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Managed service is the buzzword in telecom industry now. In network infrastructure, managed services have really taken off. In data services too enterprises have opened up and are subscribing to managed services from the services providers. However, in voice services the market is still in its nascent stages. Not only is there a lack of awareness and excitement about managed voice services among the enterprises, but the service providers have also been mainly cashing in on the data services and have not paid much attention to the voice services.

Though BSNL has a slew of managed voice offerings, the revenue percentage is very less. According to the officials the lack of government sector support and the SMB segment still not opening to these services has restrained the growth in this area. The operators who have good base of enterprise customers have been able to take a lead in these services.

"The awareness on managed voice services is low and service provider also have not been proactive in offering these services till now. Things are changing slowly. It is not that demand is not there. Reliance has taken few steps towards these services and others are following," said Heramb Ranade, product head, enterprise broadband, Reliance Infocomm.

Till now, for voice services enterprises had to depend on three types of players. One, a service provider who provides the connectivity. Two, the equipment vendor who provides hardware like the phone instruments, EPBXs etc. And third, the in-house enterprise team that looks after all these. Services providers manage the link, vendors manage (or services) the hardware, and the enterprise teams manage the vendors and the service provider.

With managed voice services, the number of players can be cut down from three to just one-the service provider taking care of everything. All that the enterprise has to do is state its requirements, signs an SLA with the service provider, and forgets everything else. Another advantage of these changed business dynamics is that the service offerings can be tweaked to suit the enterprise's requirements.

The biggest advantage of the managed voice service is that the enterprises are relieved of the additional infrastructural investments. The headache of maintaining a team to manage the infrastructure is also done away with. Though control over the hardware is lost (to some extent) but gains come from quality of service. The enterprise can still dictate the terms of service and maintain the provisions for scaling up as and when required, without worrying about the investments.

Also, technology changes very fast and for a CIO it is difficult to convince the management to adopt the latest as there is always a cost factor involved. However, in a managed service scenario the onus is on the service provider to incorporate new changes and better the service offerings. "Managed services is, in a way, a guarantee against things getting obsolete in a network-be it voice, data, or video centric," says Alok Sinha, general manager, enterprise solutions, Tata Teleservices.

Centrex Drives Managed Services
Centrex (central exchange) integrates all the multi-located telephone lines into a single, highly functional communications group. People can access other members of their group by dialing just three or four digits. It allows the caller to be directly routed to the person, or the extension, without going through a PBX. It also serves as an intercom, with extension numbers being used for internal calls. It is a software-based service installed at the service provider's wireline exchange, and offers functionalities similar to an EPBX-while retaining the benefits of a direct line.

The difference between a centrex and EPBX is that in a centrex customers don't need to have any additional equipment at their premises-straightaway cutting down on costs. Freedom from the device takes off the burden of its maintenance, and bothers like its power supply and floor space it occupies also get eliminated automatically.

Further, service providers combine features like free intercom calls, conditional call forward, and CLIP services to make centrex attractive to the enterprise customers.

With IP now gaining lot of traction, vendors like Cisco, Avaya, and Juniper have come out with IP-based centrex. Experts say, IP-centrex would be the first managed voice service to be delivered on next generation networks (NGN). NGNs are designed to carry voice and other delay-sensitive traffic. This makes them an ideal platform for delivering a feature-rich, efficient, company-wide telephone system across all offices-managed from a central point.

Centrex Not the Only Offering
Apart from centrex, voice over MPLS-VPNs is another area that can be brought under the ambit of managed voice services. However, there are regulatory issues preventing this from happening in India. The decision to go on MPLS-based WAN is more of an efficiency-driven, cost-saving decision, but it is available only for data services as of now. "MPLS-VPNs are not allowed to connect to PSTN and different PBX is requires to terminate voice calls. This defeats the purpose of reducing devices through managed services," said Ranade.

Then there are services like leased lines for voice, voice conferencing, voice VPNs, and direct inward dialing (DID), which are being offered as managed voice services. Services on closed user group (CUG) are also considered to be an enterprise managed service. But some differ on this. "CUGs cannot be taken as managed services, especially for mobile networks. Mobile is an individual service. Even if it is an office connection, it is used more as a personal device. And, if a group is talking among itself it cannot be called a managed service. There is nothing about managing the service, it is more of a feature of the mobile networks," said an official of a leading service provider.

However, industry experts also added that more than the telecom services, it is the associated professional services and applications management that would drive the managed voice services. These would be the next level of services, as are already being witnessed in the advanced nations. In this level, things like helpdesk services and customization of the instruments and services would be provided by the service provider; in addition to the connectivity.

The intelligent networks of the service providers have taken managed voice services beyond the centrex. The 1600 toll free number from BSNL-MTNL have been taken by enterprises for 24x7 customer care. Similarly, the tele-voting in Kaun Banega Crorepati revealed another aspect of managed voice service to the enterprise users.

Short-code dialing, universal access numbers, premium IVR-based voice services, and even calling cards managed voice services. And VPN is another avenue for it.

These services can be offered over wireline or wireless. The enterprises have to spell out their requirement and service providers are there with the offerings.

Success Knocking on the Doors
Going by what has happened in the data services, success of managed voice services is a certainty. With NGNs waiting around the corner to make an entry, convergence of voice and data on a single network would also happen. "With IP more entrenched in the networks, managed voice services would take off. Especially in the multimedia kind of an environment voice services would be a part of the managed services and would also give services providers to be more innovative and flexible in their offerings," said a BSNL official. Surely if there is single network on which managed data services are already there, it would be difficult to keep out voice services from the ambit of managed services-the mobile office requires voice and data services. While for the in-house IT team it is difficult to manage the multiple devices remotely, the service providers have the expertise in this domain.

The model evolving in managed services is-pay for usage per month per subscriber. A strict adherence to SLAs is the main component. The management is getting sensitive baout capex and opex of any infrastructure. Unlike in the past when decision to outsource anything was taken by the CIO, it has now moved to the CEO level. This is an indication of the importance being attached to these services. Any move showing a reduction in the costs with increased efficiency is welcome and this trend would drive these services.

Apart from the costs, enterprises do not want technology to be an impediment to their business plans. This is only possible when if they are not bogged by technological issues. It is better for them to concentrate on their core business and leave the management of communications to the experts. Though managed services are widely regarded to be the future, the migration to them would not happen overnight. It would be a slow transition, with a mix of self-managed infrastructure and some of the voice services being managed by the service providers. The enterprises would like to wait and watch before the handing over or buying these services. The market no doubt is in its infancy and would take time to mature.

Anurag Prasad