Taking Unified Communications To The Cloud 2 Is There An Appetite For Uc?

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issue 1 Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud Featuring research and recommendations from Gartner’s “Market Guide for UCaaS in Europe” 2 Is there an appetite for UC? 6 Research from Gartner: Market Guide for UCaaS in Europe 13 Featuring research from About Vodafone Vodafone’s research of 318 customers highlighted mobility as the second most influential trend. Is there an appetite for UC? When the modern concept of unified communications (UC) was first pitched back in the early 2000s, the promise of seamless integration of voice, video and data across platforms and devices seemed irresistible. Falling short of the hype But, besides a few isolated case studies demonstrating improvements in communications and collaboration, many questions about integration, interoperability and the economic impact remained unanswered. All the while, the popularity of mobile phones and texting grew and grew, then social media arrived and the fixed phone, the “device du jour” for so many years, went into decline, no doubt stalling UC even further. Throw a global recession into the mix and there was even less appetite for enterprises to invest time and effort into a communications and Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud collaboration strategy that may have made sense on paper, but not on the balance sheet. Enter the Cloud And with it the technology to deliver the service benefits of UC, Vodafone +44 (0)20 337 09970 along with the consume-as-you-need, pay-as-you-go model of cloud computing. The use of cloud-based services has risen dramatically in organisations, with the range of applications increasing as confidence in the approach grows. In fact, 84% of our customers have said that cloud is a priority. Examples include CRM and ERP systems, with voice services in the cloud now growing faster than on-premise solutions. Combining the use of a cloud commercial model, alongside the business flexibility benefits can show a return on investment that enables further 2 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud IT projects to be realised. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud is published by Vodafone. Editorial content supplied by Vodafone is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is used with Gartner’s permission, and was originally published as part of Gartner’s syndicated research service available to all entitled Gartner clients. © 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. The use of Gartner research in this publication does not indicate Gartner’s endorsement of Vodafone’s products and/or strategies. Reproduction or distribution of this publication in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website, http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/ omb_guide2.jsp. Our customer survey showed cloud-based UC can increase profitability of the average large enterprise by 15%. Without doubt, cloud-based UC has finally arrived. In fact, Vodafone’s customer survey* showed that adoption of cloud-based UC is expected to increase by 72% by 2017. And perhaps more importantly, our survey showed an expected increase in profitability of the average large enterprise of 15% over five years. However, for enterprises looking to take advantage, two key questions still remain. Firstly, is now the right time to take UC – whether fixed or mobile – to the cloud? And secondly, if it is, how do I go about choosing the right service provider to make it happen? Five reasons why enterprises move to cloudbased UC: 1. Their IT estate no longer supports their business effectively, due to underinvestment. Build it or buy in? The pros and cons of on-premise vs cloud. Investing in UC on-premise equipment (CPE) makes perfect sense for some organisations, particularly if they have security concerns about moving to the cloud, but there are downsides. 2. They want the flexibility to add, remove and relocate users quickly and easily. CPE ties up capital and IT resources you could use 3. They can leapfrog intermediate technologies. to run. There’s also on-going capital expenditure of network, 4. They’re merging with another organisation or moving premises and need hardwareindependent solutions. 5. They’re looking to move to newer services with minimal capital outlay and avoid re-training in-house IT staff on new technologies. elsewhere in the business, and requires in-house expertise hardware and software upgrades, and if want you to increase capacity, you have to arrange and wait for your new kit to arrive – then install it. Plus there’s the hassle of reconfiguring as employees move locations. Conversely, the cloud option frees up your IT people to focus on other projects and applications that are more specific to your organisation. It also offers all the key components to keep your IT infrastructure and data safe and secure. And because cloud-based UC’s pay-as-you-go model is more cost-effective, Why now could be the time? • Current contracts for hosted services are ending. • New and more collaborative ways of working can bring a sharper competitive edge. it promises minimal expense on infrastructure, upgrades and in-house support services. So it’s ideal for IT departments with limited capital budgets, under pressure to get maximum value for money. Security moves up the agenda. No one in their right mind would argue the risk of IT security • Bringing together fixed and mobile communications improves customer service and draws customers closer. breaches is decreasing – the rapid growth in compliance and • It’s now possible to simplify communications and have visibility and control over devices and costs. to Lloyd’s Risk Index 2013, cyber risk has jumped from 16th to is the response by enterprises to this growing threat. According 3rd on C-Level executives’ priority list since 2011. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 3 *Survey of 318 Vodafone customers by independent consultants (April 2013) regulation paints its own picture. But perhaps more important Vodafone’s multinational customer survey showed that security was the top concern for 79% of customers, rising to 82% for those with remote and mobile employees. But security is only as strong as its weakest link, so having one integration and implementation to help you realise the benefits service provider for all your future communications services of UC. We have over 1,000 employees accredited with vendor – mobile, fixed and cloud – can radically simplify your whole IPT and UC certifications. In fact, Bluefish – a leading European approach to security. That means safeguarding corporate IT and communications consultancy within Vodafone – will help data and information end-to-end – wherever it resides in, and ensure you choose the right suppliers, vendors and partners. however it moves through the network. As Craig Palmer, Director of Northern Europe explains, At Vodafone, we’ve invested heavily in developing a wide- “Our unique UC Maturity Model enables us to assess how ranging security portfolio that’s flexible, modular and able to UC can support an organisation’s business processes, identify and manage threats quickly and effectively. Along define the expected benefits, create a detailed transition with a team of 800 dedicated security experts, we have and transformation plan, and guide them through the all the elements you need for resilient, reliable and secure implementation. It’s about helping enterprises take full communications – from secure IP-VPN networks between sites advantage of the business benefits of UC in the cloud – such to secure data centres to device ‘Lock and Wipe’ to security as integration with Active Directory, PBX, PSTN or connectivity cleared staff. And we have the track record to prove it – for with contact centres.” Learn more at www.bluefishplc.com example, in the UK we’re Government List X-compliant and, as you’d expect, PSN-certified, with ISO 27001 compliance around Bundles of joy the globe. Gartner’s second recommendation for enterprises considering UC&C in the cloud is to “include bundling of telecom minutes Choosing a UC&C service provider – Gartner recommends as part of a UCaaS solution to satisfy demands for lower Gartner’s ‘Market Guide for UCaaS in Europe’ highlights enterprise telephony platforms during the past 10 years”. In that what constitutes UCaaS varies among service providers. It also notes that not all have a “fully elastic offer with clear utility-charging models for customers segments.” The guide also outlines four key recommendations IT planners need to factor into their decision-making, when choosing a cloud-based UC service provider. Bring it all together The first recommendation is that “solutions should take account of integration and interoperability needs”. The good news is that 4 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud Vodafone has extensive expertise and experience in migration, cost of ownership if you have invested very little in your core other words, moving to a pay-as-you-go model means you can enjoy services previously unavailable with ageing in-house technology. As well as having predictable costs, these services become even more attractive with relevant bundled fixed and mobile minutes. With UCaaS as the platform you can get the essential feature upgrades, as well as new collaboration tools such as IM and web conferencing as an integrated capability – without upfront capital investment and for lower operating costs: even if your organisation changes shape and size quickly. You We rebuilt the UK NHSmail service with new features and ways to communicate, and in the process achieved the biggest and fastest enterprise email migration of its kind. NHS staff have email that lets them share sensitive information securely, while patients benefit as the service speeds up communications relating to their care. For the full story, visit http://www.vodafone.co.uk/ cs/groups/public/documents/webcontent/vftst040816.pdf For Nutricia Research, we provide a fully integrated, hosted communications service based on Vodafone One Net Enterprise. It covered fixed and mobile telephony, messaging and collaboration. Edwin Klaasen, IT Manager, Nutricia Research, commented, “The implementation was smooth with a capital ‘S’. The whole process was under time pressure and Vodafone did a great job.” can also make the most of new mobility advances including As well as its ability to use other service providers’ WANs secure device management and CYOD (Choose Your Own or its own, Vodafone’s UCaaS-based One Net Enterprise Device) and UC can be delivered on existing devices with no solution integrates Cisco and Microsoft platforms with its modification. Users can also choose smartphone apps like Lync advanced and flexible fixed and mobile network. This provides and Jabber if they want to add further functionality. an end-to-end UCaaS solution that is both customer-focused and extremely flexible. And who can you rely on to make the above a reality? Vodafone is the only global service provider to offer truly integrated fixed In conclusion... and mobile networks, alongside a range of extremely cost- There’s no disputing cloud-based UC is here to stay. The effective tariffs that bring together text, calls and data. demand for more agile and cost-effective services, more mobile A license to flex? and better connected employees – equipped with the right tools to do their jobs – has fuelled a gradual move to the cloud. But The third recommendation from Gartner when choosing a UC the momentum is building, especially as enterprises see the in the cloud service provider is to “pay close attention to the benefits of being able to control costs more effectively, even elasticity of licensing to weed out pure hosting offers made to as new business processes are being rolled out and legacy look like cloud when evaluating suppliers. The ability to flex the services and products are phased out. Reliability and security number of licenses on a monthly basis will form the basis of cost concerns have been addressed, too, with ever-stronger SLAs savings over more traditional on-premises-based solutions.” and stringent access control and threat management services, such as 24/7 proactive monitoring. Vodafone’s approach to pricing structures aims to be as flexible and as straightforward as possible. As well as having single Want to find out more? pricing structures and bundling of services, organisations can If you have any questions about what you’ve read subscribe to services and applications grouped into three here, or you’d like to explore in more detail how Unified easy packages for typical employee role requirements. This Communications could help your organisation, please visit our not only eliminates license fees for unused features, but also website http://enterprise.vodafone.com/global/what-we-do/ gives enterprises greater flexibility about which features it our-solutions/unified-communications/vone/index.jsp or contact offers to which users. You can also have the potential to re-use http://enterprise.vodafone.com/user/loadContactUs.do m or transfer existing Microsoft or Cisco licenses to deploy a Vodafone UC service. Like-for-like and end-to-end The fourth recommendation from Gartner is that enterprises should “evaluate UCaaS offerings on a like-for-like basis, focusing on the application platform independent of the network”. Gartner also suggests paying “close attention to the provider’s service-level framework for delivering end-to-end This world-leading electronics manufacturer can now embrace new ways of working across the company and with customers, too. Vodafone’s mobile and fixed solution also brought significant financial benefits, including: connectivity savings of 22% by moving to a single supplier; projected savings of 10-15% from a fixed and mobile inventory audit; a further 17% TCO saving including the disposal and rationalisation of legacy equipment. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 5 service, especially across multiple network providers.” “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Phasellus eget justo.” Your name Your title Your organization Research from Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00263174, Steve Blood, Daniel O’Connell, 28 May 2014 Market Guide for UCaaS in Europe The unified-communications-as-a-service market in Europe is starting to mature with a number of Pan-European offers that may appeal to IT planners. Competition among technology platforms will remain intensive, in many cases even within the same service provider. Gartner defines unified communications (UC) in terms of a set of six broad communications functions for markets of UCaaS and its on-premises counterpart (see Note 1): Key Findings • Voice and telephony — including wired and wireless connectivity • Most unified communications as a service (UCaaS) providers in Europe offer UCaaS solutions from Cisco (with Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution [HCS]) and from Microsoft (with its Hosted Lync solution). • Conferencing — audio, video and Web • The average size of a customer deployment for UCaaS is in the 250 to 2,500 user range, while large implementations of more than 10,000 users account for less than 20% of the total users. • Presence and IM • What constitutes UCaaS varies among providers. Not all providers have a fully elastic offer with clear utilitycharging models for customer segments. Recommendations • Expect a single service provider response with the most appropriate technology, not multiple responses based on different technology solutions and platforms. Solutions should take account of integration and interoperability needs. 6 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud Market Definition • Include bundling of telecom minutes as part of a UCaaS solution to satisfy demands for lower cost of ownership if you have invested very little in your core enterprise telephony platforms during the past 10 years. • Pay close attention to the elasticity of licensing to weed out pure hosting offers made to look like cloud when evaluating suppliers. The ability to flex the number of licenses on a monthly basis will form the basis of cost savings over more traditional on-premises-based solutions. • Evaluate UCaaS offerings on a like-for-like basis, focusing on the application platform independent of the network. Pay close attention to the provider’s service-level framework for delivering end-to-end service, especially across multiple network providers. • Messaging — voice mail and unified messaging (UM) with integration with email • Clients — including desktop clients, mobile clients and thin-browser clients • Communication integrated with business applications — for example, integrated collaboration and contact center applications Mobility, through smartphones and tablets, plays a prominent role in the UCaaS ecosystem. The more advanced mobility offerings integrate PBX features into the mobile endpoints, obviating traditional handsets in certain cases. To satisfy the communications as a service (CaaS) definition, we have evaluated suppliers in terms of support for the five core attributes of a cloud service: • Service-Based — Although organizations are interested in the underlying platforms used to provide the service, the focus is on the service provider’s capabilities to provision, manage and bill, not on the technology platform utilized. There are multiple, disparate platforms offered to complete a UCaaS solution, or multiple platforms offering competitive capabilities. Clients should favor a common consolidated service platform offering a full set of UC services. • Scalable and Elastic — It’s essential that solutions enable customers to scale down, as well as scale up as part of the contracted service. The majority of services are able to scale to satisfy many thousands of users per organization, but the degree of elasticity varies among suppliers. Elasticity is a key requirement for organizations that have variability in the number of employees throughout the year, and one of the reasons why there is interest in UCaaS. IT planners should understand the scope of elasticity with its potential providers, as it can have a positive impact on total cost of ownership (TCO). • Shared — The service shares a pool of resources for economies of scale. This includes virtualized, multithreaded architectures, as well as partitioned application platforms, as both are relevant to the needs of organizations today. Most service providers evaluated have multiple and competing shared service platforms. As with service-based attributes, organizations should favor a common consolidated service platform in either a virtualized or partitioned configuration. • Metered by Use — The service should be available as a pay-per-user model as it relates to the number of users configured or installed. It does not have to include handsets or network usage, but the service costs should be clearly defined. Some providers offer only customized pricing on a case-by-case basis. Clients should favor suppliers that provide detailed information on charges per user, per service. • Internet Technologies — At the core of the service, the platform is Internet Protocol (IP)-based. The delivery mechanism of services to customers is likely to include private IP networks, chiefly Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Ethernet services, as well as public Internet. This is the case for all UCaaS providers in the European market today. Market Direction • Better integrated interface experience (user experience) so that users are able to effectively leverage the broad array of communication technologies. • Improved collaboration so that groups of employees are able to share and collaborate in real time on common work projects, irrespective of where they are working. To achieve collaboration across an organization, the service provider offering UCaaS should be providing a common platform and a common set of tools for all employees engaged in collaboration. For organizations where collaboration takes place across multiple countries and time zones in Europe, the service provider should be capable of providing the same service platform to all employees. There are essentially three types of service providers addressing the UCaaS market in Europe: • Communications Service Provider (CSP) — CSPs have a heritage of providing communications services to large and small organizations, and some with experience in and services for IP Centrex technology. They tend to have strengths in providing services to a small number of primary countries, with an extension of service to secondary destinations. CSPs are strongest where they have an incumbent wired and wireless network provision, and leverage this capability in offering a converged service to other European locations of their incumbent customers. CSPs generally build a service proposition from a technology partner using their own infrastructure to host the platform. • Application Specialists — These vendors build a service proposition using their intellectual property, rather than relying on a technology partner. Their services tend to be complete, but are limited by region. Their service platforms typically utilize commercially available data center services, and are offered independently of network provision. These suppliers will have interconnect agreements for terminating voice and networking traffic. Their go-to-market model is typically to sell either direct or in conjunction with a local partner. The early position of the UCaaS market in Europe means that application specialists are focusing on direct go-to-market activities in key countries. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 7 The UCaaS market in Europe is, like other cloud services, maturing slower than in North America. In most European countries, communications has historically been perceived as having low value, hence with lower investment. Investing in unified desktop and mobile communications tools is taking time to achieve acceptance. Most IT organizations expect to achieve savings on their communications purchases and services, while the purpose of UC is to deliver greater user functionality and value for higher license fees. The combination of UCaaS licensing and bundling of telecom minutes across fixed and mobile devices is likely to deliver a low cost of ownership, especially where the service is targeted at a like-for-like PBX or IP-PBX replacement. The purpose and value of UC is: • System Integrators (SIs) — SIs build service propositions using one or more technology partners. They tend to be large multinational, multibillion dollar businesses that have the financial capital to build out cloud-based services for their customers. SIs especially have a history of providing hosted, build-to-order services for customers, are wellversed in the sales model and have the commercial acumen to migrate the hosted proposition to UCaaS. They are more likely to have customized deals, where outsourcing includes people as well as the service platform. SIs are less likely to address routine communications needs, unless they are on a scale large enough to be commercially viable. Irrespective of the broader capabilities of some providers to offer WAN and LAN services, IT planners should evaluate the UCaaS solution as an independent application platform. This will help planners engaged in the bid review process ensure that pricing is on a like-for-like basis and will encourage competitive tender responses. For example, an application specialist that doesn’t provide a network shouldn’t be at a disadvantage against a CSP with wired and wireless networks in place. 8 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud An argument against separation of network services is that an end-to-end service level cannot be guaranteed if the provider of the UCaaS isn’t in control of all network delivery components. This should be regarded as a shortfall in the provider that uses this excuse, not as a reason for selecting a single supplier. Organizations typically have several providers for networking components. Introducing these providers into commercial negotiations slows down the process of signing a contract. It also limits the IT organization’s flexibility in changing network topology, or negotiating for greater capacity or resilience if the UCaaS contract is tied to the network. Equally important is the need to switch service providers for UCaaS, or introduce other suppliers for niche requirements. Network lock-in as part of the UCaaS contact will limit IT planners’ flexibility in service provision. It is, however, still important that there is an end-to-end SLA in place for the UCaaS solution. Irrespective of the providers in the network, if a user experiences a quality-of-service problem or a dropped call, then the fault will presumably lie with the UCaaS provider. The solution is to construct a service-level framework to incorporate all points of failure and to assign target service levels with appropriate penalty charges for nonconformance. There are essentially three layers of service to consider, and not all can or will be provided by the same UCaaS provider. The layers are: • UCaaS application platform and ingress/egress for communication and Internet, including Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) interconnect and Ethernet • WAN connectivity, including MPLS and Ethernet • LAN connectivity and devices, including wireless LAN (WLAN), handsets and PCs Market Analysis The UCaaS market in Europe has similar challenges to its on-premises counterpart in terms of business justification, but adoption is less about cost savings and more about the strategy for sourcing and ongoing management. Our research indicates that organizations with 250 to 2,500 users are the most common adopters of UCaaS. Some service providers reported having customers with more than 10,000 users, but these instances were less common. Four Scenarios That Favor UCaaS We identify four client investment scenarios that favor the UCaaS approach. Supporting the Cloud-First Strategy Organizations that have decided on a cloud-first strategy for IT procurement should also consider CaaS. The traditional model of sourcing right-to-use licenses as a large upfront capital expenditure will become an unusual operation. Therefore, satisfying financial considerations of the CFO’s office will command only a utility-model approach. The cloud approach will benefit organizations that are in growth mode and/or have variable communications requirements during the year. Contract elasticity should enable IT leaders to deliver services with shorter lead times, although not necessarily for a lower TCO. For organizations that adopt a cloud-first strategy, cost should be of lower importance compared with service delivery and management. UCaaS enables organizations to minimize the risk of technology investment in the event a UC project is delayed or put on hold. Cloud providers offer greater flexibility in changing contract terms for users, adding and removing features and functionality at short notice. This can be a more acceptable approach than investing upfront in licenses that are not deployed due to project delays. Addressing Communications Underinvestment IT organizations that have chosen not to invest in enterprise telephony over the past 15 to 20 years cannot continue to support legacy technologies, because there will be higher costs and greater risks of equipment failure. At the same time, these IT organizations don’t have the impetus or time to start a multiyear voice and data convergence project, like those that leading IT organizations started in the 2003 to 2008 time frame. With a maturing data network in place, these organizations are better positioned to skip the enterprise IP telephony centralization and convergence road map of the early 2000s and move directly to procuring communications as a cloud service. While core enterprise telephony capabilities have been regarded as a commodity and not warranting investment, the same organizations are using collaboration tools such as IM and/or Web conferencing. There is an opportunity for IT planners to use UCaaS as a platform. It will enable them to move ahead with essential telephony upgrades and incorporate the collaboration tools as an integrated capability for equal or lower operating and management costs. They can do so without the upfront capital investment, an opportunity unavailable for enterprise on-premises telephony for more than 15 years. Revisiting the Hosted IP-PBX Contract The telecom market in Europe was early to adopt MPLS networking through the first decade of the 21st century. Combined with an IP telephony convergence project, a number of telecom operators started offering hosted networking services, including voice and data networking as a service, something that was particularly popular with organizations that had distributed networking and fragmented communications infrastructures. The cost of providing the service was amortized over the contract term to enable a peruser-per-month charging structure. The main challenge was that each service was a build-to-order contract with limited product management to keep service at the leading edge derived from the initial implementation. Minimizing Additional UC Support Requirements for Internal IT It’s important to recognize a key reason why organizations subscribe to cloud-based audio and Web conferencing services: User support is provided as part of the cloud provider’s service. The cost of user support is often not included in the business case for moving conferencing back in-house with an on-premises-based UC platform. Frequent use of ad hoc UC conferencing tools can limit a user’s need Supporting UC environments is a relatively new skill set. Rather than invest in hiring specialists to address the UC skill set, some European organizations are finding that outsourcing as part of a UC service is an attractive option, especially with more stringent employment terms and conditions in place. Representative Vendors The vendors listed in this Market Guide do not imply an exhaustive list. This section is intended to provide more understanding of the market and its offerings. 8x8 8x8 is a U.S.-based application specialist provider of UCaaS solutions, recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America.” Its Virtual Office platform comprises its intellectual property, enabling it the flexibility to offer elasticity and utility licensing of cloud services across a range of integrated endpoints, both fixed and mobile. Its strength is with small and midsize organizations in North America, but it is expanding to larger organizations. 8x8 is a new entrant in the European market, establishing itself initially in the U.K. with a full-service offering. It has the ability to port telephone numbers from 70 countries with carrier partners, but organizations should be aware of the limitations of country and currency billing. AT&T AT&T is a recognized global supplier of communications services to large organizations. Its offer for UCaaS in Europe is AT&T Unified Communications Services. It integrates voice telephony in 30 countries in Europe, and reportedly will soon be available in 64 countries globally (based on Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Solution) with the Cisco Jabber UC client and WebEx, as well as the AT&T Web Conferencing platform. Three core products make up AT&T’s UCaaS offer: UC Voice (to provide core voice capabilities); Cisco Jabber (a client interface for multimodal communications); and WebEx or AT&T Connect (core Web conferencing platform). In addition to the UCaaS platform, AT&T offers hosted Microsoft Lync, as well as managed IP telephony with Cisco and Avaya, all of which are described as part of the AT&T Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 9 Organizations that are approaching the end of a hosted communications service contract should consider UCaaS instead of continuing with an extension to the hosted service, or returning to an on-premises-oriented sourcing and service model. for support. IT organizations will need to address broader network implications, security vulnerabilities and quality of service to ensure their UC service is running effectively, especially as it is rolled out to a wider audience, often in different countries and time zones. UCaaS proposition. While AT&T reports a strong presence across most European countries, it’s not clear which services are being used in each country. Since AT&T’s UCaaS portfolio is quite broad, organizations asking for references should specify which type of service they are looking to subscribe to and in which geographies. with centralized SIP trunking. There are options for hybrid, and community cloud services consumption models and application/cloud integration into a number of business and collaboration applications. Kcom Workplaces is serviceorientated and elastic, as it enables clients to flex and burst seats, which is proving valuable with contact as a service to provide business agility for seasonal variances. BT BT is a global supplier of communications services with particular strengths in the European marketplace to serve international organizations. BT One Cloud centers on Cisco Hosted Unified Communications technologies and One Cloud Lync with Microsoft. It uses Genband technology for IP Centrex, and supports Web conferencing with Cisco WebEx and videoconferencing with Polycom. BT serves mostly the large enterprise market with UCaaS, maintaining a strong market position in the U.K. BT is expanding its Cisco-based offer to meet broader European, North American and Asia/Pacific requirements. Its Microsoft Lync solution is used in North America and Latin America, and is being introduced to select countries in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region. Larger organizations with Pan-European requirements should understand the geographic extent of each of BT’s One Cloud offers. Interoute 10 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud Interoute is a Pan-European-based provider of computing and communications services to end-user organizations, as well as to service providers and mobile operators. It is recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for European Managed Hosting.” Interoute’s UCaaS proposition centers on hosted Microsoft Lync and is augmented with voice services using Genband, and audio-, video- and Web conferencing services with Acano and BroadSoft. Interoute’s strength is in connecting European locations with a largely fiber-based network and to major hubs on other continents. Its investment in software-defined networking will be an important advantage for advancing more effective deployment of on-demand unified communications (UC) services, especially with Microsoft Lync. Organizations looking to source an enterprise-grade service with Microsoft Lync should look at Interoute’s offer as an alternative to Lync Online. Kcom Kcom is a U.K.- based information and communications service provider to enterprise, public sector and indirect channel partner organizations. Kcom Workplaces is a Cisco Powered UCaaS proposition based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration architecture. Kcom Workplaces provides Cisco IP telephony, UC, collaboration and contact center as a service Although Kcom’s presence is predominantly in the U.K., it has the ability to support international satellite locations via its strategic service partnership with Intact. Kcom is an experienced provider of solutions with the Cisco portfolio, and its specialty in communications means it’s well-placed to capitalize on offering UCaaS solutions with the Cisco HCS platform. It’s a good consideration for U.K.-based organizations, especially those in the public sector with a cloud-first strategy. Orange Business Services Orange Business Services is a global IT and communications services provider. The B2B arm of Orange provides communications services to companies of all sizes in France and multinationals worldwide. Business Together as a Service (BTaaS) is its UCaaS proposition, a comprehensive and complete portfolio centered on Cisco HCS. It includes Oracle for messaging and integration with IBM Sametime, and Microsoft Lync for IM and presence capabilities. Orange’s customer base is strongest in France, but Orange has deployments across all of Europe. Capacity deployed now spans a global presence and is reachable through the Orange network, as well as any third-party network. Orange has a growing managed service business for Microsoft Lync, which is a potential alternative to BTaaS. Midsize and large organizations with Pan-European or global requirements for UCaaS should consider Orange’s portfolio. Telefonica Telefonica is a provider of managed infrastructure and communications services to organizations around the world. Managed Unified Communications and Collaboration Services is the brand name for a range of Telefonica communications and collaboration services that utilize technologies from Cisco, Unify, Microsoft and Genband. Telefonica provides managed IP telephony services with Alcatel-Lucent, and audioconferencing and videoconferencing from Polycom and Huawei. For the global stage, it has rolled out a Cisco HCS platform with nodes in London, Miami and Hong Kong. While its strength in deployment is in Western Europe and Latin America, Telefonica has customers in most of the major countries in Europe and around the world. It utilizes multiple platforms to serve its customers, but the global Unified Communications and Collaboration solution is based on one or two technologies taking center stage. Organizations should understand the scope of the UCaaS offer in each of its target country deployments. Thinking Phone Networks Thinking Phone Networks (TPN) is a U.S.-based application specialist provider of UCaaS solutions, recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America.” Its ThinkingSuite application platform is based mostly on its intellectual property, which gives it flexibility for elasticity and utility licensing. It includes integrations with IBM Sametime and Cisco WebEx for Web conferencing requirements. Its strength is with small and midsize businesses in North America. TPN is a recent entrant to the European market having deployed data center facilities in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Through partnerships with multiple telecom operators, it can port telephone numbers and supply directdial service to 51 countries. Organizations should understand the extent of in-country support for the emerging European business when considering TPN. Verizon Verizon is a recognized global supplier of communications services with strong brand recognition among European organizations. Its UCaaS proposition is fragmented, comprising an IP Centrex service with technology from BroadSoft, videoconferencing with Cisco and Polycom, as well as its own Web conferencing solution; but lacks IM and presence. It has a Cisco HCS platform deployed in North America and has plans to extend this to Europe. Vodafone Vodafone Group Enterprise, the B2B arm of Vodafone, is a provider of managed and hosting services for fixed and mobile, voice and data networks around the world. Vodafone VONE is most mature in markets where the company has fixed and wired networks deployed already. It has national points of presence in most countries in Europe, and leverages its presence in 80 countries where it has equity interest and partner networks to serve organizations that are looking to converge fixed and mobile estates with a single supplier. Midsize and large organizations with Pan-European requirements for UCaaS should consider Vodafone’s portfolio. Market Recommendations There are four key client investment scenarios that favor the UCaaS solution: 1 Organizations that have determined a cloud-first strategy for IT procurement. The traditional model of sourcing right-to-use licenses as a large upfront capital expenditure will become an unusual operation, so that satisfying financial considerations of the CFO’s office will command only a utility-model approach. 2 IT organizations that have chosen not to continuously invest in communications over the past 15 to 20 years have reached a position where they cannot continue to support legacy technologies without investing more money or risking equipment failure. 3 Organizations that are approaching the end of a hosted communications service contract should consider UCaaS, rather than extending the hosted service or returning to an on-premises-oriented sourcing and service model. 4 Organizations that outsource support for UC environments, rather than invest in hiring additional specialists in the internal IT operations group to manage user issues and service challenges on a day-to-day basis. In looking for a cloud-first strategy, the IT organization should relinquish the decision for selecting a technology platform to the service provider. A single-cloud response with the most appropriate solution is required. Multiple responses based on different technology solutions are not needed. This will encourage the service provider to pick the most appropriate solution for the organization’s needs, rather than just quote the most likely options the customer wants to see. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 11 Verizon’s conferencing capabilities have been established in Europe for more than 13 years. Its IP Centrex platform has been offered in Europe since 2006, and Hosted Video since 2012. The extent of rollout across Europe for each of these services varies. Organizations considering Verizon for UCaaS should evaluate what part of Verizon’s portfolio meets their needs and in which countries. One Net Enterprise (VONE) is a UCaaS platform based on Cisco HCS and Microsoft Lync Online as part of Microsoft Office 365. It integrates these platforms with IMS in its mobile network to provide an end-to-end UCaaS solution across wired and wireless endpoints. Vodafone One Net for small businesses is deployed on a country-by-country basis where Vodafone has a mobile network. IT leaders who have sweated their legacy telephony infrastructure for the past 10 years are more likely will find that the cost of ownership of a UCaaS platform will be higher than the legacy system, even for a like-for-like replacement. It is important to reset expectations with budget holders. While some cost savings may emerge in some areas, other platforms will require an investment that, in turn, will improve communications among groups of users. Benefits will vary by industry segment. When evaluating supplier responses, IT buyers should pay close attention to the elasticity of licensing to identify pure hosting offers made to look like cloud. The ability to flex the number of licenses on a monthly basis will form the basis of cost savings over more traditional on-premises-based solutions. With this in mind, organizations with minimal head count variations over the year may find UCaaS not a costsaving opportunity. Evaluating UCaaS should be on a like-for-like basis, focusing on the application platform independently of the network. IT planners should pay attention to the provider’s service-level framework for delivering end-to-end service, especially where it is delivered across multiple network providers. Evidence In addition to analyzing client inquiry and research for Magic Quadrants in the communications space, we received eight positive responses to an RFI we issued to 20 European-based providers of communications services in 3Q13. We received two more responses in 1Q14 to complete this report. m Note 1. UCaaS Detailed Definitions • Voice and Telephony. This area includes fixed, mobile and soft telephony, as well as the evolution of PBXs and IP PBXs. This also includes live multimedia communications, such as video telephony. • Conferencing. This area includes separate audioconferencing, videoconferencing and Web conferencing functions, as well as converged unified conferencing capabilities. • Messaging. This area includes email, which has become an indispensable business tool, voice mail and UM in various forms. 12 l Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud • Presence and IM. These play an increasingly central role in next-generation communications, enabling the aggregation and publication of presence and location information from and to multiple sources. This enhanced functionality is sometimes called “rich presence.” • Clients. Unified clients enable access to multiple communication functions from a consistent interface. These may have different forms, including thick desktop clients, thin-browser clients and mobile PDA clients, as well as specialized clients embedded within business applications. • Communication Applications. This broad group of applications has directly integrated communication functions. Key application areas include consolidated administration tools, collaboration applications, contact center applications and notification applications. Eventually, other applications will be communications-enabled. When business applications are integrated with communication applications, Gartner calls these “communication-enabled business processes.” About Vodafone Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 52 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 30 June 2014, Vodafone had 436 million mobile users and 9 million fixed broadband users with 3.8 million enterprise users on Vodafone One Net UC services. Taking Unified Communications to the Cloud l 13