Based on its experience of deploying over 16,000 IP
telephony systems around the world, 3Com can point to three areas of business
activities on which the technology can have significant impact:
. Cost control-network convergence
reduces cabling costs; use of the "pass-thru" port of 3Com IP phones can minimize
Ethernet port counts at the LAN switch. Users handle their own moves, adds, and
changes, reducing the expense of service provider visits
• User productivity—workers at home, in branch offices, and at remote
operations can fully participate
in business activities with four or five-digit extensions and centralized voicemail
services
• Customer interactions—customer call completions can increase with advanced
IP telephony applications
capable of delivering services such as voice mail as e-mail, find me/follow me,
interactive
voice response, and call announcement—not to mention support over the IP wide
area network
(WAN) for call center agents distributed across the business
Four phases of convergence leading to complete integration of
business processes.