Enterprise Fixed Mobile Convergence (eFMC)
As workers become increasingly more mobile ‘smartphones’ are rapidly becoming the primary business tool and are often used as a substitute for the office desk phone. But the proliferation of these smartphones is significantly increasing many organisations’ mobile call costs, creating a very real need for control.
This has lead to an emergence of new innovative solutions in enterprise mobility, such as FMC which converges fixed and mobile telephony allowing users to access telephony features and other applications from a single device operating seamlessly across multiple networks.
Elements of eFMC
eFMC is much more than just Dual Mode (GSM / WiFi) handsets. It includes the following elements:
Fixed Mobile Substitution – the replacement of fixed infrastructure (PBX desk phones) with wireless handsets.
Fixed Mobile Integration – enabling the mobile to operate as an extension off the PBX. At its simplest level this could be just being able to dial an extension from a mobile using the office linked numbering scheme (desk to desk dialling plan). At a more sophisticated level this may include providing the mobile with the same PBX features as a desk phone.
Dual Mode handsets – with the possibility to have a VoIP client on the mobile handset and integrate with the PBX via the corporate WiFi network or it could embrace Mobile Mobile Convergence (MMC) - where calls can be moved between the GSM mobile network and the corporate WiFi network either manually or automatically with seamless transition.
View our quick animation eFMC – The Business Benefits
eFMC drivers
eFMC has been in existence in a number of forms for many years but generally has, up to now, not really happened in the UK. However, in the current economic climate businesses are becoming more mobile and at the same time are increasingly cost conscious. With mobile call charges forming a significant part of corporate ICT spend there is an increasing need to apply cost control to this area.
This coupled with other significant trends is driving an increased interest in eFMC:
- VoIP has now overtaken TDM for new PBX installs
- Increased deployment of enterprise WiFi
- Mobiles have become an everyday item in both business and private life
- Mobile handset prices have dropped prompting increased use of smartphones
- The emergence of entrepreneurial start-ups creating innovative enterprise FMC solutions
eFMC options
There are three broad options in the way eFMC can be addressed:
1. Mobile Operator (Network Centric)
The basic premise of this approach is to enable mobiles to operate within an enterprise “linked numbering scheme” and look like extensions off the enterprise PBX for basic call connectivity.
2. Service Provider (Hosted Centric)
A replacement IP solution is hosted by the Service Provider in a data centre (Centrex type). Typically a solution can incorporate a number of client types e.g. mobiles, IP phones and soft clients.
3. Enterprise (Integration Centric)
In this approach all call routing control for mobiles resides within the enterprise environment. Additional equipment either in the form of an additional IP PBX (mobile PBX) or an integrated call router is added to the enterprise infrastructure to provide mobile integration capability and hence better control over the mobile phone calls. Most solutions support the use of WiFi and provide varying forms of seamless call handover between GSM and WiFi.
The Damovo enterprise based solution fuses WiFi, cellular, IP telephony and location awareness to mobilise Unified Communications applications, while supporting cellular carriers, enterprise IP-PBXs and Wireless LANs. This allows users to seamlessly move between these environments and take advantage of the lowest cost network available whilst accessing telephony features and other applications from a single device completely independent of the network being used.
The solution addresses the main challenges faced by many organisations:
Benefits of eFMC
Damovo eFMC provides the following benefits to any organisation:
- Control and reduction of mobile call costs
- Reduced cost of infrastructure
- Improved in-building coverage
- Support for flexible / mobile working
- Improved personal productivity and increased business efficiency
- Compliance
- Supports Business Transformation
Damovo can use any of the eFMC approaches described - the key is to choose the right option or combination of options to meet our clients’ needs.
