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I

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 Fulfil lment

Of the Requirements of the Degree of

Master of Science in

Computer Science


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II

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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IV

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 ....................................................................................... 5Definition of Terms ............................................................................................ 6

Overview of the Study ....................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................10

Relevance ....................................................................................................... 10The 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 .......................................................... 17Technology trends in CRM .......................................................................................... 17Technology 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 ......................................................................................... 42H.323 .............................................................................................................................. 42Session 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


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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.................................................................................................... 911. KEYCOM .................................................................................................................. 91

2. CLICK COMMUNICATIONS ................................................................................ 97Click 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. ................................................................. 97Validity of Data .............................................................................................. 100

Originality and Limitation of Data ................................................................... 103

Summary ....................................................................................................... 104

CHAPTER-4 ...................................................................................................................... 105

Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 105

CHAPTER 5....................................................................................................................... 111

Summary ....................................................................................................... 111Recommendations ........................................................................................ 113

Conclusions ................................................................................................... 116

BIBILOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 117


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VI

List o f Figures

Figure 1 - Simple VoIP System37

Figure 2 - Call Processing Server38

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 ! ... ! .


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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 organizations 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, its possible to escalate performance

and reduce errors associated with the double and triple data-entry cycle thats


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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.

Trends of Technologies in the field of CRM

Considerations for the VoIP implementation to CRM

The myths about VoIP

The technological architecture required for VoIP for CRM

Factors influencing VoIP growth in CRM

Risks involved in the VoIP implementation of CRM

Cost impact of CRM with VoIP

The ROI of VoIP in CRM

Productivity impact of CRM with VoIP

Future trends of VoIP in CRM

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

researchers understanding of the subject. Analysis from this study will improve

our understanding of enterprise deployment of VoIP in CRM.


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Defini tion o f 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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Hard-phone - A physical VoIP telephone.

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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Overview o f the Study

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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Chapter 2: Literature Review

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. Moores 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 organizations 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 companys 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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CRM technology;

Workforce management;

Monitoring;

IP contact center technologies;

Speech technology;

Outsourcing technologies;

Off-shoring technologies (VoIP);

Data security;

Performance management and optimization;

E-learning;

Home agent technologies; and

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 evolut ion 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 PBX-

VoIP. 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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Router-based gateways

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 enterprises 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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Intelligent, multi-path switching gateways

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 feature-

rich PBX.


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Shortfalls o f Traditional Phone Services for CRM appli cations

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 calls duration, whether or not

voice is actually being transmitted

Scalability: the traditional phone systems dont 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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Specific Business advantages of VoIP applications

The VoIP technology comes with the following software components in general,

and can be configured individually depending on the need of clients 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 receivers 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 doesnt 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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Reasons for a Contact center to move to VoIP:

The rationale for moving to VoIP usually includes:

Cost savings

Improved efficiency and productivity

Simplification and consolidation and

Improved capability

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: Todays 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:

The type of industry sector to outline the related features of contact

center, and henceforth the call communication system features.

A clear cut definition of mode of operation of contact center between

volume-oriented and value-oriented

Classification and determination of target customers of contact center -

internal or external customers

Definition of activities and nature of contact center weather it is only for

customer support or also to help generate additional sales and

revenue

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:

What's the best design for the network?

How will it interface with other network components, such as voice mail

or an existing customer relationship management system?

Will the system be centralized or decentralized across many sites?

Will customer service include a Web-based component, or only voice?

How will the system be managed?

How will be the systems 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:

How large and complex is the deployment?

Does the deployment plan supports the onsite staff and equipment with

the appropriate knowledge?


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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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Bearer Control

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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Major Components of VOIP:

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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1. Call Processing Server

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 peer-

to-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



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2. User Devices

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 Funct ions


The above figure illustrates the functional components of gateways using the

H.323 standard 33.


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4. IP Network

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 todays 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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QoS covers the following aspects:

Voice quality;

Network performance;

Call control (packet loss and voice processing); and

Interoperability.

VOIP STANDARDS

The VoIP standards summarized by Centre for Criti cal 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 IETFs 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 non-

repudiation;

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 Protoco ls

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 2250-

2209. 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



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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



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The Myths of VoIP deployments

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 high-

quality 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 high-

quality 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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Implementation issues with VOIP

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:

Functionality; which may include interoperability, reliability, availability

and accessibility

Fault tolerance and management

Accounting and call billing

Configuration management

Addressing and directory management

Access control, authentication and encryption

Security

Legal considerations and

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-to-

speech/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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Configuration Management

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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Legal Considerations

There are a number of legal and contractual considerations that may impact the

decision to implement a VoIP network. These may include:

Caller ID and Local Number Portability (LNP);

Calling line identification restrictions;

Malicious call identification;

Legal interception;

Carrier selection; and

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:

Systems and network architecture design;

Selection and procurement of core infrastructure devices and cabling;

Interfaces to the PSTN;

Determination of routing plans and an internal number convention;

System resilience including automatic recovery calls flows and calls

rerouting rules;

Single point of failure identification;

Disaster recovery planning and equipment acquisition;

Billing strategies and links to billing and accounting systems;

Change management; and

Technical and user training. (CCIP)


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Factors influencing VoIP growth in CRM

Joseph McFaddens 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 customers 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 availabili ty

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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MAC-related risks

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.

Securi ty 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:

Elimination of third-party ACD requirement.

Vendor certifications and multi-vendor implementations are not

required.

Low Cost of acquisition and low cost of ownership

Elimination of CTI requirement

Elimination of CTI middleware testing and certification aspects

Streamlined implementation to the customer which offers quick

deployment

Lowers the cost of acquisition and ownership to the customer

Facility to add media channels (telephony, email, web, fax)

Ability to sell and turn-on multi-media.

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:

Bandwidth and network connectivity are consumed only when needed.

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.

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 th

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