UC is Free
UC is Free by Stephen Leaden
Have you done any comparison shopping lately? Have you noticed the pricing of the VoIP-PBX replacement now including UC licensing for little to no cost? For all intents and purposes, UC is now “free.”
We have a client for whom we had to obtain budgetary pricing for twice over the last 24 months for a several thousand PBX replacement to include. The comparisons of the two pricing schedules were, in one word, remarkable. The industry has come a long way in just less than 24 months. Pricing dropped over 10% for a nearly identical specification including VoIP, UC, Unified Messaging, Call Center, Emergency Notification, and other technology tools.
Here is a summary of what we are finding across the enterprise landscape:
1. UC (IM/chat, presence, document sharing, ad hoc audio conferencing, ad hoc video conferencing, Web collaboration, softphones) is now, on the most part, bundled with standard desktop phone end-point licensing:
- This makes the acquisition of UC part of the VoIP environment pretty painless
- Now it’s a matter of “what do I do with it,” not “should I purchase it?”
- In one manufacturer’s instance, when bundling UC with Call Center components, capital cost to purchase actually goes down, based on how the manufacturer bundles their licensing and pricing. It is clear from this example that acceptance of UC in the Call Center is here and has become a financially attractive model. I would expect this trend to continue among all manufacturers.
2. Software subscription pricing has been virtually eliminated, no longer an option but built into annual maintenance pricing.
- Some options are available for software upgrades if the enterprise desires to do so, which is manufacturer-specific
3. Maintenance pricing has dropped dramatically – the notion of repairing remotely without a truck roll, without a technician on site, is now real.
- We have seen maintenance pricing drop by almost half compared with its TDM legacy predecessor
4. Most manufacturers are allowing the enterprise to use their own servers if desired.
- For example, an enterprise “HP shop” can optionally use HP servers for the VoIP-PBX and UC functionality
- This reduces the hardware component cost from the VAR to the enterprise – the cost to purchase a server through an existing program in many cases is stronger than purchasing most “private label” servers offered by the VARs
5. Virtualization has effectively reduced the number servers required to support a fully loaded UC environment.
- The number of servers now required in a virtualized environment can be as much as 75% less than a non-virtualized environment
So when you bundle all of these trends together, the end result is dramatic: UC for all intents and purposes, is now “free.”
How can one take advantage of UC with these new trends? Here are some tips:
1. If you do not have official approval as yet, develop a Needs Assessment and a resultant pro forma specification and Request for Information/RFI. You can obtain budgetary pricing from the vendors for baseline approval purposes.
2. When developing a baseline specification, consider UC as an option (or requirement) for your environment – you will need to be specific how many users will take advantage of UC compared with the total number of end points. This way pricing will be broken out, you will have some choices, and you will see quite plainly that bundling UC has a better cost proposition over a VoIP-only solution and can therefore better justify the “non-expense” of UC.
3. Do your comparison shopping among several key manufacturers/VARs in your vertical market, line size, and number of locations. Include required pricing components, optional pricing, capital and ongoing support maintenance costs for an entire lifecycle seven year out Total Cost of Ownership.
4. Develop a plan that will incorporate UC as part of your VoIP-PBX replacement strategy. This should incorporate a testbed group for acclimating the fundamental business process changes and changes in cultural aspects available to the organization via UC. Be specific about engaging “friendly” testbed individuals representing key core departments as to how they may utilize these applications and how they can improve their own business processes. Not all groups will need a fully robust set of UC tools, while others will thrive on them.
So at a high level, a VoIP/UC will help pay for itself. For all intents and purposes, UC is now “free.” Add SIP trunking as another area to even further reduce costs getting UC to the “better than free" level. Learn how UC can make a dramatic difference in how your organization runs, along with time to deliver on services, products, and shared knowledge base by using the tools available that were not even around just five years ago.
So with UC now free, history says that acceptance and deployment will definitely proliferate, as did the cellular market when rate per minute became competitive. So don’t wait until others are already using UC – use it as a differentiator for delivering services and products faster, cheaper, and better utilizing UC as the vehicle that will deliver on this promise. Be the hero to your organization – it’s time!