As a result of imei’s acquisition of BTAS, our ability to provide ‘whole-of-business’ communications solutions across mobile, data and voice networks is greatly enhanced.
Converged Mobile and Unified Communications
Here is an interesting perspective on the role of mobile and the network, from one of imei’s newest technology partners – Alcatel-Lucent (ALE). Traditionally a leading communications infrastructure provider, ALE is now at the forefront of converged mobile and unified communications.
No longer a mere component of enterprise IT strategy, mobile has become the primary driver of every IT decision made today.
An increasingly untethered population of employees, partners and customers is necessitating that organisations make themselves more elastic than they've ever been.
With desktop phones and PCs being jettisoned in favour of mobile devices, employees are demanding that their newfound flexibility and agility be supported by technology that can meet every resulting work need the instant it surfaces. Whether that means having the ability to update a customer record, approve a purchase order, or take care of a project-related task, the implications for the underlying infrastructure are significant.
The same is true on the external front, where customers are armed with equal mobility and want to know that they can place an order, check the status of that order, or get support at any given moment.
Modern IT Infrastructure
The mandate for the modern IT infrastructure is to satisfy the whims of an instant gratification culture that's been borne of technological innovation. Whims to access critical business information. Whims to trigger time-sensitive business processes. Whims to make spontaneous purchases. All from the palm of our hands. It's as if we're asking the network to play the role of the famed Genie of the Lamp, except with one serious caveat: We want unlimited wishes.
Unfortunately, rubbing a lamp is not going to make this happen.
For instance, complex real-time business processes occurring in separate systems must be connected seamlessly. These processes may be unfolding in a variety of settings, from on-premise systems to hosted data centres to cloud-based SaaS applications. Orchestrating and integrating so many pieces at high velocity requires an agile, flexible and intelligent network.
Security Considerations
Then there are the dizzying security and vulnerability considerations of delivering either enterprise or personal data to mobile devices. This data may move through numerous systems and applications en route, and in each location may be combined with other data, raising the security stakes even further. The network must have automated intelligence built into it if it's going to analyse potential risks and effectively govern everything that's delivered to or coming from a mobile device, applying security protocols and compliance requirements along the way.
And all of that agility, intelligence and automation cries out for predictive capabilities that make it possible for enterprises to make better — and timelier — business decisions. Innovation on the infrastructure front has brought such capabilities into the network, which can now play an active role in determining when to optimize a process, respond to a threat, or proactively manage network capacity.
Gartner spotted this trend four years ago, using its annual Catalyst Conference to declare that mobility was more about the architecture than the device. In August, Gartner convened the 2016 edition with the theme, "architecting the on-demand digital business." The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Mobility Integration
The performance, ubiquity and functionality demands of mobility integration means that IT infrastructure has evolved from plumbing to a vibrant part of the business and that fast-evolving business models taking over IT, with pay-as-you, on-demand pricing of everything from applications to network capacity are a clear indication of the need for instant gratification. There is also commiseration about the frustrations of legacy infrastructures, and how woefully ill-equipped they are to respond fast enough to keep pace with business today.
In each of these cases, mobility is a prominent thread, informing just about every decision and representing the future of business.
This post with thanks to Alcatel-Lucent, specialists in unified communications technologies. You can find out more about Alcatel-Lucent here https://www.al-enterprise.com/en/anz with the full post available at: https://www.al-enterprise.com/en/blog/mobility-everything
imei stands ready to help your organisation optimise communications – to find cost savings, productivity improvements or reduce information security risks across your comms infrastructure. Please call us on 1300 65 77 99 or send us a note here.
