BT SmartNumbers can underpin an organisations journey to convergence by delivering on a strategy that is low cost, low risk and delivers value to the business early. We call it “Convergence on Monday Morning at 9am”.

Next Generation Networks

The final stage of any convergence strategy is the replacement of the existing voice infrastructure with a single network on which both data and voice will be delivered. The promise of low-cost calls over IP, and the rationalisation of the voice and data networks will provide cost savings to the business and greater staff efficiency. However, the business doesn't need to first build a next generation network in order to realise the benefits of convergence, and instead can adopt a strategy which delivers value to the business early through the adoption of next generation services on the existing voice network.

Next Generation Services

While next generation networks deliver cost savings to the business in terms of call costs and reduced network management, it is the next generation services that underpin greater productivity and efficiency for the business. Over time, this will have a far greater impact on business performance than cost savings gained in the adoption of an IP network for voice. Typical next generation services include unified messaging, integrated directories, presence and location information so that users can decide the best ways to contact colleagues, easy management of business rules to determine how inbound calls are handled, click-dial and other CTI services. These types of productivity services enable ‘frictionless communication’ across the organisation and provide great efficiency, flexibility and improved contactability for staff.

Prepare for disruptive events

Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are fundamental to the well being of any organisation. There are many unexpected and even commonplace events that may deny staff access to the office; fire, flood or bomb scares can turn off the oxygen of the business – taking customer calls. The critical lifeblood of any organisation is voice – being able to make and receive calls. With BT SmartNumbers delivered from the network, the organisation can be assured of its essential voice services – no matter which part of the convergence journey they happen to be on.

Convergence on Monday Morning at 9am

BT SmartNumbers de-risks and accelerates the organisations’ adoption of convergence by delivering all of the next generation services as the first stage in a convergence strategy. Organisations which underpin their convergence journey with BT SmartNumbers can deliver all their next generation services across their existing network, without requiring any change to current hardware, software or network infrastructure. Since BT SmartNumbers operate over legacy networks as well as mobile, VoIP and BT Hosted Voice, there is no new learning curve for users once the organisation moves to a next generation network. As such, these services deliver value to users early, and both de-risk and accelerates their adoption of convergence from the start.