggests for the further research on deployment of VoIP for Wireless applications for wide spread utility of technology.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................ II List of Figures.................................................................................................................... VI Chapter 1: Introduction .....................................................................................................1 Statement of Problem........................................................................................ 2 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................... 2 Importance of the Study .................................................................................... 3 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................ 4 Rationale of the Study ....................................................................................... 5 Definition of Terms ............................................................................................ 6 Overview of the Study ....................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................10 Relevance ....................................................................................................... 10 The Status of VOIP in the Technology Industry ......................................................... 10 Scenario of CRM........................................................................................................... 12 Convergence of VoIP to CRM ..................................................................................... 13 A Warning Before Convergence .................................................................................. 15 Background of Convergence and Facts .......................................................... 17 Technology trends in CRM .......................................................................................... 17 Technology trends in the evolution of VoIP ............................................................... 20 The Telecommunications Challenge for CRM implementation ................................ 23 Shortfalls of Traditional Phone Services for CRM applications ....................... 24 Reasons for a Contact center to move to VoIP: .............................................. 28 Considerations for the VoIP implementation to CRM ...................................... 31 The Technological Architecture required for VoIP for CRM............................. 34 VOIP STANDARDS......................................................................................... 42 H.323.............................................................................................................................. 42 Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) .................................................................................. 44 Other Standards ............................................................................................................. 45 The Myths of VoIP deployments...................................................................... 50 Implementation issues with VOIP .................................................................... 51 Factors influencing VoIP growth in CRM ......................................................... 55 Challenges involved in the VoIP implementation of CRM ............................... 58 Productivity impact of CRM with VoIP ............................................................. 61 IV

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Cost Impact of VoIP ........................................................................................ 63 The ROI of VoIP in CRM ................................................................................. 67 Market Overview ............................................................................................. 74 Chapter-3 - Research Methodology: ...........................................................................77 Research Approach:........................................................................................ 77 Data Gathering Methods: ................................................................................ 82 Originality & Validity of Data: ........................................................................... 83 Limitations of the Study: .................................................................................. 83 Summary: ........................................................................................................ 84 Methodology .................................................................................................... 85 Approach ..............................................................................................................................85 Data Gathering Method ................................................................................... 89 Database of Study ........................................................................................... 91 Case studies.................................................................................................... 91 1. KEYCOM .................................................................................................................. 91 2. CLICK COMMUNICATIONS................................................................................ 97 Click Communications is a wing of communications of KBS, Promotions of Bradford, which is in the textile business with UK retailers. The organization has nearly 300 distributors throughout the UK. ................................................................. 97 Validity of Data .............................................................................................. 100 Originality and Limitation of Data................................................................... 103 Summary ....................................................................................................... 104 CHAPTER-4 ...................................................................................................................... 105 Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 105 CHAPTER 5....................................................................................................................... 111 Summary ....................................................................................................... 111 Recommendations ........................................................................................ 113 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 116 BIBILOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 117

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List of Figures Figure 1 - Simple VoIP System……………………………………………………37 Figure 2 - Call Processing Server…………………………………………………38 Figure 3 - VoIP Gateway Functions……………………………………………….40 Figure 4 - VoIP Protocol Structure………………………………………………...48 Figure 5 – VoIP Protocols……...…………………………………………………..49 Figure 6 - Overall average Installation costs……………………………………..69 Figure 7 - VoIP cost per unit……………………………………………………….70 Figure 8 - ................................71 шибк ! сточник ссылки не н йден.………………….. шибк ! кл дк не определен .

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Chapter 1: Introduction

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them.

CRM entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customer, whether it is sales- or service-related. An example of a CRM would be a database containing detailed customer information that management and salespeople can reference in order to match customer needs with products, inform customers of service requirements, etc. Many software applications are now available that permit you to record information about this relationship from the time the client asks the first question. Good CRM software is much more efficient than fragmented records as it can save time in tracking communications and transactions with a particular person.

More specifically, CRM is a business application derived from technology, and hence has caused more confusion than any other form of technology that has been available in the market to date. Survey after survey has shown that the majority of companies are aware that the technology exists, but they are confused as to how precisely it will benefit users and their customers.

The increased demands for customer interaction modes in sharing Voice, Data and Video have led to the different modes of network convergence. Among these modes, PSTN, PBX, and VoIP are the trial-and-error scenarios, where the VoIP

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implementation trend is continuing as a preferable deployment. But the risks, which include initial costs, denial of services, and accessibility, are creating doubts for the organization’s IT architectures in considering VoIP deployment. In this context, the study of the impact of VoIP on CRM provides a great deal of insight into how the sector functions. Statement of Problem VoIP implementation is showing a rising index in the enterprise and customer-interactive applications like CRM and call centers, but the industry still perceives some risks with the new wave of telephony application integration. Hence the current study intends to “analyze the pros and cons in implementing the VoIP in the field of CRM” to understand the impact on the later business application.

Purpose of the Study These days, a growing number of enterprises are focusing their efforts on building more comprehensive CRM models to enhance their customer relations. Through the development of a more holistic, seamless and integrated approach, these organizations want to improve the quality of their customer services. Thus, it is evident that the very nature of CRM implementations is now quite pervasive – The competitive organizations want to offer customer services through call centers and leading-edge software which needs utilization of key data of the customers. By connecting such live data, it’s possible to escalate performance

and reduce errors associated with the double and triple data-entry cycle that’s

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typical when companies rely on paper or a mix of mobile and connected systems. These CRM analytics need an uninterrupted linkage of client connectivity at low a cost and with a high rate of proficiency for data and voice. Under this purview of necessities, though VoIP stands to meet most of the stated requirements of the CRM field, there are some challenges to negotiate for the deployment of the technology for the profitability of the business application. Thus the current study closely examines such differences and determines the impact of VoIP on CRM.

Importance of the Study The study observes the convergence of VoIP with CRM in terms of technological implications as well as from a business prospective. Hence the study concentrates on the architecture as well as the commercial aspects of the merger. This gives a complete format of the structure to any one who wants to know about the VoIP impact on CRM applications.

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Scope of the Study The study covers the following areas to identify and observe the whole impact of VoIP over CRM. Ø Trends of Technologies in the field of CRM Ø Considerations for the VoIP implementation to CRM Ø The myths about VoIP Ø The technological architecture required for VoIP for CRM Ø Factors influencing VoIP growth in CRM Ø Risks involved in the VoIP implementation of CRM Ø Cost impact of CRM with VoIP Ø The ROI of VoIP in CRM Ø Productivity impact of CRM with VoIP Ø Future trends of VoIP in CRM Ø Drivers for the implementation of VoIP

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Rationale of the Study Although there is a vast amount of literature available on the independent fields of VoIP and CRM, there is no direct study on the impact of VoIP on CRM.

The study proves its rationale by making itself unique with the combination of the technology applicable in the business area. So far there has been no direct study conducted in the area where the impact is analyzed in detail.

But by analyzing the case studies of CRM businesses with the implementation of VoIP, the research identifies the real impact of the technology on business operations.

The study also helps us to understand the various factors of technological implications influencing business growth that will definitely enhance the researcher’s understanding of the subject. Analysis from this study will improve our understanding of enterprise deployment of VoIP in CRM.

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Definition of Terms CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. (CRM Guide)

VOIP – (Voice over Internet Protocol). The technology used to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol. Such data network may be the Internet or a corporate Intranet. (Shift networks)

ADPCM - Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation a way of encoding sound files so that they take up less space.

Blocked Calls - What happens if the network doesn't have enough lines to allow calls to reach their destination? May also be used to refer to a call from an originating number that is blocked by the receiving telephone number.

CLI / CLID - Caller Line Identification otherwise known as Caller ID or Caller Display. The caller's telephone number is sent through to your CLI enabled phone, so it can tell you who is calling. CLI can work with VoIP systems, but some handsets seem to have difficulties.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Hard-phone - A physical VoIP telephone.

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IP address - A unique number used to identify a computer or other networked gadget. IP addresses are written as four numbers separated by periods, like this: 168.192.0.99 and can be used like phone numbers to make an IP -to-IP call - as long as both parties have unique IP addresses and software set up.

PBX - Private Branch Exchange, A private telephone exchange for one organization or business. Users can call one another through the PBX (usually using a short 3-4 number code) or use one of the external lines connected to the PBX to call the outside world.

PSTN - The Public Switched Telephone Network is the non-internet international phone network that carries voice and fax data. The network nowadays uses mostly fiber-optic cabling to carry most of its data, though the wire that actually enters your home or office is usually still just copper.

The big difference between PSTN and the Internet is that PSTN creates an exclusive circuit between you and the person you are calling that lasts as long as the call does. Internet data doesn't create an exclusive circuit: it sends the data in packets that will take whatever route is most efficient at the time, and while you are receiving voice call packets you can still receive packets of other data such as email or web pages and a service provider that can cope with NAT.

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Registrar / SIP Registrar - A Registrar is a SIP server responsible for keeping track of where a user is contactable, and providing that information to callers. A SIP phone must register its current location with a registrar server to allow calls to be made to it using a phone number or alias. Without a SIP Registrar, the caller would need to know the correct IP address and port of the telephone.

SIP - Session Initiation Protocol is a protocol that sets up, manages and then terminates a multimedia session. The session itself could be used for video, multimedia conferencing or gaming, or of course for an IP phone call. If the phone software says it supports SIP, what it means is that means it is able to use that protocol to talk to a server or router, which will do the job of connecting the call. Many devices support only one of these protocols, to ensure that all the devices that buyer and Service Provider use the same protocol

Soft-phone - A software program that allows your computer to act as a telephone - usually used with a microphone and headphones.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Overview of the Study

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The current research paper intends to observe the emerging trends and the technologies establishing the trends in the field of CRM. The study also collects data on the benefits and challenges involved in the convergence of VoIP with CRM. Then the paper examines the various types of architectural patterns involved in the basic structure of convergence. In addition, the paper analyzes the commercial aspects, such as the ROI and cost factors involved with the convergence. Finally, the paper analyzes the gathered facts and assumptions in the light of case studies dealing with VoIP and CRM convergence. In this way, the paper analyzes the ‘real impact of VoIP in the field of CRM’.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Chapter 2: Literature Review

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Relevance The Status of VOIP in the Technology Industry

John Q. Walker and Jeffrey T. Hicks, in their paper “VoIP Implementation and Management”, quote Geoffrey A. Moore’s statement that ‘the adaptation of new technology goes through a predictable process’. According to Moore there is an initial period where pioneers tend to ignore ROI because they want to deploy the technology – which gives them a real or perceived technological advantage. (John Q. Walker and Jeffrey T. Hicks., Pg-2)

Walker and Hicks also state that VoIP appears to have “crossed the chasm,” moving past the Early Adopter phase and into the Early Majority phase.

The above authors claim that, "Early Majority users are more cautious about expanding capital on still-evolving technologies. They therefore prefer to wait until a technological innovation has a positive track record. In the Early Majority phase of a new technology, it is difficult to ignore ROI and important to build a business case before making a purchase. The benefits of VoIP can be measured in different ways. Bottom line cost savings are fairly easy to quantify. Other VoIP benefits, such as productivity improvements, are more difficult to quantify in terms of ROI. These types of benefits sometimes require a leap of faith or intuition about potential results". (VoIP Implementation and Management)

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Chris Roberts, in his paper on Voice over IP, explains the shift in the conventional telephonic system in the following way: "Many of the analogue PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and PABX (Private Automated Branch Exchange) installations are nearing the end of their economic life with many manufacturers discontinuing product lines in favor of IP (Internet Protocol) telephony enabled replacements. The chances are, however, your data network is amongst the estimated 85% of networks in use today that are not ready to support IP telephony without modification2. With an industry-wide move to voice and data convergence, VoIP is likely to feature prominently in organization’s IT strategic planning and investments over the next 5 to 10 years." (ccip)

According to Johanne Torres, "Analysts believe that with the margins on all types of voice calling continuing to decline, telecommunications hardware and software vendors will unlikely see the service providers substantially increase their CAPEX budgets. The study, titled North American Telecom, International Telecom, and VoIP: A Global Market Perspective 2005-2011, predicts an international VoIP revenue of $84 billion this year, representing about 28 percent of international voice traffic revenue. Additionally, by 2011, VoIP bypass of international voice traffic is expected to hit $96 billion, or just over 22 percent of international voice traffic."

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Thus it is shown that VoIP implementation has become a significant part of the IT strategic planning process than a simple more necessity particularly with up-and-coming organizations. Scenario of CRM Gary Barnett, CEO of Aspect Communications, in addressing the 'Internet Telephony Miami Conference in February 2005' states, "VoIP would play an instrumental role in turning contact centers into multi-faceted Interaction Management Centers within the next four years, claiming that VoIP and SIP would simplify and enable new applications and contact center functionality as the contact center became increasingly integral to the enterprise" (VOIP in business).

Many contact center analysts now believe that VoIP is taking off in the contact center, stressing that the value-added benefits of VoIP are too numerous to ignore.

Camille Mendler, Research Director of Yankee Group Europe, believes that the usage of VOIP is reaching a tipping point.

NextiraOne has a stronghold in contact center deployment in Europe, and the IP Communications is enabling organizations to improve agent productivity and be more flexible in meeting customer demands. In particular, it points to the building of virtual contact centers. The use of sophisticated load-balancing techniques

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can lead to a potentially huge savings on a company’s telephone charges, compared with traditional call forwarding models, which result in fewer agents needing to be roistered for duty at any one time. This in turn allows those who are working to be busier and more productive.

Many experts also stress the impact that rapid advancements in IP communications will have in bringing about the integration of enterprise apps, consolidation in administration and analytics, and enhanced productivity amongst global and remote workforces. As customer expectations for flexible

multi-channel communications rise, IP communications is now seen as the best way to deliver the necessary high quality services, both rapidly and cost-effectively. Convergence of VoIP to CRM Tom Burkardt, chairman and CEO of BlueNote Networks, in his article “CRM Platforms Need a Voice for Collaboration”, emphasizes the need for VoIP in CRM.

Citing the evolutionary stages of CRM, Burkardt mentions 4 stages where CRM organizations deal with their customer-centric issues, viz: ‘Consolidation, Communication, Coordination, and Collaboration’.

According to Burkardt, “Consolidation is a stage, as initial implementations, CRM platforms provided a way for companies to consolidate their customer and supply

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chain processes and data”. He also points that the initial implementations were hampered by their complexity and the proprietary nature of their programming languages. Also, they suffered many security issues in giving customers access to the data.

At second stage, CRM platforms used browser-based Web interfaces as a way to simplify the way end-users accessed CRM data. To establish communication with the customer, their initial efforts relied on the integration of Web technologies. The Web integration made it easier to "communicate" the information to a more diverse internal and external user community - more simply, more quickly, and more effectively.

“An easy-to-use user interface and hosted solutions, however, are just the beginning. Another Web innovation -- Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) based on Web Services (WS) standards -- is set to reshape CRM platforms again. According to AMR Research, 20 percent of large enterprises have already integrated SOAs into their business systems with another 33 percent planning to implement in the next 12 months.”

In the fourth stage, Burkardt mentions the collaboration between SOA and SIP. They both leverage Internet and Web-based standards at their core; are highly scalable and location independent; integrate with legacy applications and architectures; combine smaller application resources to provide more

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comprehensive business applications; and offer resource reuse by developers, users, and applications.

Explaining the need for Voice for CRM, Burkardt illustrates that in a "collaborative CRM" world, the manufacturer's sales manager would not only be able to view inventory and manufacturing schedules in real time, but the manager would also be able to initiate a voice or video call from the CRM application to manufacturing immediately.

Adding Voice to CRM, according to Burkardt, “offers increased productivity, fast response to business needs, and a way to collaborate in real time using any or all corporate application and networking resources. When considering all of these benefits, bringing SOA and SIP to your CRM infrastructure looks like a winner.” A Warning Before Convergence In contrast to the positive statements mentioned above, George Goodall, research analyst at the Info-Tech Research Group says, "Voice over IP (VoIP) can be very successful in the enterprise," and "On the other hand, it can also be a massive failure." The key, Goodall says, is to step very carefully and make sure that everything is in order before trashing that old private branch exchange (PBX) and going to IP. He adds, "Most of the problems with VoIP implementation can be caught before you implement it. You can save a lot of trouble if you proceed carefully."

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These statements from Goodall are a warning to organizations to be cautious before implementing VoIP in their organizations.

Hence the current study tries to analyze the various factors involved in VoIP implementation in the context of the CRM industry in the following sections. The study will closely examine the architecture, benefits, and risks involved in the implementation.

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Background of Convergence and Facts VoIP enables organizations or Contact centers to connect with small groups of people to offer better CRM services. Customers who call the contact center can get the information about the local bank or about their account from Customer Service Centers. For this, highly secure communication lines are necessary. VoIP enables the CRM to maintain effective customer response management through the seamless contacting and routing of each contact. VoIP offers such facility to the CRM operations through the following architecture.

Technology trends in CRM Predictive dialer technologies were the feasible utilities for CRM in the year 1980. These were highly utilized by outsourced teleservice companies and in-house telemarketing centers. The primary use of predictive dialers was for outbound telemarketing for such applications as collections, lead generation and sales support, etc.

Earlier to this technology, companies like Rockwell, Aspect, Teknekron Infoswitch, etc. formulated Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) technology during 1970s and early 1980s. This ACD technology made a contribution to the development of inbound telemarketing, and predictive dialers.

The current era of the modern technologies started from 1990s and includes the development of the following:

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Ø CRM technology; Ø Workforce management; Ø Monitoring; Ø IP contact center technologies; Ø Speech technology; Ø Outsourcing technologies; Ø Off-shoring technologies (VoIP); Ø Data security; Ø Performance management and optimization; Ø E-learning; Ø Home agent technologies; and Ø Last, but not least, workforce optimization.

Though the above technologies contribute a major growth, the advent of VoIP gave a good turn to the telecom industry with high cost savings and efficiency.

Industry Outlook for VOIP:

The year 2004 can be said as the year of VoIP. During this period, new items have been added to its menu as the technology becomes a platform for new feature development that has revolutionized the telephony.

There are two factors that aggravate the growth. One is the service providers' rollouts of VoIP services to home and business users.

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The other factor in support of VoIP's readiness for mass market deployment is that OEMs delivered VoIP equipment to the enterprise with the quality, reliability and user-friendly features that businesses wanted. This resulted in switching of large customers to VoIP.

As the key investments are made in critical requirements such as billing, tracking minutes and customer service, VoIP began its rapid ascent as the dominant telecommunications technology of the twenty first century.

According to Infonetics Research, VoIP service revenue nearly doubled in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America from 2004 to 2005. The number of worldwide VoIP subscribers is expected to double from 2005 to 2006, where it will top 47 million, and the market is expected to prosper for at least the next 5 years. (Marin Perez)

“The study, titled North American Telecom, International Telecom, and VoIP: A Global Market Perspective 2005-2011, predicts an international VoIP revenue of $84 billion this year, representing about 28 percent of international voice traffic revenue. Additionally, by 2011, VoIP bypass of international voice traffic is expected to hit $96 billion, or just over 22 percent of international voice traffic. Analysts believe that with the margins on all types of voice calling continuing to decline, telecommunications hardware and software vendors will unlikely see the service providers substantially increase their CAPEX budgets.” (Johanne Torres)

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Technology trends in the evolution of VoIP

But VoIP is the only serious replacement/upgrade phone system being considered today in the enterprise. Till recently, many decision makers delayed merging their voice and data networks into a single infrastructure supporting voice and IP communications on the desktop. But now, VoIP integration is driving major changes in the enterprise by delivering information more efficiently than a dual-network approach. Enterprises of all sizes can now flexibly host all of their IP-based solutions in the corporate office and extend these services across IP to branch offices, saving costs and improving employee productivity across the board.

A four phase evolutionary trend of VoIP solutions are as follows:

PBX-based gateways PBX equipment manufacturers have contributed to the early phases of the VoIP market. The PBX based approach can integrate VoIP functionality with the existing corporate voice communications platform. The vendors also contribute reliable software and hardware to the voice market. As these vendors have minimal experience in IP-centric data networking, connectionless networks and non-determinate protocols, the issues of voice signal quality in the IP world becomes a problem with the PBX-based approach.

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Though the market position for PBX-based gateways is strong among telecom buyers and distribution channels, it is extremely weak on the data

communications side. So the PBX vendors could not maintain a long standing dominance in the communication world.

Lack of technology standards is the one major hindrance to the adoption of PBXVoIP. CRM centers, which are to be standardized according to the Industrial practices are supposed to prove themselves with quality norms. In such an instance PBX-VoIP solution may not be the best solution for the desired transparency.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Router-based gateways

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Manufacturers of routers and other data networking hardware are also a presence in the VoIP market. Here data communications managers and networking equipment resellers play a vital role with good stand in IP technology. The IP quality-of-service (QoS) techniques clear the voice quality problems.

The router-based VoIP approach could not offer the perfect voice technology and call management, thus it can hamper the smooth functionalities of CRM. And the failure to raise the reliability standards disqualifies them from serving the corporate voice infrastructure.

The end-to-end solutions that serve the entire enterprise’s operations also could not make them familiar, as most of the technology implementations would go on trial and error basis and plug-in modules, and would not dare to go for such type of VoIP plan.

PC-based gateways These are the stand-alone gateways offered by small vendors on the market. These products offer a router- and PBX-independent solution. These vendors exhibit a greater ability to rapidly adopt and define the industry standards. As these are based on a PC platform, reliability is a big question here. Also these solutions are expensive, as they themselves do not hold manufacturing of equipment.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Intelligent, multi-path switching gateways

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The multi-path switch implementations have the solutions for the major problems of the voice market voice quality, network reliability, and vendor independence.

The Telecommunications Challenge for CRM implementation The economics of investing in a business phone system that is feature-rich and can scale to its potential growth precludes young companies from purchasing these powerful tools.

Limited funds and a dynamic, often dispersed, business environment make the options going forward an intermediary step until the company grows large enough to consider a premise-based PBX.

With Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, the customer contact centers now have a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative to the traditional business phone system that facilitates the geographic independence to work from homes, a powerful business feature set along with local and long distance for a fraction of the cost of both the low-feature multi-line phones or the featurerich PBX.

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Shortfalls of Traditional Phone Services for CRM applications Traditional telephone networks were designed solely to carry low-fidelity audio signals with a high level of reliability. Though these networks are reliable for voice communication, the business operations are not comfortable with them because of the following reasons:


They are expensive to build – each phone must be individually connected to the central office switch, which is usually several miles away from the subscriber's location



Resource Utilization: Use dedicated circuits for each call, which require fixed connection and operator taxation throughout the call’s duration, whether or not voice is actually being transmitted



Scalability: the traditional phone systems don’t posses the capacity to operate on large scale to address potential growth



Poor data transmission: Transmits data at very low rates and resolutions, making them poorly suited for delivering integrated Internet communications, entertainment-quality video or other rich multimedia content



Lethargic: these systems cannot be leveraged to provide new or differentiated services or functions, such as a geographic independency.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Specific Business advantages of VoIP applications

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The VoIP technology comes with the following software components in general, and can be configured individually depending on the need of client’s contact center.

Unified Messaging/Converged Communications: Unified messaging software is one of the core components VoIP systems, which enables users to check e-mail, voicemails and faxes from their e-mail inboxes, and listen to their e-mails and faxes from their phones.

The people who are away from their regular e-mail boxes can call in and have their e-mails automatically read to them. Also the Voice messages can be converted into e-mail messages to make them available to read on mobile or computer. This capability makes all messages always available, thus improving responsiveness and employee productivity.

Call Identification and Routing This software identifies priority phone numbers and forwards those calls to a device of the user's choice such as a cell phone or pager.

A call from a specific customer can be routed to the receiver’s cell phone, while all other calls can be diverted to voicemail, or to another colleague. VoIP system enables the users to make decisions about their routing, thus increasing

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productivity by allowing them to prioritize important calls and circumvent less important ones.

Call Recording and Monitoring Call recording and Monitoring features can be configured automatically by the system admin with VoIP during network set up without the assistance of external tapes and recorders, unlike PBX systems.

This results in a cost efficiency as call recording with VoIP is doesn’t require the purchase of additional hardware. The recording software with built in hardware in PC provides the advantage of VoIP system.

IP Paging IP paging applications allows the VoIP owners to perform simultaneous overhead voice paging to multiple locations within a facility, branch office buildings or remote locations using the Internet or intranet. This lets them communicate company-wide emergency alerts or general announcements very efficiently.

This feature also enables the users to send text messages of voice announcements. This can be useful to school administrators who want to send announcements to teachers without disturbing the students.

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This text-messaging feature can also alert call center employees about the number of customers in the call queue. This feature also results in CRM by informing customers about queue lengths and time of their service etc.,

Date Tracking and Reporting VoIP technology enables companies to create new phone numbers and analyze the usage of those numbers easily. The resulting reports contain valuable information to strategize production, marketing and customer service operations. For example, the customer's marketing department might create a new phone number to support an ad campaign, and then use the software to track the phone responses and evaluate the campaign's effectiveness. By accessing the same data the HR department of the same company can identify the trends in call volume and duration and can schedule the staff to meet the call demand.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Reasons for a Contact center to move to VoIP: The rationale for moving to VoIP usually includes: Ø Cost savings Ø Improved efficiency and productivity Ø Simplification and consolidation and Ø Improved capability

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Cost Savings: The cost savings in Contact centers with the deployment of VoIP mainly result from reduced toll call costs. While this may be an operational cost saving, some considerable capital expenditure may be required to achieve this. But with the new network equipment, VoIP implementation makes less installation cost impact in the beginning of transition. The increased turnover with the resulting direct cost savings is a big advantage to CRM with VoIP.

Improved Efficiency and Productivity: Today’s VoIP systems come with a variety of productivity tools such as integrated email, voicemail, fax and messaging. Other features may include called party “presence”, and a “follow-me/find-me” capability. By integrating with such features, CRM systems can offer better

customer service.

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Simplification and Consolidation: VoIP is an opportunity to consolidate data and voice communication in CRM implementations. The convergence of VoIP with CRM can reduce equipment requirements, simplify network management and lead to application convergence. Complexity can be reduced with properly planned networks, flexibility to add, change or remove nodes. The operational efficiencies like desktop-to-desktop video conferencing helps in improving communication and improve internal customer relationship.

Improved Capability: The separate communications paths used for voice and data in a TDM world are combined into a consolidated data infrastructure in the VoIP architecture. Also VoIP can deliver numerous features including advanced call routing, computer integration, unified messaging, integrated information services, toll call bypass and encryption. These can only be possible with the union of telephony with facsimile, video conferencing, electronic white boarding, multimedia and other multi platform services. The integration of service center calls with web services and shared screens can provide faster query resolution times, aiding Customer Relationship Management. The features like voice messages delivered to multiple mailboxes over the Internet, voice-annotated documents and “follow-me” features where a person is always contactable at a single telephone number or extension number, irrespective of physical location are the tremendous tools to improve CRM.

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And in a multi-site environment, an IP-enabled architecture simplifies inter-site connectivity. In such instances the headquarters location equipment provides all of the routing intelligence, and directs inbound calls to the appropriate location over the WAN.

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Considerations for the VoIP implementation to CRM To implement the VoIP for CRM, the first step is to have a vital plan in hand in the following areas:

Business planning A critical business plan for the VoIP implementation will help in finding out the Break Even time and ROR issues. Not only that but he business case will also put forth the segmentation and targeting operations well in advance. The basic contents of the business plan to look for contact center VoIP implementation are as follows: Ø The type of industry sector to outline the related features of contact center, and henceforth the call communication system features. Ø A clear cut definition of mode of operation of contact center between volume-oriented and value-oriented Ø Classification and determination of target customers of contact center internal or external customers Ø Definition of activities and nature of contact center weather it is only for customer support or also to help generate additional sales and revenue Ø Consideration of different service provision media like - voice, e-mail and web

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The business goals will help the organizations to choose the options of VoIP that they want. TDM-based users need few options; IP-based contact centers use rich functionalities. A TDM deployment requires separate administration of each site, imposing a greater financial and personnel burden.

Whereas, an IP-based system lets a single contact center manage all sites with greater security, scalability and adaptability. IP based contact a center diffuses more to customers, channel agents through data and voice communications and by using multimedia options. These features help the contact centers to communicate the promotional strategies, to resolve account queries and to up sell or cross sell the products and services. Customer buying experiences can be recorded and tracked for the further usage. This data in turn can also be converted into the MIS reports and metrics for the contact center to enhance the productivity of the call centers. These varied business requirements can be incorporated into the business plan at the beginning to smooth the implementation.

Implementation planning The business plan must also avoid hindrances and functional dropouts. This execution plan helps the contact center to meet its objectives in the areas of functionality, cost, and features.

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Some considerations to prepare the implementation plan are as follows: Ø What's the best design for the network? Ø How will it interface with other network components, such as voice mail or an existing customer relationship management system? Ø Will the system be centralized or decentralized across many sites? Ø Will customer service include a Web-based component, or only voice? Ø How will the system be managed? Ø How will be the system’s reaction for the additional users, locations, or features in the future?

Here the types of data that the system needs to capture and maintain should also be configured to manage an effective representation of information and reduction of cost in database management.

Deployment and support As like every other IT projects, VoIP deployment plan should be planned and documented for ongoing support and maintenance of the implementation. For VoIP deployment, the company has to consider the following factors to choose between making its own or to outsource the services: Ø How large and complex is the deployment? Ø Does the deployment plan supports the onsite staff and equipment with the appropriate knowledge?

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Ø Can the current staff cover the deployment, or is additional support warranted?

The deployment outsourcing can be made through the service vendors who make quality deployments through certified standards and expertise. These vendors can offer the customizable and packed solutions for varied and affordable features exactly suitable for the VoIP deployment. Thus a carefully drawn deployment along with these vendors can result in cost effective and quick implementation. The early involvement of such vendors in the deployment plan will help the companies to define and prioritize their requirements, to mix and match the available features.

Contact centers can benefit most from VoIP when they engage in detailed business planning, thorough implementation planning, and knowledgeable deployment and support.

The Technological Architecture required for VoIP for CRM The Center for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CCIP), illustrates the technology architecture of VoIP as given under: The communication of VoIP calls exists in three ways: 1. PC-to-PC 2. PC to Phone or Phone to PC and 3. Phone to Phone

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Juniper networks states that all the above must perform the same functions as the PSTN network, which are, 1. Signaling 2. Database services 3. Bearer Control and 4. CODEC operations

Signaling Signaling is the means by which devices communicate, initiate, manage, and terminate functions to complete a call. In a VoIP network, signaling is achieved through the exchange of IP messages compared with a PSTN network where a PABX, PBX or a switch manages call connection and routing.

Database Services “In a PSTN, endpoints are identified through the allocation of a ‘phone number. In a VoIP network and IP address is the primary means of identification, although an endpoint may also be allocated a ‘phone number. A call control database records and manages endpoint identifiers and mappings. It will also record transactions for billing, audit, operational and security management.” (Chris Roberts)

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Bearer Control

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In simple terms, this is the call connect and call disconnect management.

CODEC Operations “CODECs (coder/decoders) provide the means to convert analogue voice signals to digital signals and reverse the process on delivery. CODECs are also known as VOCODERs or voice coder/decoders.

On conversion from analogue to digital, a data stream is packetised and transported across the network. The receiving endpoint will not only have to reassemble the packets into the correct sequence, but also decode the contents. Clearly commonality of standards and CODECs is essential if the communication is to be intelligible.

Any detected signaling tones are routed around the CODEC that can modify the tones to the point it is not recognized by the device being signaled”, (Chris Roberts).

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Major Components of VOIP:

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The major components of a VoIP network are as follows as depicted by CCIP: 1. Call processing server; 2. User devices; 3. Media/VoIP gateways; and 4. IP Network. The following figure illustrates the simple network of VoIP with the above components:

Figure 1 - Simple VoIP System Source: http://www.ccip.govt.nz/ccip-publications

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 1. Call Processing Server

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“A call processing server, also known as an IP/PBX manages all VoIP connections. These can be deployed in various configurations from a single server through to a server farm. Fault tolerance, redundancy, reliability, load, flexibility and traffic growth will factor in the choice of configuration. These deployments are based on standard hardware running specialist software applications. Call processing servers are also available on router platforms or as an appliance.

To establish a VoIP communication, control traffic establishes and manages a call while the voice traffic is carried as a VoIP payload or voice stream in a peerto-peer fashion in an RTP stream. Exceptions to this are some conferencing functionality, music-on-hold and routed voice traffic to another call server.”

Figure 2 - Call Processing Server Source: http://www.ccip.govt.nz/ccip-publications

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 2. User Devices

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“User devices may be discrete devices, sometimes known as ‘hard phones’ or software based or ‘soft phones’. Such devices include VoIP phones, PCs and other desktop or mobile VoIP devices such as laptop computers.”

3. Media/VoIP Gateways “Sometimes also known as gatekeepers, which were traditionally used for, call admission and control and bandwidth management. With technology

convergence, the distinction between this function and traditional gateways has fallen away and the functionality now exists within traditional gateways.

The main function of a media gateway is to create VoIP packets from analogue voice signals using CODECs.

Other features such as compression, echo-cancellation, and silence suppression and traffic management are often incorporated into gateway functionality.
• •

Media gateways can fulfill a number of functions: Trunk gateways that form the interface between a telephone and VoIP network, typically managing multiple digital circuits;



Residential gateways that provide an analogue interface to a VoIP network. Examples include cable modems, xDSL devices and broadband wireless devices;

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Access media gateways provide an analogue or digital PBX interface to a VoIP network. Examples include small-scale (enterprise) VoIP gateways;



Business media gateways that provide digital PBX interface or an integrated soft PBX interface to a VoIP network;



Network access servers that connect a modem to a telephone circuit and provide data access to the Internet.”

Figure 3 - VoIP Gateway Functions Source: http://www.ccip.govt.nz/ccip-publications

The above figure illustrates the functional components of gateways using the H.323 standard 33.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 4. IP Network

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“The IP network connects the, often distributed, elements of a VoIP network. As VoIP traffic is sensitive to delay, Quality of Service must be maintained. This is discussed below. The IP network prioritises VoIP traffic through Class of Service (CoS) identifiers to ensure VoIP traffic is not affected by other network traffic.”

QUALITY OF SERVICE “Data networks are designed to transport data efficiently but can be susceptible to jitter, delay, packet loss, data errors, bandwidth fluctuations and “dropped” connections. While IP was designed to manage these conditions, latency and jitter can have an unacceptably detrimental effect on voice and video over IP.

The reliability of today’s PSTN allows fast call setup times, a robust feature set, and a sophisticated billing and settlement system. This has created expectations of QoS for VoIP calls, which should be at least as easy and as good as PBX or PSTN calls (sometimes referred to as “toll quality” or “feature parity”). In some cases, the fact that VoIP is perceived as an application of technology, compared with a simple telephone, creates expectations of higher capability. VoIP QoS requires careful network management, monitoring, fault resolution, call management and security management.”

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www.MA-Dissertations.com QoS covers the following aspects:
• • • •

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Voice quality; Network performance; Call control (packet loss and voice processing); and Interoperability.

VOIP STANDARDS The VoIP standards summarized by Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CCIP) are as under: “The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) are the two major international organizations recommending standards for VoIP. The ITU recommends H.323 and the IETF recommends the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). While there is some overlap of functionality there are differences in approach and terminology. In addition, some vendors are providing proprietary, product dependent implementations. Both protocols can be extended to manage new capabilities. The argument has been advanced that H.323 is more stable because of its maturity but SIP provides better support for some functionality and is easier to implement. Fortunately the ITU and the IETF are now co-operating in developing standards in this area.” (CCIP)

H.323 “Currently in version 2, H.323 is a standard recommended by the

Telecommunication Sector of the ITU. It defines real-time

multimedia

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communications and conferencing over packet-based networks that do not provide a guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) such as the LAN and the Internet. It is an “umbrella standard” belonging to the H.32x class of standards recommended by the ITU for videoconferencing applications:

These were amongst the earliest standards to classify and provide solutions to VoIP. 1. H.310 for conferencing over Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN); 2. H.320 for conferencing over Narrowband ISDN; 3. H.321 for conferencing over ATM; 4. H.322 for conferencing over LANs with guaranteed QoS; 5. H.324 for conferencing over Public Switched Telephone Networks.

Earlier versions of H.323 had a large overhead in control signaling, particularly when establishing a session. This has presented some scalability limitations, especially when a large number of simultaneous sessions are presented. Subsequent versions have focused on addressing these issues.” (CCIP)

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Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) “As the Internet developed, the IETF produced a large number of standards and Protocols through the Request for Comment (RFC) process. In the VoIP area, some were based on ideas in the H.323 standard and developed through the RFC process.

SIP is a protocol to invite an individual user to participate in a point-to-point or unicast session and part of the IETF’s multimedia data and control protocol framework. It manages the setup and orderly termination of sessions which may include telephone calls, videoconferencing and multimedia distribution. Sip is text-based and designed to be simple, efficient and extensible. It has inherited some design characteristics from the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).” (CCIP)

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Other Standards “Other relevant standards and recommendations include: 1. H.225 defines the lowest layer that formats the transmitted video, audio, data, and control streams for output to the network, and retrieves the corresponding streams from the network; 2. H.235 specifies the security requirements for H.323 communications. Four security services are provided: authentication, integrity, privacy, and nonrepudiation; 3. H.245 specifies messages for opening and closing channels for media streams and other commands, requests and indications; 4. H.248, also known as Megaco (MEdia GAteway COntrol), is a current draft standard and a co-operative proposal from IETF and ITU. Also described in RFC 5. 3015. It addresses the same requirements and has many similarities to MGCP; 6. H.261. If video capabilities are provided, it must adhere to the H.261 protocol with QCIF as its mode; 7. H.263 specifies the CODEC for video over the PSTN; 8. Various audio CODECs are specified under G.711, G.722 G.723,G.723.1, G.726, G.729 and G.729.a; 9. T120 a protocol for data and conference control. Over 120 leading computer, telecommunication and technology organizations have indicated their intent to support and implement H.323 in their products and

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services. This wide-ranging support establishes H.323 as the de facto standard for audio and video conferencing over the Internet.” (CCIP) VoIP Protocols “There are a number of other protocols that may be used in VoIP applications. Although these protocols will generally interoperate with H.323 standards, some may not. Other protocols include:

1. Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). A development of SGCP and IPDC protocols.

2. IP Device Control (IPDC). A group of protocols for controlling hardware devices such as control gateway devices at the boundary between the circuit- switched telephone network and the Internet. Examples of such devices include network access servers and voice-over-IP gateways.

3. Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP). Described in IETF RFC 1889, this is a real-time, end-to-end protocol, utilizing existing transport layers for data that has real-time properties.

4. RTP Control Protocol (RTCP). Described in IETF RFC 1889, a protocol to monitor QoS and carry information on the participants in a session. It also provides feedback on total performance and quality so allow modification to be made.

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5. Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). Described in IETF RFC 22502209. This is a general purpose signaling protocol allowing network resources to be reserved for a connections data stream, based on receiver-controlled requests. There may be scalability issues in using this protocol due to its focus and management of individual application traffic flows.

6. Simple Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP). SGCP is a simple "remote control" protocol that the call agent uses to program gateways according to instructions received through signaling protocols such as H.323 or SIP. Now superseded by MGCP, an IETF work in progress.

7. Session Announcement Protocol (SAP). Protocol used by multicast session managers to distribute a multicast session description to a large group

8. Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP). Interface management to a server providing real-time data

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9. Session Description Protocol (SDP). Describes the session for other protocols including SAP, SIP and RTSP. In common with many communication and data systems, the protocols used in VoIP generally follow a layered hierarchy, similar to the Open Systems Interconnect theoretical model developed by the International Organization for Standards (OSI). There are, however, exceptions to this, for example IP over ATM.” (CCIP)

Figure 4 - VoIP Protocol Structure Source: http://www.ccip.govt.nz/ccip-publications

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The following table provides an overview of the principal VoIP protocols, as described in a Cisco white paper:

Figure 5 - VoIP Protocols Source: http://www.ccip.govt.nz/ccip-publications

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www.MA-Dissertations.com The Myths of VoIP deployments

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Jeff Fried used the following commonly identified myths, while analyzing the pitfalls that interfere with the successful implementation of the project:

1. VoIP is just another data application:

Generally organizations often

underestimate the complexity of VoIP deployment. Consistent delivery of highquality user experience is a challenging task which is overlooked very often.

2. Voice quality is not an issue: even after the surplus availability of bandwidth voice quality is another area that needs concentration. This requires careful configuration of the system, than just flipping a switch or setting the knobs on the network correctly. The user's perception of voice quality depends on a range of factors, including a network that can be complicated to engineer and difficult to troubleshoot, and which requires regular maintenance.

3. All VoIP phones are created equal: “With IP telephony, calls are not limited to traditional telephone devices; users can take advantage of soft phones, personal digital assistants and wireless devices, as well as traditional phones. The characteristics of the phone and the application matter as much as the health of the network--a cheap phone on a clean network can sound worse than a highquality phone on a poor network. Successful VoIP deployments require a systems view that takes infrastructure, applications and instruments into account." (Communications News)

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Implementation issues with VOIP

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CCIP assumes that implementation of VoIP is more problematic though it is justifiable for financial, operational or strategic reasons. Hence CCIP proposes certain aspects that are to be accommodated: Ø Functionality; which may include interoperability, reliability, availability and accessibility Ø Fault tolerance and management Ø Accounting and call billing Ø Configuration management Ø Addressing and directory management Ø Access control, authentication and encryption Ø Security Ø Legal considerations and Ø Network deployment

Functionality “VoIP offers an effective communication which overcomes the geographical locations and the media they connected with each other like POTS, VoIP ‘phone, wireless phone, PC, facsimile etc., VoIP also offers the similar telephony services in terms of reliability, interoperability, availability, accessibility, QoS, management and security.

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Along with multimedia and multi service applications the features like text-tospeech/speech-to-text and voice response systems enhance the functionality of CRM applications.” (CCIP)

Fault Tolerance and Management “Fault Tolerance became a mandatory specification for every current day network system. Fault tolerance is a function of the design, systems architecture, interoperability and quality of the system devices and software. To offer such a Fault tolerance system, with VoIP, the legacy networks should be reengineered to provide the QoS and robustness expected in a VoIP network. Swift identification and resolution of failures, faults and other problems is a fundamental network management task. “(CCIP)

Accounting and Call Billing “VoIP helps in maintaining CRM accounting and Call Billing particulars. VoIP tracks the network traffic and call management which in turn helps the CRM business owners to allocate and recover costs where appropriate. The VoIP should also help in maintaining call metrics by giving a complete record of call duration, number dialed, source and destination IP address, packets sent and received etc., Users should receive a consolidated billing for network usage.” (CCIP)

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“The VoIP configuration should be flexible enough to any changes in live-system implementation in the areas like authorization, record keeping, backup and management of configuration changes. The live system changes may include protocol changes, compression algorithm modification or change, dialing plans, access control, audit, recovery, fault management, port reassignment and so on.” (CCIP)

Addressing and Directory Management “ The configuration changes like IP address reassignment, dynamic directory updates, changes in Telephone numbers should be made transparent to the users and are supposed to maintain regularly.” (CCIP)

Access Control, Authentication and Encryption “Access to VoIP networks should be at least as carefully managed as access to data networks. VoIP also offers authentication and encryption capabilities that can enhance access control and call security.” (CCIP)

Security “VoIP adds a level of complexity to network operations and the network must be designed with particular security to resist the new vulnerabilities that the new implementation may bring.” (CCIP)

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Legal Considerations

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“There are a number of legal and contractual considerations that may impact the decision to implement a VoIP network. These may include: Ø Caller ID and Local Number Portability (LNP); Ø Calling line identification restrictions; Ø Malicious call identification; Ø Legal interception; Ø Carrier selection; and Ø Emergency services (911 calls).” (CCIP) Deploying a VoIP Network “Once the implementation of a VoIP network has been agreed, there are a number actions required. While not an exhaustive list, these include: Ø Systems and network architecture design; Ø Selection and procurement of core infrastructure devices and cabling; Ø Interfaces to the PSTN; Ø Determination of routing plans and an internal number convention; Ø System resilience including automatic recovery calls flows and calls rerouting rules; Ø Single point of failure identification; Ø Disaster recovery planning and equipment acquisition; Ø Billing strategies and links to billing and accounting systems; Ø Change management; and Ø Technical and user training.” (CCIP)

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Factors influencing VoIP growth in CRM

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Joseph McFadden’s “The Impact of VoIP on the Customer Service Experience“ explains the following reasons as very compelling to adopt VoIP based systems to the companies who offer customer care services. 1. Simplified CRM integration: With an IP customer service center on single-network architecture, CTI is built in, reducing deployment time from weeks or months to hours. This includes the integrations of CRM applications like Microsoft, Oracle, People Soft, SAP, Siebel, etc. 2. VoIP will save money: It can reduce labor and telephony costs, and eliminate costly CTI deployments. Also the Carriers drive to reduce costs while providing more features to satisfy the customer’s desire to access different modes through single network without capital Investments 3. Phone, email, and Web contacts on a single platform: A single platform can reduce the cost of acquisition and integration, but more importunately, it improves the customer experience. Self-service Web applications, deferred services like email, and immediate services over the phone are now seamless to the customer. 4. Route contacts to the best agent anywhere on the corporate network: The latest IP customer service center systems identify specific customer needs and match them to agent skill sets. 5. Continue to leverage legacy investments: Ultimately every contact center will go to a single-network, IP-based system. The right migration

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plan will maximize the investment in legacy automatic call distribution (ACD) systems while providing a quick transition to IP.

Along with the above, another growing factor is the Improved quality and reliability of broadband networks that enable the VoIP calls to transfer on standard broadband lines and increased bandwidth capacity at low cost.

Risks of VoIP

Voice quality and availability Quality loss in Voice Quality: The problems of the enterprise IP network and Wide area network (WAN) connections are results in impairments that can threaten the continuity in the voice quality. The daily business operations of CRM applications can face customer calls at any moment of the day and a break in voice service is entirely unacceptable.

Application contention Interaction of voice and data applications: The increased traffic due to the

interaction different application may result in breaks or delays in voice, jeopardizing voice quality. By the same token, those same applications may be adversely affected by the growing presence of prioritized VoIP traffic on the network. CRM organizations have to protect voice and data applications from each other as they contend for the same limited infrastructure resources.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com MAC-related risks

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Moves, adds and changes (MACs) on the network: As organizations add locations, shift users, and make other modifications to the structure of the network and its traffic patterns, end-to-end voice service levels may be affected due to the poor configuration of new net work system. For example, may not be capable of supporting the additional VoIP traffic that will result when staffing levels at that office grow. CRM organizations must take these factors into consideration as the number and distribution of end-users changes over time.

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Challenges involved in the VoIP implementation of CRM

Reliability:

VoIP depends on wall power. Traditional phone lines do not require power. Even if the power goes out, the phone lines still work. But with VoIP, no power means no phone. Creating a stable power source is an essential for a VoIP system.

Securing the Line The potential familiar threats in the VoIP implementation include eavesdropping and malicious replay, toll fraud, service theft, voice Spam (SPIT), and identity theft. These are the technological and implementation issues. Where as the usage of certain software and hardware does also pose some problems like security problems with Soft phone usage. Some new technologies come with encryption and authentication deficiencies allowing the hackers to intrude into the system. The wireless technology networks are much more accessible to remote attackers.

Security issues’ Impact on Quality of Service Voice communications over the Net are not as seamless as they are over traditional phone lines. The security issues outlined above raises need for quality service with voice and video communication on the same network. These will add Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In order to send voice, the information has to be separated into packets just like data. Packets are chunks of information

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broken up into the most efficient size for routing. From there, the packets need to be sent and put back together. The data transmission issues like packet loss, jitter, and echo results in QoS impairments. The implementation of security measures can, itself, cause a marked deterioration in QoS.

Network security needs the implementation of vulnerability detecting systems such as firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Virtual Private Networks (VPN), authentication services, anti-virus software, and gateways. Since VoIP is highly sensitive to delay, packet loss, and jitter; many of these data security measures are inadequate and must be specialized for VoIP. For example, current firewall/NAT devices can delay or block call setups, encryption engines can introduce additional jitter, and inline IDS/IPS devices can add delay to inspected packets.

Interoperability Concerns Another issue that requires careful review is interoperability among the components and devices used by different systems and departments of the large organization. Interoperability considerations not only involve the ability to interoperate with equipment on the commercial side, but on the compliance of security protocols of the adopted network as well.

The interoperability depends on factors like the type of solution the contact center is deploying and the level of interoperability promised by the vendor. This

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again depends on the technical expertise of the people involved in the deployment and maintenance of the VoIP system. If the system admin resources are well acquainted with the complete knowledge, there will be more interoperability.

Providing 911 Emergency Services (E911) Emergency 911 calls also pose a challenge with VoIP. As stated before, VoIP uses IP-addressed phone numbers, not NANP phone numbers. There is no way to associate a geographic location with an IP address. So if the caller can't tell the 911 operator where he or she is located, then there is no way to know which call center to route the emergency call to and which EMS should respond. To fix this, perhaps geographical information could somehow be integrated into the packets.

Processor Drain: Another problem associated with VoIP is having a phone system that is dependent on individual personal computer systems of varying specifications and power. A call can be affected by processor drain. If a caller is chatting away on a soft-phone, and decides to open a program that saps the processor, quality loss will become immediately evident. In a worst-case scenario, the system could crash in the middle of an important call. In VoIP, all phone calls are subject to the limitations of normal computer issues.

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Productivity impact of CRM with VoIP

The advantages of integrating CRM applications with IP contact centers are: Ø Elimination of third-party ACD requirement. Ø Vendor certifications and multi-vendor implementations are not required. Ø Low Cost of acquisition and low cost of ownership Ø Elimination of CTI requirement Ø Elimination of CTI middleware testing and certification aspects Ø Streamlined implementation to the customer which offers quick deployment Ø Lowers the cost of acquisition and ownership to the customer Ø Facility to add media channels (telephony, email, web, fax) Ø Ability to sell and turn-on multi-media. Ø Ease in workflow integration to CRM databases

The call centers that intend a shift to VoIP recognize several benefits in terms of cost, flexibility, efficiency, and scalability.

Flexibility: Networks can be built in a variety of configurations to suit the number of users, client/server application requirements, and desired bandwidth availability.

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Efficiency: Ø Bandwidth and network connectivity are consumed only when needed.

Ø Service providers are able to converge their traditionally separate voice and data networks, and carry voice, video, fax, and data traffic over the same network. Ø Many terminals can share a network connection and, as a result, significantly reduce equipment costs to deploy VoIP compared to a circuit-switched telephony network. Scalability: Users can be easily added to the network anywhere there is a connection as growth demands with minimal network costs to carriers

These advantages create cost savings that are passed on to consumers in the form of lower telephony rates.

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Cost Impact of VoIP

CAPITAL AND EXPENSE SAVINGS: Free calls: When VoIP technology appeared, people thought that everything all about it was free. The enterprise’s long distance calls result as heavy payment among overhead expenses. In a VoIP implementation, the network is an IP network, and calling distance does not matter. So VoIP calls could be considered free.

Long Distance Savings: Long-distance rates on the PSTN have decreased dramatically as VoIP has matured.

Single Network and Infrastructure Savings: Maintaining separate network infrastructures is neither simple nor cheap. VoIP offers a single network infrastructure built on an IP network, resulting in savings shown below:

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TOC): A single network can lower the cost of network ownership. Instead of buying a PBX and network infrastructure for Public switched telephone network PSTN calls, organizations spend the money on IP network infrastructure. Both voice and data traffic can take advantage of the

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enhancements. These savings allow VoIP to provide a lower total cost of ownership.

Reduced Instrumentation cost: VoIP can provide a reduced incremental cost of network ownership. This is achieved by keeping the per-user cost for phone service same irrespective of the number of additional staff. Adding an additional user to VoIP does not result in cost increment unlike in traditional PBX system.

Facility to expand and change of single network:

During the times of

organization expansions, moving to VoIP implementation would result as profitable rather than purchasing another T1 link for the increased call volume, Because VoIP accommodates the expansion allowing the organization to use the available capacity on the DS3 link to carry additional voice traffic.

Desktop cost efficiencies: Desktop cost drops dramatically as the desktop phone terminal/console is replaced by a soft-phone with at least the same capabilities.

Easy and fast efficiency tool upgrades: Once the desktop phone is completely “soft”, upgrades in terms of enhanced features or improved efficiencies are downloadable and need not be installed, one by one, on each of several hundreds (or thousands) of workstations.

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Reduced wiring costs: A single network offers reduced wiring costs, especially in new construction. Instead of wiring for data and voice, the company can pull one set of wiring. Wiring for both voice and data can be accomplished in many different ways.

Easy transit to wireless infrastructures: A single network can easily incorporate wireless infrastructures. As many organizations are turning their networks to wireless technology. The wireless networks which use 802.11 technology support IP network applications readily, making VoIP easy to implement in this type of environment.

Efficient database maintenance through Unified messaging (integration of data and voice files): As long as both voice and data are transmitted over the same network, and as long as voice and data have the same file characteristics, they may be stored in a similar manner and format. They are easily retrievable, which translates into better customer service.

Productivity

Savings: Another

set

of

quantifiable

benefits

of

a

VoIP

implementation involves savings due to productivity improvements in CRM operations. When the contact centers is thinking about moving to VoIP, it is necessary to concentrate on its operations to bring out the cost savings in the following areas:

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Management and support savings: In a traditional PBX phone system, the organization needs one staff to manage the telephony system and another staff to manage the data network. In a VoIP system, the convergence of infrastructure reduces the internal staff required for support and management of the two separate infrastructures. However, these savings may come with a high initial cost for training. A converged network requires a consolidation of skills to manage it. VoIP thus requires a significant training for the data-networking group learning telecom skills, or for the telephony group learning data networking skills. One way to try to estimate the training costs associated with VoIP is to compare it to the rollout of other business critical technologies. For example, the move from office memos and snail-mail to an e-mail system was quite a leap technologically and required extensive training to deploy and manage. A VoIP deployment has similar characteristics.

Employee productivity enhancements: If an employee is both voice and data dependent, the simple fact that both voice and data communications are displayed on the same screen, rather than on one screen for the computer and another screen or LED readout for the phone console, results in time efficiencies and consequent productivity enhancements.

Maintenance, upgrades, and additions: VoIP makes adding, moving, or otherwise changing users and services much easier and cheaper. In one estimate, these types of actions can account for as much as 14 percent of an IT budget. VoIP

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uses IP protocols such as Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) to allow IP phones to automatically reconfigure themselves when moved from one location to another. When analyzing the cost savings that a VoIP implementation can provide, consider this important reality. Since end users don’t see cost savings directly, they are less tolerant of reduced quality or reduced reliability.

The ROI of VoIP in CRM While implementing VoIP over CRM, the ROI figures are to be concentrated with close attention. Installation and operational costs, including administrative and training costs are to be balanced with the savings of the convergence. The CRM companies should find out about the total cost of deployment, and the likely return on that investment in terms of both value and time. Here are two examples of VoIP deployments and their positive ROIs: The global market leader in high-end supercomputers Cray Inc. reports that their 650 phone VoIP deployment has “generated a seven-month payback on investment and a 33% productivity increase in network support.” Cray says it has saved “$30,000 in the first year in costs” that moves, additions, and changes to its legacy PBX system would have generated. And Cray has realized savings of “$25,000 annually in inter-office calling costs” after adding VoIP to its existing network. Before making the final decision to go to VoIP, Cray “compared the cost of Cisco’s telephony and data gear to the cost of selecting a PBX” and found that “the upfront costs were equal.” In fact, it was only after they “factor[ed] in additional operating costs and productivity benefits that Cray made the purchase decision to go with an IP/PBX.” (Cisco)

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Cisco Systems reports that “lower total costs of network ownership and positive ROIs are the two key business drivers for using IP telephony.” They cite the example of the H.B. Fuller Company, “a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals” that “expects to save approximately $2 million over five years” from a VoIP deployment of 3,000 IP phones and unified messaging from Cisco’s Unity product. H.B. Fuller claims that their VoIP ROI comes mainly from “the reduction of $60,000 in annual network administration and training costs, significant annual savings in inter-office calling charges, a $52,000 reduction in wiring costs at one site alone, and the elimination of 85% of costs associated with PBX upgrades.” And the company hopes “to save $37,000 annually” in costs associated with moves, additions, and changes. (Cisco)

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Below are some estimates of cost and ROI, extracted from a guide on The ROI of VoIP published by Networkworld.com

1.1. Overall average installation costs The VoIP implementation must expect to spend nearly $100,000 with a cost of $17,220 for Baseline network assessment, $23,563 fro planning, $37,676 for Installation and $13,396 for Trouble shooting. Phases Baseline network assessment (Internal or external) Planning Installation Troubleshooting Total 447 631 263 1,340 $23,563 $37,676 $13,396 $91,845 People hours Average cost $17,220

Figure 6 - Overall average Installation costs

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 1.2. VoIP cost per unit

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Companies with 1,000 or more users are able to show the lowest cost per unit i.e., $525 when compared to $763 for Fewer than 100 number of users. Number of users Operational cost per user Hardware cost per unit (including PBX) Fewer than 100 100-499 500-999 1,000 or more $122 $136 $117 $37 $641 $771 $548 $488 $763 $907 $665 $525 Total cost per unit

Figure 7 - VoIP cost per unit

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 1.3. Circuit savings for converged networks

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Companies can save money on international calls, access lines and POTS charges depending on the usage. The average monthly costs and annual savings were realizing same for midsize and large size organizations. There is no significant variance in profitability.

Cost variable Per-minute long distance — international Local loops (per site) Average monthly cost (x $400 each) Annual savings POTS lines (site 100% IP)

Small 40%

Midsize 20%

Large 20% - 30%

0

1 to 2

2 to 6

0

$400 to $800

$800 to $2,400

$4,800 to $9,600 95% 75%

$9,600 to $28,800 70%

Figure 8 - Circuit savings for converged networks

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www.MA-Dissertations.com 1.4. Cost details for Audio conferencing savings

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VoIP can bring significant cost savings on audio and videoconferencing. When cost prior to and costs after VoIP were analyzed between 800 person professional services firm and 1000 person engineering firm, there is a significant difference in costs and annual savings. Though the pay back is less for 1000 person engineering firm, the Annual savings were resulted than the other as like monthly costs. Costs 800-person professional services firm Per-minute price prior to VoIP Per-minute price after VoIP Minutes per month Cost prior to VoIP Cost after VoIP Monthly savings Annual savings Equipment cost Payback in months 15 cents 2 cents 180,000 $27,000 $3,600 $23,400 $280,800 $132,000 Six months 19 cents 1 cent 27,000 $5,000 $250 $4,750 $57,000 $21,000 Four months 1,000 person engineering firm

Figure 9 - Cost details for Audio conferencing savings

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From the above it is evident that VoIP implementations results in high savings with Low Break even time. The rate return is directly proportional to the number of users.

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Market Overview

“From year 2000 to 2005, the U.S. broadband Internet access market grew from 4.5 million subscribers to 41.3 million subscribers. Over the next five years, it is expected to grow an additional 8 million subscribers. VoIP providers that rely on broadband Internet access saw revenue increase from $ 5 million in 2003 to $500 million in 2004, and then top $1.1 billion in 2005. Their revenue is projected to reach $5.1 billion by 2009, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association’s (TIA’s) newly released TIA’s 2006” Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast: TIA predicts that the number of VoIP subscribers would grow from 2005’s 4 Million subscribers to 18 Million subscribers by 2009. Large enterprises have been taking advantage of these trends for the past 10 years to reduce telecommunication costs between sites. With the adoption of VoIP, businesses are demanding that broadband providers deliver high-quality and continuous connectivity. Broadband carriers who cannot deliver an acceptable level of quality are having a difficult time retaining their customers. From a consumer perspective, broadband is a now more than just a $40 per month portal to the Web, but a new avenue for feature-rich telecommunications, video, and television. Also, beneficial to end-users is the reduction of monthly charges for access as traditional mainstream services continue to leverage broadband connections.” (8x8.com)

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Future of VoIP in the field of CRM:

The broadband Internet impacts the growth of VoIP market. As many potential VoIP customers are looking for features like voicemail to email notification and online account management, VoIP phone service is quickly becoming a logical alternative to costly traditional phone service solutions.

Over the past ten years, the market for VoIP has been driven by several factors, chiefly the promise of inexpensive voice communication. As the cost of the traditional phone systems have raised, with increased tariff rates and without addition of new features, the customers tend to go for a new alternative which is affordable and that offers convenience and efficiency.

As VoIP results in cost savings and early ROI, service providers can pass on this savings to its customers. Also the adoption or expansion is also becoming very easy, the growth of VoIP especially in contact centers is growing day by day.

The facility of multi-platform adaptability and compatibility with different networks like wire line and wireless, makes the VoIP as an upcoming technology in the telecom world.

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Michael Brito, in his article on VoIP for Small Business, “A No Brainer gives a herald to SMBs that they need to be wise up and switch to VoIP and illustrates that the growth of the VoIP future is due to the following factors:” Ø Demand for lower cost phone service Ø Carriers drive to reduce costs while providing more features Ø Customers increased feature set without capital investments Ø More dispersed workplace driven by tele-workers and best of breed global hiring practices Ø Improved quality and reliability of broadband networks enabling Ø VoIP calls over standard broadband lines, as well as inexpensive increased bandwidth capacity and Ø New product innovations in VoIP segment that allow VoIP providers to offer specific and unique services that are not currently offered through traditional telephone products.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Chapter-3 - Research Methodology:

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Research Approach: As discussed in the sections above, the research objective is to study the impact of VoIP on CRM, with a specific focus on the implication of this technology deployment on the business application. Considering Dibb, Simkin, Pride, and Ferrell’s (2001, p. 167) statement: "the researcher's challenge is not just generating data, but in creating a vision from that data", the study also analyzes the facts backing up the VoIP technology in different cases of implementation and adopts the following approach.

The study identifies Historical Case study analysis as a suitable research method for the present paper. Historical Research studies focus on events that have led to a current interest regarding a specific problem or issue. If this type of research is chosen, the researcher considers a past situation that is related to an important current situation, which requires investigation and reevaluation based on new information. As described by Jordan, Historical Research requires the collection of data and other information concerning a significant past event and analyzes the data and information to provide a comprehensive, objective description of it. This methodology may include reconstructing a past event as it relates to a specific theory or conceptual framework, which is why the current study tries to observe the historical events and implications of the CRM organizations using VoIP.

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The Historical Research procedure supplements the observation in which the researcher seeks to test the authenticity of the reports or observations made by others. As the study involves the observation of lot of technology articles and reports produced by technocrats and industry experts, the present study finds the Historical Research approach to be most suitable.

Also, the study needs to present facts from reporting events and conditions that are suitable with VoIP implementation in the CRM industry, so the Historical Research approach is taken.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Case Study Approach:

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Case studies are the preferred research strategy when 'how', 'what', and 'why' questions are being asked, when the researcher has little control over the event, or when the research is being carried out in a real-life context (Burns, 1990; Yin, 1988). Yin (1988, p.23) defines a case study as:

“An empirical study that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its reallife context; when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used”.

Case studies also allow a researcher to “reveal the multiplicity of factors which have interacted to produce the unique character of the entity that is the subject of study” (Yin, 1988, p.82).

Yin (1994) recommended the use of case-study protocol as part of a carefully designed research project that would include the following sections:
• • •

Overview of the project (project objectives and case study issues) Field procedures (credentials and access to sites) Questions (specific questions that the investigator must keep in mind during data collection); and



Guide for the report (outline, format for the narrative) (Yin 1994, p. 64)

The unit of analysis is a critical factor in the case study. It is typically a system of action rather than an individual or group of individuals. Case studies tend to be

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selective, focusing on one or two issues that are fundamental to understanding the system being examined.

Case studies are multi-perspectival analyses. This means that the researcher considers not just the voice and perspective of the actors, but also the relevant groups of actors and the interaction between them. This one aspect is a salient point in the characteristic that case studies possess. They give a voice to the powerless and voiceless. When sociological studies present many studies of the homeless and powerless, they do so from the viewpoint of the "elite"(Feagin, Orum, & Sjoberg, 1991).

An attempt is made to establish the facts in order to arrive at conclusions concerning past events or to predict future events with the emergence and impact of diverse network technologies to arrive at the VoIP impact on CRM.

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Advantages in Using the Historical Case Study Approach: As the study involves a review of academic and technology research papers, it is not possible to do a direct or experimental research study due to the costs involved in direct experimenting.

The current approach offers the following advantages:
• • •

The researcher is not physically involved in the situation under study. No danger of experimenter-subject interaction. Documents are located by the researcher, data is gathered, and conclusions are drawn out of sight.

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Data Gathering Methods: In an attempt to collect the data, the study used the steps provided below:

Isolating the problem: The problem statement has been defined as “The Real Impact Of VoIP in the field of CRM”.

Collect source materials, including primary and secondary sources: The study gathers literature on different research opinions regarding the convergence of VoIP with CRM. The study also collects industry facts from the articles and news blogs to support the assumptions gathered.

Evaluate source material: The study evaluates the facts and assumptions in the light of the case studies to identify the real impact of VoIP on CRM.

Formulate hypotheses: The study then intends to draw up the hypothesis.

Report and interpret findings: The study purposes to interpret the analysis as findings in the coming section to determine the real impact of VoIP on CRM.

Sources of Information: The study uses a secondary source of information such as books, Internet sources, technology tutorials, news articles, online blogs, periodicals, and review of the existing research, and other references to collect facts on the technology

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architecture, assessments, and evaluates them with the case studies on VOIP implementation to draw conclusions.

Originality & Validity of Data: The collected information is checked with source authentication through proper citations. Internal criticism is used by the researcher, to validate the accuracy and relevance of the source with reference to the scope of the research. An unbiased argument of sources is considered to make the study competent and honest. The validity of the data is also maintained by using the latest and current information on arguments and trend news.

Limitations of the Study: The study also has the following limitations: Ø Time: As a period of study becomes the major limitation, determining the impact of the technology on the business outcomes becomes time-consuming and one cannot consider the direct observation of results. Ø Available resources: The scope of the books and literature is quite limited. Ø Previous research: There is no significant research dealing directly with the convergence of VoIP on CRM, limiting the established facts for the study. Ø The inherited limitations of the approach: As stated by Yin (1994), “The body of literature in case study research is ‘primitive and

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limited’ in comparison to that of experimental or quasi-experimental research. The requirements and inflexibility of the latter forms of research make case studies the only viable alternative in some instances. It is a fact that case studies do not need to have a minimum number of cases, or to randomly ‘select’ cases. The researcher is called upon to work with the situation that presents itself in each case.”

Summary: The current approach intends to follow the Historical Case study approach, as this is suitable to fact-finding and the observation of facts under relative case studies. For this purpose, the researcher will collect information from secondary sources including books, journals, online articles, and periodicals that have published information on VoIP and CRM. Finally, the study observes the case studies of CRM organizations implementing VoIP technology to observe the direct scope of the study.

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Methodology Approach As suggested by Yin (1994) the three principles of data collection for case studies, are: 1. Using multiple sources of data 2. Creating a case study database 3. Maintaining a chain of evidence The rationale for using multiple sources of data is the triangulation of evidence. Triangulation increases the reliability of the data and the process of gathering it. In the context of data collection, triangulation corroborates the data gathered from other sources.

This study adopts the case study evaluation method and the document study method to prove the hypothesis.

Case study observation provides very engaging and real time explorations of the technological implementations of the topic. The study identifies the driving factors and the challenges involved in the application of VoIP in the real time setting of Call centers. The study observes the real impact of this technology up gradation on the Customer Relation Management of the cases under study. The study has taken content analysis provided in the form of Cases that are closely related with

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the topic assumptions. The study observes the Narrative case study evaluation by considering the cases of Click communications and Keycom Solutions.

Along with the case study evaluation, the study also performs Document study to bring out a basic understanding of VoIP scenario in the field of CRM. The study directly uses the abstracts and excerpts from several sources, to maintain the meticulousness of the information. The types of documents used for the study includes, study reports, online articles and journals. The validity of the documents is maintained through proper citations.

The present study not only identifies the micro level impacts like cost and technicality, but also observes the macro level issues like policy regulations and the impact of Broadband regulations on the future of VoIP.

Hence case study analysis is chosen to observe the while comparing with the real time experiences of Contact centers on implementation of VoIP.

The case study evaluation adds the knowledge to the current database on VoIP impact on CRM among different industry sectors in the following ways. Ø The broad, complex questions in implementation of VoIP with CRM are addressed with reference to contact centers Ø The individual experiences are observed, rather than standardized, outcomes in general

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Ø Provides a focus on sensitive issues like Costs and ROI while concentrating with individual case. Ø Illustrates relevant particular technical issues and highlights the issues under the scope of the study. Ø Demonstrates and communicates the impact of VoIP over CRM.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com Objectives of Case study evaluation

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The current study settings have the following objectives: Ø Increasing the understanding of what CRM companies should and should not do in implementing the VoIP successfully. Ø Building the skills in assessing company resource strengths and weaknesses and in conducting strategic analysis before and during VoIP implementation and in facing competitive and expansion situations. Ø Getting valuable practice in identifying strategic issues that need to be addressed while planning, implementing, evaluating strategic

alternatives, and formulating workable plans of action. Ø Enhancing the sense of business judgment, as opposed to uncritically accepting the authoritative crutch of the professor or "back-of-thebook" answers. Ø Gaining in-depth exposure into the field of CRM performance with a shift VoIP, thereby acquiring something close to actual business experience.

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www.MA-Dissertations.com The strengths of this method are as follows:

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Cases are stable. The variability of data is completely eliminated. As the published data of the organizations doesn’t vary at a single instance of time, the information is stable.

Cases are unobtrusive. Cases publish the rich profile of the organizations in context to the topic under study.

The Cases gives exact information with names and figures The cases being rich in information presents the broad coverage based on the time span of the case.

Data Gathering Method Case selection The study used information oriented sampling while selecting the sampling rather than random Sampling (Flyvbjerg 2006). As random sampling may not provide information relevant to the topic, the cases that do provide relevant information on problems and challenges involved in the contact centers and impact of VoIP on CRM are taken. In addition, the deeper reasons to adopt a shift and growth in income after the shift are can be understood through published figures and facts of the cases.

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Random samples emphasizing representativeness will seldom produce this kind of insight; it is more appropriate to select a few cases chosen for their validity.

The study observes Paradigmatic cases as suitable to identify the impact and scenario of VoIP technology on CRM practice.

Given the amount of time needed to compile a comprehensive case study, careful and purposive selection of the particular cases to be studied is crucial. Hence the cases of Click communications and KEYcom solutions are identified, as both of them have the purpose of enhancing CRM by implementing VoIP.

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Database of Study Case studies 1. KEYCOM The case study extracted from Techland website and used as it is basis to retain the facts

The Customer: Keycom is a telephone and Internet Service provider based in Midlands offering services to major voice carriers in across the worldwide with a prominence in U.K. The profile of the company includes designing, developing, installing and delivers communications solutions and services for the UK’s tertiary education market. The company offered a number of proprietary systems and applications to improve communication and MIS of higher education organizations. The service base of Keycom includes more than 50,000 UK students at more than 160 locations. The Challenge: Keycom used high-cost IDN lines for telephony and dial-up access for internet connections to student accommodation locations and Keycom’s Central Services Platform in Manchester.

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Keycom was paying nearly 1.1 and 4 pence per minute. Running costs were about £200,000 per year to provide services to 14 sites for University College, London. And day-by-day Keycom is experiencing the demand for non-metered Internet access. Flexibility for the existing applications in terms of call capacity became poor with the PBX system. The Quality of Service also became poor with the PSTN fail-over. With this DASS-II interoperability was also became difficult to maintain.

The growing demand of Keycom services made it difficult for the company to reduce operational costs, increase margin and also to expand the business with new services. This made the company to think of the pre-paid un-metered

Internet service offered through VoIP telephony system. The solution that it plans to implement should be transparent to the end users. The company also needed to cut two-thirds of its operational costs.

The Solution: After the initial consultation with multiple VoIP vendors like Storm, Quintum, Pace and Cisco, the company planned a profitable business case to its shareholders to bag £600,000 for a six-site VoIP pilot project.

The company was looking for VoIP installation for channel-by-channel aggregation, DASS-II, ISDN fall back with low cost. This has been provided by Quintum technologies by offering carrier-class, legacy PBX interoperability,

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modular switches, wide variety of codecs and the equipment to install with a minimum training.

At the beginning, Keycom installed VoIP at six sites, and achieved a quick ROI, with the evidence of this; Keycom expanded its VoIP installation to another site, making a total of 28 sites. The VoIP architecture for Keycom business functions includes 59 D3000 switches to student accommodation points and a fully populated carrier multi-path switch at its Central Service Platform. This configuration handles 32 x E1s for a maximum of 960 simultaneous voice channels.

The Result: Keycom realized the ROI from VoIP implementation within two to eight months on a site-by-site basis. The profit gain was so recognizable to investors that they started looking for more VoIP implementations to accommodate more service lines.

The running costs were reduced from £200,000 per year to £20,000 per year at UCL where a voice and data network was installed at an affordable cost of £50,000.

The reliability of the company on VoIP is so evident with the complete absence of PSTN lines at eight sites.

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The company has taken a minimum service configuration from the vendor for first few switches, then continued installing on their own by training eight of their engineers. And now it has made its capability to ship a pre-configured Tenor to a site, which can be easily plugged in at the site. The modularity offered by Tenor switches made the company ready to sustain the demand levels of different sites. The company was benefited from the wide variety of codecs offered by the vendor through Tenor switches and with an additional offer of DASS-II compatibility.

The company is also benefited by economizing the Packet size by opting for packet server option, which reduces the VoIP bandwidth requirement, which was proven by testing it. The metered services were benefited from accurate clocking sources of Tenor switches.

The total savings of Keycom VoIP installation were drawn from on line installation, line rental and call costs. With this Keycom could offer a choice of a reliable, affordable, pre-paid or un-metered voice and data services called KeyTalk and KeySurf to the students.

The VoIP implementation offered the Keycom a no-risk ability to migrate gradually to VoIP, extremely rapid return on VoIP project investment, high Quality of Service (QoS) to maintain CRM, and high speed of project deployment.

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DATA PANEL Sites served by VoIP 28 universities such as Aston, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Exeter, Hertfordshire, UCL, London Institute, Loughborough, Salford, Sussex, UOL. VoIP switches 59 Quintum Tenor D3000s and 1 Quintum CMS960 Network Fibre between Tenors, Manchester CSP hub and ISP POPs ranging from 10-60Mbps

Tenor interoperability Huawei routers, DigiTalk soft switch, Cisco AS5300, various legacy PBXs

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Figure 10 - Architecture of VoIP implementation at Keycom Source: http://www.Techland.com

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2. CLICK COMMUNICATIONS The case study extracted from Techland website and used as it is basis to retain the facts

The Challenge: Click Communications is a wing of communications of KBS, Promotions of Bradford, which is in the textile business with UK retailers. The organization has nearly 300 distributors throughout the UK.

Click wanted to establish effective communication with all these distributors and also wanted to enhance its retail customer relationship through more personal contact. But the company perceived the cost of establishing a call center in U.K is very expensive with high office overheads and HR costs. So the company was looking to offshore the call center activities from Sri Lanka, where it could achieve 50% of reduction in office set up and HR costs.

However, the major threat to the company at this point of decision stage is the cost of telephone charges from Sri Lanka to UK, which costs more than the cost of the office set up in UK. In this scenario, Click was looking for an easy and affordable solution to establish its call center in Sri Lanka.

Solution:

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The management of the company came to know that VoIP implementation would help them to execute their new business plan, so they consulted with Quintum Technologies.

Then Click was introduced to Techland Group, which is the UK partner of Quintum Technologies. Techland is a specialist in converged voice and data solution with 20 years of data communication experience. Techland

demonstrated the Tenor VoIP benefits to Click. With this Click decided on the Tenor switches, which are well known as cost effective and intelligent VoIP switches. Tenor switches reduce costs by eliminating costly ancillary equipment and cost of software deployment engineers.

Click initially deployed one Tenor A800 VoIP switch in the month of March that handled about 700 calls per day from Srilanka to UK through its eight call centers. After examining the initial performance, Click has made another deployment of second Tenor A800 VoIP switch in Colombo. The technology back ground for the Click's successful VoIP implementation for its CRM is as follows:

Click's operations involve only passage of voice traffic. Data transmission is not practiced. The telephonic system in srilanka doesn't use PABX switchboard, but instead operates on Tenor Switches.

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The VoIP calls are routed over an Internet link of 128kbps and terminated in the UK at a managed Tenor CMS carrier-class switch at Telehouse in London. From Telehouse, the calls are routed to the customer over low cost PSTN lines. To combine the packetised voice calls from all 16 call centers in Srilanka, the implementation uses compression software called Packet Saver. This software combines the packetised voice calls into a one IP header on the 128k Internet link. The specialty of the deployment is that click does use any network management tools, but relies on standard Internet connection for call performance. The call metrics show that Click maintains a round trip call delay of less than 500ms.

Result of VoIP implementation on Click Communications: As a result of VoIP implementation in Sri Lanka, Click is now paying less than the BT standard tariff for all the outbound calls from Sri Lanka to the U.K. This is used to maintain good customer relations within the U.K., saving the office set up costs and HR costs in the U.K.

Click is also experiencing reliable calls by using Tenor switches and is expanding its customer list in the new areas. In another terms Tenor switches offered low cost, guaranteed call quality and ease of use to the call center operations of Click communications.

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The company could save 50% of its overhead costs immediately by making it possible to establish a call center in Sri Lanka. Considering only call charges, the company expects to see a complete return on investment in another few months by this VoIP deployment. Now Click's call center operations are running with 16-full time operators making about 2500 calls per day. This has allowed Click communications to develop effective Customer Relationship Management with UK customers to increase textile sales in the UK, while communicating from Sri Lanka.

Validity of Data Validity is one of the main concerns with research. "Any research can be affected by different kinds of factors which, while extraneous to the concerns of the research, can invalidate the findings" (Seliger & Shohamy 1989, 95). Controlling for all possible factors that threaten the research's validity is a primary responsibility of every good researcher.

The study is thoroughly checked for internal validity with a proper balance in the structure of design and adoption of appropriate research instruments. The adoption of case study evaluation is highly suitable to find out the impact of the VoIP implementation over CRM by observing the cases of Contact centers.

"Findings can be said to be internally invalid because they may have been affected by factors other than those thought to have caused them, or because

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the interpretation of the data by the researcher is not clearly supportable" (Seliger & Shohamy 1989, 95).

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The internal validity of the data is checked, with the following factors: Ø Subject variability: The study has taken care to avoid subject variability, by keeping concentration on the hypothesis through out the structure of the paper Ø Historical evidence: While considering the Case study selection the study observed the historical background of the companies chosen. Ø Maturation: the study also observed the maturity of the cases taken and Industry before commenting and summarizing the issue Ø Instrument/task sensitivity: the study is purely valid in terms of instrumentation, as it intends to observe the impact of VoIP on the real world scenario of CRM.

The study is also checked for the external validity by generalizing the findings to a larger group of companies that are not involved in the study and to the other sectors of Industry other than CRM, to observe the general technical architecture, standards and environment of VoIP.

"Findings can be said to be externally invalid because [they] cannot be extended or applied to contexts outside those in which the research took place" (Seliger & Shohamy 1989, 95).

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The study has checked for the external validity with the following factors: Ø Population characteristics (subjects) Ø Interaction of subject selection and research Ø Descriptive explicitness of the independent variable Ø The effect of the research environment Ø Researcher or experimenter effects Ø Data collection methodology Ø The effect of time

Originality and Limitation of Data

The study proves its originality by taking a key issue such as the real impact of VoIP in the field of CRM, which has not been given attention in any prior studies. The study adds a new dimension to the knowledge base of VoIP on CRM.

The current study has the following limitations: Ø The information retrieval from the cases is bit difficult and limited, subject to the scope of the information present in the case. Ø Biased selectivity may also intrude based the limited selection of the cases. Ø Subjectivity of the researcher during case selection and reporting the analysis may also fall in to this category.

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Summary The study has observed the case study evaluation of Click Communications and Keycom Solutions. The document study reveals the inputs of architecture of VoIP, the emerging trends of VoIP and in CRM, and the reasons for the CRM field to adopt VoIP, the benefits and risks of adaptation and the market growth and future trend of VoIP in CRM. The information maintained its validity with proper citations and has observed few limitations in case study evaluation.

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By analyzing the facts published by Techland about the the two cases Keycom and Click communications, the study makes the following interpretation. In both Keycom Solutions and Click Communications, the VoIP shift has realized cost savings through: Ø Labor cost reductions as a result of networking centers over IP. Ø Savings on Call tariffs even from different locations Ø Expansion of business without cost increment Ø There is a dramatic savings through 50% reduction in operating costs in both the cases Ø The Break even time is also very less Ø Keycom realized the ROI from VoIP implementation within two to eight months on a site-by-site basis. Ø Expansion of business activities became very simple and sophisticated Ø Both the cases used hardware implementations for VoIP deployment with built in software compatibility.

The study also found that the rapid adoption of VoIP technology in today’s contact center is more customer-centric effort than ever before. A typical contact center offers different modes of customer contact. In general the Contact centers adopt service models like immediate assistance, deferred assistance, or engaging with the company via self-service.

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The immediate assistance service model delivered through live agents, immediate e-mail replies and web chat. Deferred assistance service models come with automated response systems along with the earlier mentioned features. Whereas, self-service features are delivered over the web in the form of knowledge base information or over the phone via an IVR. (McFadden, Joseph)

A contact center can use one or more of the above options depending on the role it has to play in the industry for effective CRM, through certain advanced features like, “follow me” messaging, and voice/video/whiteboard conferencing tools. The integration of these models again depends on the hardware and software the contact centers are using with cost of investment as baseline for any kind of adoption. Herein lies the advantage of VoIP Collaboration in CRM, eliminating the inefficiency of the Silos Architecture design of the hardware and software integration.

The VoIP technology integrates all three-customer service models into a single, consolidated software application on the corporate network. Today’s VoIP based customer response management applications are coming as pure software architectures facilitating the companies to deploy it very easily to escalate the functionalities of CTI to routing of customer database.

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And among the reasons for the contact centers to shift to VoIP, the study found that along with cost efficiency, the features offered by the solution also make sense.

Customer needs, Customer responses, Customer value to the business are the priority issues in Customer response management. With an integrated Customer response system, the contact centers can respond to the needs of basic and valued customers with a variety of services. VoIP attributes such feature of accumulating data of customers, those who contact the company through different modes like, Phone, e-mail, chat or SMS.

Companies strategize their promotional activities to fit their customer database. When a company has different databases loaded with customer responses through different modes of contacts separately like, e-mail, live agents, web or phone, the data amalgamation and targeting will be time consuming and may result in duplication. Such arduous work will be made easy by the VoIP integration by maintaining a single customer response database on a converged platform of voice and data communications.

Consolidating, comparing and analyzing becomes very smooth through a single administration and decisions making will become much sophisticated very quickly and affordably.

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Traditional customer contact-routing or contact-handling applications like ACD, IVR, etc. have been built around a vertical solution approach which is costly and complex to deploy with less interoperability of different solutions and networks.

The current infrastructure for contact centers is less cumbersome and has a set of telephony-based switching components sitting on the telephony network; a set of data applications (CRM, e-mail, chat, etc.) sitting on the data network, and a third layer that consists of plenty of CTI hardware and middleware to integrate the voice and data components. This third layer is costly to maintain and add new items under expansion.

Those that have gone all the way to integrating CRM with an IP telephony system have had to rely on a system integrator to create specialist software, off course, which is lengthy and an expensive process.

The new software integration of VoIP-CRM allows companies to leverage a common hardware platform for all enterprise applications, typically based on lowcost generic servers. The network layer relies on the company's IP data network. The contact center's voice and data are carried over this single network. The software layer sits on top of the network layer and is based on a set of industry standards (e.g., VXML, XML, VoIP, SIP, SOAP, ODBC) adopted by vendors to support interoperability and faster deployment. And finally, the application layer,

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call routing and queuing, IVR, self-service applications, Web chat, etc., are built according to these standards.

This integration offers the benefits of deployment as well as benefits of contact centers in terms of Low-cost deployment, Interoperability, New distributed architecture and Multimedia contact routing on a single platform.

The difference between vertical telephony-based solutions and horizontal software-only solutions lies in its integration approach. The integration for telephony-based solutions occurs in the telephony switching components. In the software-only, in contrast, the integration occurs at the desktop and application layer, dramatically lowering the complexity of integration.

To aid the growth of VoIP in the field of CRM, the giants Cisco and Microsoft have brought a single platform software package for VoIP-CRM.

Cisco, in partnership with Microsoft, has launched this package for the benefit of small and midsize contact centers seeking a more cost-effective solution.

According to Peter Alexander, vice president of Cisco's commercial market segment, the “purpose of the new software is to simplify the effort it takes to make the vendors' products work together”. The vendors' coordinated development efforts should make it easier for resellers to set up these systems

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and therefore less expensive for businesses without the in-house expertise to implement the integrated systems, he says, “With Microsoft’s emergence in CRM, as a key player, the industry expects a massive growth of VoIP convergence with CRM. Cisco also feeling confident that their business will grow much better with the advent of Software partnership. Now it is looking forward to fill the gap.“

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CHAPTER 5 Summary The study the real impact of VOIP in the field of CRM has tried to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of VOIP in CRM. In order to understand this, the study has closely observed the functional architecture of VOIP, the security protocols,

The study observed the list of technologies that are being used by CRM applications and the technologies that are the evolutionary ones in VOIP technologies like, PBX, Router based, PC based and multi path switching gateways. Then the study observed the shortfalls f the traditional phone system adaptability for CRM and found that the normal phones are expensive, high resource utilizing, non scalable, lethargic and are offering poor data transmission services. Then the study observed the specific business advantages of VOIP for CRM like- Unified Messaging/Converged Communications, Call Identification and Routing, Call Recording and Monitoring, IP Paging, Date Tracking and Reporting facilities, etc., which are highly demanding at this age of customer service.

Then the study found Cost savings, improved efficiency and productivity, Simplification and consolidation and Improved capability as the driving reasons for the CRM industry to prefer VoIP.

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Then the research has made a detailed observation on what to consider before moving to the deployment of VOIP for CRM and strongly recommends for having a concrete business plan, implementation plan with deployment and support functionalities as a part of risk reduction practice. The study also made a detailed observation on the technological architecture of VOIP and the major components like Call processing server, User devices, Media/VoIP gateways and IP Network with illustration of pictures. The study made a point on Quality of Service and the Standards and protocols that are supporting VOIP. The study also observed the general myths, the industry has regarding VOIP and tries to overrule them while giving the facts to consider for the implementation. Under Implementation issues with VOIP, the study observed the aspects like Functionality for interoperability, reliability, availability tolerance and management, Addressing Accounting directory and call and accessibility, Fault billing, Configuration control,

management,

and

management,

Access

authentication and encryption, Security, Legal considerations and Network deployment. The factors that influence VoIP growth for CRM are observed as Simplified

CRM integration, saving in money, converged data transmission, Best routing of contact on the network, leverage on investments etc., Flexibility, Efficiency and Scalability are the parameters for Productivity impact of CRM with VoIP.

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As part of risks involved with VOIP for CRM, the study observed Voice quality and availability, Application contention, MAC-related risks The Challenges involved in the VoIP implementation of CRM are found to be Reliability, Securing the Line, Security issues’ Impact on Quality of Service, Interoperability Concerns, Providing 911 Emergency Services (E911), Processor Drain etc., The study identifies the areas of significant cost Impact of VoIP when compared to the normal network. Free calls without tariff and Long distance savings are the part of Capital and expensive savings. And the converged network results in Infrastructure Savings like - Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TOC), Reduced Instrumentation cost, Facility to expand and change of single network, Desktop cost efficiencies, Easy and fast efficiency tool upgrades, Reduced wiring costs, Easy transit to wireless infrastructures, Efficient database maintenance through Unified messaging (integration of data and voice files), Productivity Savings, Management and support savings, Employee productivity enhancements, Maintenance, upgrades, and additions etc., The study made some estimates of cost and ROI and highlights the savings likeThe Overall average installation costs, VoIP cost per unit, Circuit savings for converged networks and Cost details for Audio conferencing savings. The study made a Historical Research approach in eliciting the above facts and also observed case study approach to identify the above facts in the practical scenario.

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The study analyzed the case studies- Key com and Click communications published by Techland which is a tenor switch provider of VOIP.

By using the Tenor switch solution, Key com, which is a internet connection provider to student locations, achieved a quick ROI within two to eight months on a site-by-site basis in 28 sites.

And the other case published by Techland is of click Communications which maintains a communication network with its distributors. This company has observed to experience reliable calls by using Tenor switches and is expanding its customer list in the new areas. Also the company could save 50% of its overhead costs immediately by making it possible to establish a call center in Sri Lanka.

The overall costs savings agreed from the literature and the case study approach include- Labor cost reductions, Savings on Call tariffs, Expansion of business without cost increment, dramatic savings through 50% reduction in operating costs, Less Break even time, ease of use of deployment with built-in software of hardware installation. Against the perception of all odds of the technology, the study found that there is an increasing demand for VOIP adaptability among CRM implementers.

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Recommendations The study encourages contact centers that are trying to deploy VoIP to have a concrete business plan to figure out the features required to derive the cost of such configuration. Savings from the deployment are to be well planned and projected from administrative and implementation areas. The other recommendation includes the usage of integration software for the deployment rather than third party software integration to get more

interoperability and savings, if the firm is small to medium size.

Recommendations for Future Implications: The recent trends in broadband migration to Voice over IP and the growth in notebook sales has increased the concentration of technology from desk top technology to wireless networks. Also the recent Mobile technologies like

WiMAX extend the broadband wireless beyond the limits of existing technologies. In this context, the extended vision of VOIP technology needs to be observed for customer support through wireless devices. So the current research recommends investigating further on the deployment and implication factors of VOIP for the wireless and mobile applications to increase the sector growth in Industry.

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Conclusions Several factors are driving the adoption of VoIP. Reduced telecommunications costs are obviously one of them. By bypassing carrier toll charges, companies can significantly cut their phone costs even as their call volume continues to rise. It is also less expensive to own one network rather than two. So, by moving to a converged voice-and-data network, the contact centers can reduce both their infrastructure costs and their overall management overhead. A converged network also reduces the expense of setting up new offices and supporting other types of organizational change.

The study also found that the Customer Relationship Management is greatly affected by the upcoming VoIP and multimedia-enabled networks. These new generation applications improve employee productivity and customer care which are the hot demands of today’s’ business models. Finally the study makes a recommendation on further research of VOIP deployment on CRM through wireless channels.

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