Network Assessment
While the cost savings and new applications of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
are rapidly attracting many small to mid sized companies to this popular communication
solution, it may come with a significant price to your network. Not only must your
network carry more traffic, but VoIP traffic demands very high performance and is
more sensitive to normal network problems like delays and choppy communication.
Even modest levels of impairment, unnoticed by users of most data applications,
will cause significant caller frustration and will not sit well with your customers,
business partners, or even your own employees.
Before investing in a large-scale VoIP deployment or even in a small trial, you
need to know how well your network infrastructure will handle the additional, quality-sensitive
voice traffic. Many seemingly well-planned trials encounter delay after delay, exceed
cost estimates, and are eventually cancelled when the network proves unable to meet
the unique requirements VoIP places on it. However, these business issues can easily
be avoided if your telecommunications provider properly assesses your network ahead
of time to truly understand the scope and type of work required to ensure a successful
transition to VoIP.
Gartner reports that 85% of networks are not ready for VoIP. What's even more shocking
is that 75% of companies that do not perform a pre-implementation analysis of their
network infrastructure will not realize a successful implementation. These are astonishing
statistics because without conducting a network assessment with a quality assessment
tool the potential for wasting time and money is extremely high. In order to increase
the likelihood of a successful VoIP implementation, an evaluation of the network
must be properly executed and should include the following four steps.
1. Pre-Deployment Assessment
The pre-deployment assessment step analyzes the current capabilities of the network,
evaluates its ability to support VoIP, identifies potential problems, and determines
the requirements needed to handle expected call traffic. It is strongly recommended
that the pre-deployment test is conducted prior to the purchase or installation
of any VoIP equipment. The analysis should include such items as bandwidth, utilization,
jitter, throughput and latency.
2. Post-Deployment Assessment
The purpose of the post-deployment assessment is to gain a complete understanding
of VoIP quality and network efficiencies prior to turning it on. This step determines
the level of success and prevents issues with call quality or dropped calls. Whenever
new equipment is introduced to a network the chance for unexpected issues rises;
therefore, it is critical that post-deployment assessment is not overlooked. This
assessment should be immediately performed so any changes can be made in a timely
manner.
3. Regular Maintenance Assessment
As you're probably aware, your network is dynamic and constantly evolves. New devices
such as IP phones, laptops, switches, and routers are added or removed. Whether
it's a minor change or a major one it will impact your network. Therefore, it is
important to re-evaluate your network regularly to identify any faults so they can
be corrected as soon as possible. Conducting ongoing assessments will help your
organization increase quality, optimize system infrastructure, and reduce costs.
4. Break/Fix Strategy
Unfortunately, unforeseen things may happen to a network that's not readily identified
by your IT department. The situation may be brought to your company's attention
by a customer, an employee or business partner. The Yankee Group has reported that
some companies' labor costs grew 30 to 40 percent with VoIP because of dealing with
network problems. Having a network assessment tool in place enables one to take
action quickly, diagnose the problem, and resolve it, while minimizing its impact
to the system as a whole. Essentially, these four key steps have illustrated the
primary objective and the many benefits of conducting network assessments. Whether
your company is about to take the plunge into VoIP or has already gone down that
path, it is critical to deploy a tool that can accurately analyze your network.
Surprisingly, most companies overlook this integral component of the VoIP implementation
process and the research clearly shows its negative impact.
As you tap into this relatively new communication solution that's changing how business
gets done, make sure you ask yourself this question. What is my telecommunications
provider doing to create a network environment that enables may company to take
full advantage of VoIP? If network assessment is not included in the response then
something is definitely wrong.
Contact Teleco of the Rockies today to request more
information on Network Assessments