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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