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Communications ASP Services
January/February 2001

 

Unifying Hosted Services Through Interaction Management

BY CHRISTINE HOLLEY

After nearly a decade of flat-line growth, the application hosting market is enjoying more than a few heart palpitations. The maturation of the Internet and increasingly open, standards-based computing are finally giving birth to a turbulent, yet potentially lucrative ASP market. Underlining this potential opportunity is a recent Gartner Group report that projects the global ASP market to reach $25.3 billion by 2004, marking an increase in growth of more than 90 percent from an estimated $1 billion in 1999.

These figures, combined with the growing number of mobile workers and virtual organizations, are prompting ASPs to add hosted communication services to their offerings. To date, however, these communication services have proven difficult, at best, to implement. The reason stems largely from traditional communication architectures comprised of proprietary, hardware-based devices. These devices required huge up-front costs in order to handle long-term needs, even though such systems might be greatly underutilized for many months. In addition, integration efforts resulted in systems so complex that even minor upgrades were major tasks.

An alternative architecture has been developed, however, giving ASPs the ability to cost-effectively deploy enhanced voice and data communication services. This architecture is based on a unified platform and is increasingly referred to as interaction management (IM) technology. IM technology is software based and built on open standards. It gives ASPs the ability to offer enhanced communication services such as unified messaging, voice-mail messaging, faxing, one-number services (real-time routing), interactive voice response (IVR), conferencing, and more. Its unique architecture also addresses the primary concerns of ASPs related to cost, scalability, reliability, integration, and customization.

COST
Cost has certainly been a prohibitive factor for many ASPs who would have otherwise added enhanced communication services to further leverage their network. Traditional communication architectures meant purchasing many different devices up front such as a PBX, voice-mail server, fax server, and e-mail server. This up-front cost, combined with hefty integration costs, was a significant investment considering ASPs make use of features incrementally based on customer demand. Adding to these costs were ongoing maintenance fees on multiple devices and the cost of forklift upgrades when new features were required.

IM technology's unified architecture reduces costs by consolidating interaction processing via a single platform. Fewer devices mean reduced start-up costs for ASPs. In addition, ASPs aren't paying for redundant resources. For instance, a single reporting tool can be used across media types. This offers the added advantage of true end-to-end reporting. Maintenance costs are also reduced and administration is simplified due to a single interface. Increasingly, ASPs are using this technology to enable subscribers to provision their own services via the Internet. This also helps to contain costs. Perhaps most important, IM technology's software-based architecture enables ASPs to grow their networks incrementally as new communication services are needed. These investments are also protected well into the future since IM technology is based on open standards.

SCALABILITY
Another major concern for ASPs is the ability to scale communication services to meet customer demand. IM technology provides this by enabling ASPs to simply add additional servers to their TCP/IP network for expanded scalability. As a software-based technology, ASPs aren't tied to size breakpoints either. ASPs can deploy multiple servers across a wide-area network (WAN) to provide multi-site support when implementing large or complex applications like unified messaging for millions of users, IVR, or Web callback. Unlike many stand-alone devices, ASPs can also use IM technology to deploy and support an unlimited number of automated attendant menus, IVR scripts, and Web callback requests.

ASPs should also watch for IM technology that incorporates VoIP capabilities. This can increase scalability up to four times what normal voice boards can support.

RELIABILITY
An obvious need for any ASP is to offer reliable service to its customers. This is especially true if an ASP is to provide what is considered by many as the lifeblood of an organization -- its ability to communicate. While little compares to the reliability of a stand-alone PBX, IM technology has made significant strides in this area. Several criteria are important as ASPs evaluate the reliability of an enhanced communications solution. First, ASPs must be sure that an IM-based solution is implemented on fault tolerant, carrier-class, telephony-grade servers with multiple processor support. This allows ASPs to cluster servers for load balancing and fail-over support. For enhanced reliability, ASPs should ensure that an IM-based solution is also implemented with hot-swappable dual redundant power supplies, RAID disk arrays, multiple cooling fans, and built-in alarms. Features such as "heartbeat detection" and self-analysis should also be built into the system. ASPs might also look for IM-based solutions that incorporate ATM. ATM offers fault tolerant, guaranteed quality of service (QoS) capabilities.

IM technology's ability to support multiple switching types is a benefit that extends beyond reliability. Where network-based and other communication solutions are built using a specific switching type, IM technology was designed as a distributed, multi-application platform so it's not fixed to specific lower level components. Instead, this platform can support different switching protocols such as circuit or IP, giving ASPs the flexibility to build a solution based on their unique business model and customer needs -- not one based on the limitations of technology.

INTEGRATION
Integration to a variety of e-mail systems, Web servers, database servers, and other network devices is crucial if ASPs are to fully exploit enhanced communication services. IM technology's open architecture enables ASPs to select from a wide variety of third-party devices by incorporating industry standards such as Windows NT, Java, TCP/IP, ODBC, LDAP, SMTP, IMAP, and VPIM. This architecture enables ASPs to easily develop new applications and to also take advantage of emerging technologies. IM technology's open architecture will be an increasingly important factor as customers look to ASPs for end-to-end solutions that include e-commerce, wireless, and other applications.

CUSTOMIZATION
As the ASP market matures, differentiating services becomes more critical. ASPs must be able to customize applications quickly and cost-effectively. IM technology facilitates customization with its software-based architecture and built-in graphical user interface (GUI) tools. These tools enable ASPs to create rules that can be applied to any communications event. For instance, new IVR scripts can be written and applied across media types such as the phone for playing prompts and the Internet for Web page generation. Leveraging resources in this way allows ASPs to deliver customer-specific services faster and more cost-effectively.

ASPs should also look for IM-based solutions that include a Web interface so that subscribers can more flexibly provision their own services. A Web interface (or phone) can be used by subscribers to set and modify their own personal preferences for receiving phone calls and faxes, or for establishing their current availability status. This interface can also be used to set routing options for one-number services. For example, customers might select the option of routing calls based on one set of criteria during weekdays and another set of criteria during weekends.

While opportunities for hosted communication services are quite real, ASPs must build these services to adapt to a business model that, today anyway, can only be described as a moving target. IM technology's unified design and open, software-based architecture can help ASPs meet the demands of today's customer, while protecting their investments well into the future.

Christine J. Holley is the market communications manager for Interactive Intelligence, Inc., a global communications software company headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. Originally from Los Angeles, Ms. Holley has worked in the IT industry since 1994 and began freelance writing in 1992. Ms. Holley has been published in numerous trade, business, and academic publications. She may be reached at [email protected] or 317-715-8220. Contact Interactive Intelligence at 317-872-3000.

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