Unified communications service management has always been a complex task. Successfully overseeing the administration, monitoring, and optimisation of (very often) several communications and collaboration platforms that encompass voice, video, messaging, and more within a business takes a Herculean effort and great expertise. The dramatic proliferation of AI and automation products further complicates service management, as empowering as many of their features will be for business users.
As the technology that underpins UC services becomes more advanced and elaborate, new challenges are created just as more antiquated ones are addressed. However, organisations can introduce various measures and tools for a more streamlined approach to service management.
With our latest Round Table subject, "Service Management", we spoke with experts and executives from Unimax, Nuwave and VOSS Analytics about the key challenges organisations face in managing UC services and how to overcome them, the most effective service management tools, and what role AI and automation will play in UC service management.
What are the key challenges organisations face when managing unified communications (UC) services, and how can these challenges be effectively addressed?
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David Spears[/caption]
David Spears, Chief Product Officer at Nuwave
Spears acknowledges that integrating and managing UC services has become a complex venture for organisations. "The promise of UC lies in its ability to integrate communication tools seamlessly, but organisations often grapple with challenges that hinder optimal utilisation," Spears said.
Spears listed several critical challenges in managing UC services in 2023, including visibility, where "organisations often struggle to gain a comprehensive view of their UC services, making it difficult to ensure optimal service quality, manage users, and configure settings".
Spears also noted the problem of MACD (Move, Add, Change, Delete), where regular changes within the organisation can make it challenging to keep the UC system updated and functioning smoothly. Additionally, monitoring and analysing network traffic can be essential to guarantee good service, which requires "proper tools".
Carrier response times are also critical, as delays from carriers can impact the efficiency and effectiveness of UC services. Meanwhile, accurate and timely reporting is crucial to evaluate and improve the cloud UC system's performance and voice service use for budgeting. Another challenge is that merging UC services with third-party solutions can create compatibility and functionality issues.
Other challenges that Spears included are growth without infrastructure investment, OSS/BBs integrations, unique integration requirements, cost and go-to-market efficiency, and programme alignment.
Phil Moen, President and CEO at Unimax
Moen asserted that a significant management challenge companies will face over time is the increase in systems, endpoints, licenses, and system functionality, particularly as UCaaS systems become more sophisticated.
The number of channels and modalities will only grow over time, and companies will be more likely than ever to have multiple communication system vendors in their environment. To address these challenges, companies should invest early in a multi-vendor management platform which can automate workflows with triggers, templates, and adaptable user-based databases."
Moen also suggested that having a single UC service management platform allows the organisation to push the solution closer to the problem by "enabling help desk engineers to make otherwise complicated changes for end-users simply and, indeed, all the way to the end users themselves through self-service".
"These capabilities reduce overall management costs, ensure SLAs are met and often beaten, and increase user adoption when allowed to tweak their own user experience," Moen continued.
Bill Dellara, Chief Product Officer at VOSS
Dellara cited three common hurdles that VOSS's customers face, the first being complexity.
"Navigating multiple UC systems and portals to gain a comprehensive view of all components that support and potentially affect their UC experience is a common hurdle," Dellara explained. "They need to implement management and performance tools that include UC apps, end-user devices, networks, Internet connections, remote work environments, and more."
Dellara's second common problem is balancing cost and value, where managing expenses and maximising RoI is crucial. "This involves efficiently handling licenses, optimising investments in assets such as meeting rooms and end-user devices and addressing operational costs and the scarcity of skilled resources," he added.
Dellara's final common issue is meeting end-user and business expectations. As UC and collaboration tools become increasingly critical to business strategy, user and business demands have grown accordingly. "This includes ensuring that the right capabilities are in place, promoting user adoption and utilisation of these tools, and staying agile by transitioning between solutions to meet changing business needs, both in terms of functionality and cost-effectiveness," Dellara said.
How can service management tools help large organisations running multiple UC platforms or perhaps migrating from one to another?
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Bill Dellara[/caption]
Bill Dellara, Chief Product Officer at VOSS
Dellara highlighted that, in 2023, more and more businesses will operate in constant transition.
"Even when attempting to maintain a single UC platform as a foundation, it's inevitable that additional vendors will be involved, including end-user devices, session border controllers (SBCs), customer experience solutions, and more," he continued. "Consequently, even routine UC deployments take on a multi-platform nature from an operational standpoint. And the larger the organisation, the more complex the UC platform."
Dellara stressed that the most effective service management tools are vendor-agnostic and purpose-built to streamline the management and integration of these multi-vendor solutions, allowing businesses to unify their service delivery, optimise resources, and manage it all from a single point of control.
For instance, helpdesk agents can efficiently handle requests for all solutions, eliminating the need for separate teams or specialised training in various vendor interfaces and technologies. This unified perspective across the entire infrastructure simplifies the process of assessing the current estate and automating the transition of services and solutions as necessary to align with evolving business objectives."
David Spears, Chief Product Officer at Nuwave
Phil Moen[/caption]
