Why all the hype about Hosted UC?
The market is literally abuzz about the various hosted offerings, both new and existing. It seems that one can’t turn around without seeing some kind of hosted this or hosted that. With that in mind, I thought I’d jump on the Hosted UC bandwagon.
Cloud-based services are becoming more frequent and offering significant architecture choice for businesses. Cisco is, of course, able to provide its own Hosted UC deployment as a service offering to customers. Numerous Service Providers and Partners are also providing their own service offerings in this realm. In many instances, Cisco and its Partners are actively collaborating in bringing services to market.
So, the question must be put forth: WHY? Why bother with a Hosted solution? There are a number of rather compelling reasons to consider it. Cisco, in particular, has placed renewed emphasis on the architecture behind Hosted UC solutions. In fact, the efforts are escalating quite rapidly. Businesses can clearly see that the old ways are gone and that they will likely be forced into change whether they wish it or not. The ebb and flow of the market will dictate that some directional alteration come about, be it good, bad or indifferent.
With change comes cost. Any new system will need qualified personnel in order to support it. There will be man-hours involved in learning to support it. There will be man-hours involved in learning to use it. Yes, it’s a phone. But, like everything else, the phones are now multi-purpose devices with more advanced capabilities.
A hosted solution allows reduction in up-front costs associated with the new system. The hosted solution allows a variable cost basis rather than the traditional large up-front capital expenditure. The full suite of Cisco Unified Collaboration technologies is available in the hosted offering. This includes everything from call control, unified messaging and presence all the way up to Cisco TelePresence and Enterprise Social Software (Cisco Pulse and Cisco Quad).
Since the solution is off-premises, the costs associated with on-site help-desks and hardware support is avoided. This allows for the utilization of customer personnel for higher value, proactive supporting roles rather than being relegated to PIN/Password changes or move/add/change operations. A hosted solution also allows for increased flexibility in services and applications offered to end-users based on their role within the business. Each user may have a customized set of services available to him/her on an as-needed basis. This is way more than simple IP Centrex service.
In the end, the choice is not one of technology. It’s a choice of business. Let your business direction drive your technology implementation, not the other way around. You are no longer bound by a single deployment model in determining how and when applications and/or services are provided to your user population. Blaze your own path and create a solution that works for your business.
