Don’t be sheepish when it comes to the great IP transition

From NetworkComputing Magazine Vol 16, Issue 6 - November/December 2007

Jill Taylor of Verizon Business sets out the case for collaborating with a partner to create a business aligned IP network

For global enterprises, maximising the potential of their infrastructure and resources across geographical and time boundaries in pursuit of productivity and profitability is today's objective. Organisations are increasingly leveraging the potential of IP-based applications such as Voice over IP, benefiting from the value adding functionality and cost efficiencies.

But how does a global enterprise, typically encumbered by legacy infrastructures and organisational complexity, safely navigate the journey to a collaborative, IP-based working environment? One possibility to consider is the use of external experts to safely shepherd companies towards collaborative IP success.

Global enterprises are increasingly seeking to pool and circulate all business critical knowledge and resources, in order to drive their business forward. Collaboration is seen as the key to achieving a fully optimised and informed business. Put simply, the more collaborative enterprises are, the better they perform.

For many organisations, the development of a 'unified communications' environment is increasingly seen as a vital step. The term summarises an exciting concept, based around the seamless and intuitive integration of communications solutions with operational goals, facilitating natural collaboration. Implicit is the recognition that the main resources of an organisation must work together within and across geographic boundaries, if strategic business objectives are to be realised.

A scary time to be a clueless legacy sheep
The critical factor that is elevating today's concept of unified communications to the top of the business agenda, is the emerging IP world. IP-based applications enable flexibility to be built into all forms of communication to improve business efficiency, and support future business success. Yet for any typical enterprise, encumbered by legacy infrastructures and organisational complexity, the journey to a collaborative, IP-based working environment can be complex and confusing.

This need not be the case. Of course, a successful collaborative environment needs to have the right technology in place, but any migration of resources to achieve this goal, should be undertaken in a measured and strategic manner. The key to success is to approach the transition to IP as an opportunity to re-evaluate overall business strategy, culture and practice. Technology is the enabler to achieving business goals - and therefore the business goals must remain paramount as the new all-IP environment becomes a reality. It's not just a question of changing one element of business communications; rather, of taking a fresh look at every aspect of an organisations collaborative culture and infrastructure and investigating how IP-based communications can transform operations to support tomorrow's business success.

As a start, the organisation needs to look at overall business objectives and then consider how it should communicate. From this a plan is needed that builds on legacy infrastructure to transition to an IP-based environment, ensuring that technology and infrastructure are brought together, and engaged collaboratively. Not rocket science, but few organisations have the time, resources, or experience to do this, and can easily come unstuck if it rushes into a 'big bang' installation without this work. So what to do?

Finding a shepherd
The solution is to find a shepherd to act as a guide through the migration process. Someone with the necessary skills, knowledge, tools and experience to work alongside the organisation to help it migrate at its own pace, and in harmony with its own business needs. Most importantly, the shepherd needs to truly understand the impact of collaboration on business performance, and be able to tailor technology to meet business needs.

Who should that shepherd be? Looking under the surface, few organisations have the track-record. The combination of innovative solutions and business intelligence is hard to find. So, if the benefits of IP convergence are clear, it is essential that the initiative does not fail in implementation. Identifying a partner to shepherd you through all stages of the process could prove invaluable. NC