Understanding Mobile Phones

Benefits of Fixed Mobile Convergence

There are three types of savings an organisation can make from a convergent solution: call costs, infrastructure and productivity.

Savings delivered through convergence

Although call cost savings are the easiest to measure, they provide the least scale for savings.Understanding Mobile Phones More benefits can be derived through infrastructure efficiencies and productivity.

Infrastructure savings are delivered through fixed-line replacement strategies and green field site deployments. This impacts the CAPEX and ongoing OPEX requirements of owning a fixed and mobile fleet.

Productivity and improved business processes, whilst providing the greatest opportunity for organisations to derive benefits from convergence, are also the hardest to quantify. For example, while a converged voicemail solution may save an employee five minutes of effort a day, the real benefit may not directly be derived through having an extra five minutes for ‘productive’ work. The benefits may, in fact, be delivered through customer satisfaction and repeat business as a result of improved response times. However, most businesses now measure customer satisfaction as a key performance indicator. Therefore, the increase in productivity and potential process re-engineering which can be achieved will have a positive impact on customer satisfaction levels.

Benefits include

• Extending fixed line call features to mobile handsets
• Reducing call costs
• Improving the responsiveness of the business
• Delivering control – for instance, for compliance with FSA regulations
• Reducing duplication
• Ease of extending capacity
• Improving productivity

The use of converged solutions also enables the workforce to be more productive through functions such as mobile access to direct dial extensions and conferencing. Employees are able to respond faster to voicemails, and benefit from reduced telephone tag as they are able to answer more calls first time. Specific productivity gains are illustrated by the following examples:

• • Consultants within a Healthcare Consulting company achieved a 10 to 15% productivity gain as a result of reduced telephone tag.

• • Carers at a Home Care Services company achieved time savings of 60 minutes each day per employee due to fewer voicemails, more calls answered first time and reduced telephone tag.

• • A specialist call centre within a Travel Insurance company handled 25% more calls as a direct result of increased responsiveness of staff.

• • A University achieved one hour time saving per day for IT support staff, minimising delays in reaching colleagues to issue job instructions or resolve issues.

Productivity benefits can be relatively difficult to quantify and are best addressed on an individual basis. However, financial savings can be found by calculating, for example, the number of minutes saved per day through enhanced communications and business processes (e.g. time wasted unnecessarily visiting office to pick up desk based voicemails or job schedules). In addition, the ability to rapidly and consistently answer enquiries and client calls can ensure that a client is gained and maintained owing to a better standard of service.

Although more difficult to measure, research has shown that softer benefits can lead to quantifiable revenue, customer satisfaction, customer retention, and work rate or cost saving improvements for enterprises.

One simple solution is a feature rich Business SIM enabling Voice, SMS & Data 3G and HSDPA whilst roaming. This mobile SIM provides the business with full control over calls and texts, both nationally on the hosted network and whilst Roaming. In addition, the SIM provides connectivity to defined private mobile networks and access to a common core for application activation.

The mobile is enhanced by providing short code dialling to other extensions in the business and support for the same feature dialling provided on fixed line handsets, enhancing application integration.

Number Portability

The MNO or MVNO provides for number portability and ensures that users can maintain their existing phone numbers and avoids any disruption to the dialling experience for the end user; no user training is required.

Data Support.

Ideally the network fully supports data options providing internet and mail connections. Access Point Names ( APNs) are provided for network supported applications such as Push-to-Talk (PTT

Roaming

Subscribers naturally expect the same service capabilities when travelling abroad as they do when registered onto their home network. We aim to avoid complicated methods to make a call while ensuring subscribers can use their account when roaming internationally. Ideally, they want to be able to dial straight from their mobile contacts list without having to edit numbers in order to specify the correct country code.

CAMEL Customised Applications for Mobile network Enhanced Logic support means that, as long as the international network supports CAMEL, the user dials as normal. When CAMEL is supported, we can guarantee a seamless prepaid roaming experience. Costs are, typically, less than normal call rates and this solution ensures call recording as required for FSA compliance is still delivered while travelling in CAMEL countries.