Back To Basics: All-in-one Versus Individual Best-of-breed Solutions
For years, companies have debated the trade-offs between all-in-one communications solutions versus best-of-breed, or point, solutions
. As the all-in-one term implies, all of the applications in the solution are available from a single vendor on a single platform. In contrast, best-of-breed, or point, solutions require an organization to procure individual applications from various vendors, and then integrate those applications within their communications environment. While recognizing that there are advantages to both approaches, the trend has increasingly shifted toward the all-in-one model.
Q: What applications can a customer expect to get from a single communications vendor?
The all refers to the range of applications to support a specified business communications activity. An activity can become more comprehensive over time. As an example, all-in-one for a call center a decade ago include basic PBX functionality plus ACD, IVR, quality monitoring, and
workforce management. In todays contact center, an ACD has to route, manage, monitor, and report on multiple channels, not just phone calls. Channels can range from mail and web chat to SMS texting and social media. Equally vital is getting more information to contact center agents more efficiently. One established method for information access is screen-pop, which pushes information from data systems to the agents desktop. A newer capability gaining traction for information sharing in contact centers is unified communications, which lets agents make real-time connections to knowledge experts inside and outside the center.
Q: What is the origin of an all-in-one solutions capabilities? Are they all developed by the vendor offering the solution, or are some components from other suppliers or added through acquisition?
A single company can offer a solution that includes ACD, outbound dialing, IP PBX and IVR, but it doesnt necessarily mean each application comes from the same vendor. Throughout the communications industry, certain vendors are notorious for acquiring the products of other companies and trying to fit those products into their own portfolio. Sometimes the approach works, although more times than not, the level of integration complexity is high. Unless each application was developed on the same underlying platform, the customer could be strapped with multiple administrative interfaces and costly integration customization projects. Worse is the lack of functionality, since there are potential implications for how well the components work together, pass information, enable reporting, and ease overall administration.
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Q: Focusing on operating costs, are there other savings that can be associated with an all-in-one solution vs. point systems?
Along with lower integration costs, reduced administrative overhead is a major all-in-one cost saver. A study by BenchmarkPortal showed that, on average, an all-in-one
contact center of roughly 200 agents requires one fourth the administrative resources of multipoint systems. Given further reductions in the cost of managing vendor relationships, system maintenance, power consumption, and upgrades, the BenchmarkPortal findings were even more favorable for an all-in-one solution. Regarding the total annualized technology cost per agent, the study showed that the cost of an all-in-one environment is less than half that of a multipoint offering.
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Q: To get to an all-in-one deployment, is it necessary for a customer to throw out everything theyve invested in already?
All-in-one doesnt mean all-at-once, so the answer to the rip and replace question is no. An all-in-one platform, especially one developed on open standards, often supports certified integrations to third-party systems and applications. Integrations can include CRM systems, call recording systems, workforce management applications, and other PBX or
IP PBX platforms. A customer can choose to keep those other products or, over time, migrate away from them as they continue to deploy the added functionality from the all-in-one platform.
by: Rhobin Hunt
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