As the business landscape continues to evolve, the concept of “mobility” is becoming increasingly crucial. Companies of all shapes and sizes are consistently looking at ways to empower remote workers, deliver stronger mobile experiences, and even connect to consumers over smartphone connections. The question is, are OTT applications enough to provide the enterprise-level audio and collaboration quality we rely on today?
Tango Networks is a company committed to taking mobile connectivity to the next level. The company delivers a mobile solution that empowers enterprises of varying sizes to improve the impact and reach of their communication solutions via any mobile device. I spoke to Andrew Bale, the GM for Cloud Services at Tango Networks, to find out more about how mobile UC easily outshines OTT applications.
Introducing Tango Networks
Tango Networks is a communication company with about 15 years of history in the marketplace. They’ve always been focused on helping enterprises gain more control over mobile phone connections. According to Andrew, initially, the business began their quest by providing software to mobile operators that would expose the core control of mobile solutions to enterprise customers.
“We were essentially making mobile phones native extensions of a PBX, without asking people to download extra software on their phones. Selling to mobile providers was successful to some extent. However, we found that mobile operators don’t care as much as they maybe should about the needs of the enterprises. Usually, they just provide enterprises with an adapted version of their packages for the consumer market.”
Around 2 years ago, Tango Networks decided to try something new by building their own mobile network. They felt that the time was right to develop their own mobile core and consume services from operators all around the world. “This meant that we could deliver real benefits to the enterprise by giving them a mobile phone completely in their control. The calling services come from their telephony platform. The data management comes from their content management system and so on. The mobile finally sits within the control of the CIO.”
What Makes this Mobile UC Better than an OTT App?
According to Bale, the facts around mobile UC adoption speak for themselves. “If you look at the research, about 40% of businesses have installed UC clients for their employees as OTT applications. However, only 1% of users access those clients.”
Andrew believes that there are many reasons for this lack of adoption. First and foremost, the mobile industry has been limited in the number of APIs they open up to companies. This means that user experience has been quite poor for the enterprise environment when using OTT apps. Additionally, customers need to actively remember to use the app, rather than just hitting the “redial” button on their phone when they need to call someone back.
Additionally, Bale told me that the quality of audio delivered through OTT applications is notoriously poor. “If you try to use data as an over the top solution for voice calls, you’re not going to end up with a consistently good experience. That’s why many companies are paying for UC applications that their people just aren’t using.”
What Do You Offer on the Service Management Side?
When bringing mobile functionality into a business, there’s a need to ensure that the whole mobile platform works seamlessly as part of a UC platform, this requires some service management. Andrew told me that everything available from the Tango Networks service is managed inside of a portal.
According to Bale, this end-to-end control is very powerful. Additionally, under the surface, the Tango Networks infrastructure is built on a very robust platform that’s focused on microservices. One micro service is the UC mobile solution, and another is call recording. There are even services that can determine when a phone is being used inappropriately by an employee who is driving. It’s a very reliable system of applications and tools.
Can Service Providers Get Involved with your APIs?
Tango Networks also offers its solution as a platform as a service system. There are various models that the company uses to go to market, including selling through service providers, working on an agency model, and driving solutions through integrated offerings. “We can provide elements of our solution to service providers for them to use however they like.”
One deep relationship that Tango Networks has is with the Gamma brand – a team that has its own platform hosted on BroadSoft for mobility. “They have the option to connect Gamma-provided mobile phones with a Gamma platform. They’ve completed a complex task there.”
“What we’ve done is built a mobile core that adapts to any UC platform”
The Tango Networks mobility solution is live and ready to go now. The full new release of the latest edition will be available throughout the UK and the US within the next two months.
How Do You See the Market Right Now?
According to Andrew, Tango Networks doesn’t currently have a lot of competitors in the market. Major mobile operators are struggling to deliver anything similar. For companies that want the kind of service that embeds mobile into their UC, there’s nowhere else to go.
Currently, Tango Networks is looking for new opportunities to continue growing and developing their unique offering. Bale told me that the company wants to connect with every reseller and service provider looking to integrate mobility into their platform. They’re working with CSPs, and system integrators, as well as major recording vendors and other providers.
“Our major focus is on getting our story out to the resellers. However, we also want to talk to CIOs too, about their needs. This will help us to make sure that we’re heading in the right direction for our potential customers.”
