Page 11 - Telecom Reseller November December 2017

November/December 2017
Telecom Reseller 11 CTelecom & Cloud Service Management
loud services are digital transformation COLWELL management approach.
enablers for organizations across various Assimilating cloud service management into IT, telecom and mobile technology the xed and mobile telecom management
platforms. ey are also disrupters for IT, by Timothy C. Colwell, SVP practice o ers the bene ts of consolidated telecom and mobile management practices. Ef ciency First® Adoption – service visibility across the environment, a single
Ask the Telecom Pro - December 2017
Q: What is the di erence between catastrophic and chronic SLA events?
A: Carriers and other vendors have di erent terms to describe service level agreement conditions. Most commonly, a catastrophic SLA event is one where all or a majority of service to a single location is lost. Chronic SLA events are the reoccurrence of out- of-scope service performance over multiple performance measurement cycles. While these de nitions are generally accepted, not all vendors de ne SLA terms the same. So, reviewing SLA terms speci c to each vendor and contract is recommended.
Q: Is a FOC date covered by an SLA?
A: A Firm Order Commitment date is a committed installation date. FOC dates are not universally covered by SLAs (Service Level Agreements). Check your contract or service order terms and conditions language to determine what, if any, SLAs may apply. On a related note, negotiating SLAs to cover FOC date requirements is recommended in instances where common and frequent service orders deemed to be business critical will be placed with a vendor.
As cloud technology replaces and augments legacy technology platforms, questions arise from enterprise xed and mobile telecom management experts about their role in managing the cloud services lifecycle.
Conventional thinking is when cloud
services replace legacy telecom services in an organization, the telecom management practice and associated telecom management platform, namely telecom expense management
(TEM) systems and vendors, should assume responsibility for managing the replacement
AOTMP (www.aotmp.com)
technology. e reality is not as clear, though. According to AOTMP’s 2017 State of the Telecom Management Industry research report, only 9% of enterprises currently manage cloud services using TEM vendor so ware. ere is a promise of change, though. Of those that do not use their TEM vendor so ware for managing cloud services today, 24% indicate they plan to start doing so soon – a 167% projected increase in the cloud services
workstream for procure-to-pay activities, and improved optimization and cost control. As cloud services expand in your organization, consider these management bene ts when establishing your cloud service management practice. n
u
.
n
a
a
u
u
. . .
Faster data
Better voice
Redundant Internet and more security
Business Continuity
t
t
h
h
o
o
r
r
i
i
z
z
e
e
d
c
d
c
o
o
n
n
t
t
e
e
n
n
t
f
t
f
r
r
o
o
m
d
m
d
e
e
g
g
r
r
a
a
d
d
i
i
n
n
g
b
g
b
a
a
n
n
d
d
w
w
i
i
d
d
t
t
h
h
.
TR
TELECOM RESELLER .COM
ADVERTISING
Call: 360 260-9708 • Toll Free: 800 667-8965
Web: telecomreseller.com/category/ in-print/telecomreseller/
To VoIP or not to VoIP - Is that the Question? Part 6
...continued from page 9
voice systems you will need to have only one system, and even it may be virtual. Do you have a call center? Using VoIP you can have agents in any o ce using the same call center system and appear on reports together as needed. Even workers at home can be in the same call group as those in the o ce. Are there certain customer service phones that need to be recorded for legal reasons or to train your agents? With a distributed IP phone system you can record them all in one common server that can be anywhere on your network or in “the cloud.”
Dual-WAN QoS
Firewall
IPv6 Ready
Network VPN Management
Content Filtering
Networks have, especially of late, become targets of individuals, groups, and even governments for dishonorable purposes. Some may be looking for information to sell. Others want your intellectual property. Still others just want to hold your data for ransom. You will, of course, have ongoing protection as a part of your overall network design and deployment. As those who wish you harm nd newer and better ways to take what they
don’t deserve, you will have specialists (employed or contracted) watching and protecting your network. at’s not enough, though. You will
have regular training sessions for all employees to familiarize them with social engineering and email scams that put your network at risk. Your entire company needs to be diligent to protect your company’s valuable data, and that includes phone calls. Well, are you happy with your new VoIP phone system? Was the investment worthwhile? Only you can determine that. With proper planning and execution it can be the right system for you and your company. For now, though, it isn’t necessarily the only choice. Your business needs will determine that. n
Voice QoS, Multi WAN Redundancy, Content Filter and Network Security
Upgrade your Router!
Your company uses the Internet for everything. DrayTek routers combine two or more Internet links to create a faster and more secure Internet. Content Filtering prevents loss of productivity and
Vigor 2925n
u
WAN 1 WAN 2
WAN 3
n
Learn more at www.DrayTekUSA.com www.abptech.com | sales@abptech.com | 972.831.1600