NEWT 250 Course Project Week 6 Deliverable.docx

08/13/2017

DeVry University

NETW-250

Professor: Daniel Dronsick

Course Project Week 6 Deliverable

Table of Contents

I. Numerical Matrix 3

II. Introduction 4

III. Experience and Connectivity 5

IV. Multimedia Support 6

V. Total Cost 7

VI. Vendor Selection 8

VII.Conclusion 9

VIII.References 

I. Numerical Matrix

The following numerical Matrix is designed to give each PBX solution a score based on features that we desire as a company for our new PBX solution. The scores range from 0 being that the company does not offer support for this feature, to 5 being that the feature is implemented and fully meets any needs we would have. Note that each companies ACD base is given a 3 as we have no prior experience with any of the products.

Score Explanations

Experience of each company was based on the number of customers which the company serves as well as the amount of time the company has been in business. ACD base each company was given a 3 due to lack of experience with their product, so no real rating can be given to each one. Call center was based on the average number of agents supported by each product, ranked from worst to best. Connectivity was based on how many programs each solution has connectivity with, Mitel received a 1 because it only works with Mitel products. Every program offers full e-mail support so they all received a 5. Chat support was based on how much support each program has for chat, and how limited that support is. The score for voice mail support was similar in reasoning to chat support. IVR was based on the cost for IVR implementation of each product, with the cheapest being a 5 and the most expensive receiving a 1. Outbound dial support as well as CTI integration were both also based on cost of implementation. URL browsing support was based on how much support each product had for URL browsing. CRM support was based on the number of CRM programs that the product supports. Total cost is based on the average cost per agent of each product, with the cheapest being a 5 and the most expensive being a 1. These are the reasons for each score in each category of the numerical matrix.

II. Introduction

The aim of this paper is to identify which of the following PBX solutions would provide our company with the most desirable service and explain why that is. Our company is looking to expand and we need a new PBX solutions to make this possible. This document will compare and contrast the PBX solution options based on the previous numerical matrix that scores each company based on what they have to offer. The goal is to choose the best of the company offerings and explain why that option is the best for our company. Each company is given a non-biased score based strictly on what their product is capable of offering and therefore we reach our end scores of each product. The primary 3 solutions being looked at here at Avaya, Siemens, and Mitel.

III. Experience and Connectivity

Each of the PBX solutions present in the numerical matrix is from a company that has a high level of quality experience in the field of VoIP service, while some may have a bit more than others, they are all quality products in their level of experience. Avaya is a leading force in the contact-center marketplace, with over 25,000 contact centers globally. They offer the Interaction center 7.0, which is based on Microsoft, so it is certainly user friendly. The call centers of Avaya can support up to 5,200 agents and average anywhere from 100-200 agents. Support for Avaya is rather impressive, offering connectivity support for Siemens, Nortel, Ericsson, and Aspect ACD, and impressive list of connectivity. Siemens on the other hand has roughly 2,000 contact centers with 1 million contact center seats shipped. They offer the

HiPath ProCenter Standard v6.5 and their call centers average 150 agents and can go up to 1,250 agents through use of custom configs. Siemens offers an adequate level of connectivity, being able to connect to Cisco or Nortel through their HiPath 400 Q.Sig gateway. Then we have Mitel which has roughly 2,100 contact centers with 500,000 contact center seats shipped, and offers the 6100 Contact Center Solutions v4.5 as their product. Mitel Call centers average 50 agents, and support up to 350, which is on the lower end of things compared to previous solutions. Also Mitel has NO other PBX connectivity, it is ONLY compatible with Mitel PBX and products, so that is a big issue when cost of implementation comes into play, as all equipment would need to be new. Based on just experience alone here, Avaya is a clear leader as far as their experience and connectivity goes, offering more overall support and experience while also providing more connectivity to other devices as well.

IV. Multimedia Support

The aforementioned PBX solutions each provides us with a different level of multimedia support through the use of their product. Avaya provides us with support for every feature we could ever hope to use as a company. They provide full support for E-mail, chat, internal IM and web chat, custom integration for voicemail, outbound dial services, CTI software, IVR support, and browser sharing and URL push, as well a number of other support services, such as SAP,

Siebel, Peoplesoft, Onyx, and Epiphany support. Siemens by comparison offers a bit less than

Avaya in terms of support and services. First off they do NOT offer outbound dial support, or URL browsing support, these are features we would be forced to do without choosing Siemens as our solution. They do however offer support for all the other mentioned features that we desire; including voicemail as an e-mail attachment and basic IVR included in its cost, and IM through MS messenger. CTI integration is ALSO included in the cost of Siemens. The support features provided by Siemens are MS CRM, SAP, and Siebel, these supports do come at an additional cost however. Mitel comes very close to Avaya on this front, with the only features they are lacking being the CTI integration, Mitel offers everything else that Avaya has to offer with the exception of that note. It would also be noted that many of the features that Mitel offers that match Avaya are only through the use of their custom developments, so the stability of these offerings can’t be confirmed or put down otherwise. Mitel provides the support services MS CRM, SAP, PeopleSoft, ACT, Remedy, Heat, and even more, so on the support services front, they offer the most options. Overall I feel that Avaya wins out on this front again, offering every service we could ever desire, and all of them being fully supported, no custom developments or half-baked support. Avaya once is showing why they are a leader in the field here.

V. Total Cost

Cost is an important part of acquiring a new PBX solution. This is another field where our competitors differ in terms of what they can offer. Avaya finds itself on the higher end of the spectrum this time as well, but not in a good way as before. The average base cost of implementation for Avaya not including hardware, strictly software only would be $1,377 to $2,877 per agent at the call center, this cost is rather high to sustain all at once, and is one of the few cons regarding Avaya. It should also be noted that Avaya also has additional costs for their services that they offer as previously mentioned. IVR will feature a cost of $1,200 per agent cost, outbound dial would be $2,800 per agent, and CTI software would be a $10,000 total software cost. Avaya also sports a per seat cost of roughly $650 to $1050 for their hardware PBX options. So while not only is the cost of implementation high, but the extra features would incur high costs as well. Siemens is a unique one, as their cost of implementation is also a high cost, but they also include basic levels of the aforementioned services at no additional cost, with the exception of the outbound dial which is not supported. Siemens has an implementation cost of $2,477 per agent for base implementation, this includes IVR and CTI software, so you are primarily dealing with that cost plus the hardware needed which would be roughly $500 to $600 per seat. Mitel has a nice offering here, with their base cost of implementation being only $805 to $2,200 for full multimedia support. Mitel has a per seat cost of hardware of $760 and they offer both IVR and outbound dial through their custom developments, however they have no CTI integration. So here is a section where Avaya does not clearly outshine the competition, but it seems as though with Avaya you are paying for what you get, quality service with every available feature on the market available to you as a company.

VI. Vendor Selection

Which vendor to go with is quite a challenging puzzle to solve. You have Avaya who offers every feature a company could ever desire and has a great amount of experience and scalability, but their cost is MUCH higher than the competition, but some would say that is with good reason, as their product is miles ahead of others. Then there is Siemens who has a very appealing cost, which includes both base level IVR and CTI software, but they lack some features that we would desire as a company and offer less overall connectivity than Avaya. Finally you have Mitel which offers most of the features we desire, but many of them are through their custom developments, but there price is by far the best of the available options, but they also have no CTI integration and we are not sure about the stability of their custom developments as of yet. I feel that a cost investment as great as a PBX solution is something that we as a company should strive to do correct and proper the first time through, for this reason I firmly believe that our best option as a company PBX solution would be to go with Avaya as our provider. Their product will provide us with every feature that we could possibly desire, as well as give us the option of expansion and scalability with a much higher level of supported agents than the competitors. While the initial cost will be greater, the overall Quality of Experience attributed to our system through the use of Avaya will push the company ever forward into a greater position among our customers and the like. So while Avaya is the most expensive, it is also of the highest quality of the competitors and will be our PBX solution of choice.

VII. Conclusion

While each company does have clear advantages and disadvantages over each other, the advantages provided by Avaya are simply too great to ignore, with the only real disadvantage being the price of implementation, which is unfortunately going to be necessary to improve the overall QoE of our call centers and provide us with all the features that we would desire as a company. Avaya gives us everything we could want and gives us the option of scalability as we grow, better to incur the cost now than have to switch to it in the future when we have outgrown the potential of the competition and then we are required to incur a cost like this twice as opposed to once. Siemens and Mitel both have many nice things to offer but in the end Avaya just pulls ahead in what they are capable of providing to our company. The lower cost and features and provided by Siemens and Mitel would be perfect for a smaller company to take advantage of to get just enough to implement their own VoIP solution, but in this case we will be going with Avaya.

VIII.References

All figures used in the above document are pulled from the Course Project PBX ACD Analysis document, which is provided by FACCTs http://www.faulkner.com