Integrated Business Solutions originating from a single source

When a business no longer has room to raise its prices -- usually due to increasingly intense competition in the marketplace, the only way to boost its profit is to lower its costs as far as possible. One area that a business will usually look at first is the cost of data and voice communication.

In the past, when alternatives were still very limited, the business might rely on the switched network infrastructure provided by a telco operator. However, over the years, new technologies such Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), as well as new services such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay, Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) began to make inroads into the corporate communication landscape.

These technologies and services did not become available at the same time. Therefore, businesses -- especially the early- adopters -- would end up having a inventory of equipment from various vendors. Some of them could be used for a longer period of time, while others -- due to incompatibility problems -- may have to retire early.

On top of this, the companies will have to obtain the necessary skills to put the pieces together and make them work effectively. Each of the building blocks may also require different management and maintenance. Legacy systems may then become a liability rather than an asset. So, instead of reducing costs with the use of technologies, businesses may end up spending more and more on their technology investments without being able to measure their rate of returns.

Can this be avoided? While technology and services will continue to have to be managed, a more on-target approach today is to integrate the services into the business operation and use it as the foundation of the business processes.

In this manner, businesses can measure the results and make sure that every single rupiah spent on technology is a rupiah well-spent. Better still, the tools that are available today will allow companies to bill the internal units in the organization for the expenses that they accrue, so that each division is forced to use the resources more wisely.

A business then has the option to outsource the services from an outsourcing provider using an agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA) as the reference. Once the services are outsourced, the company can once again concentrate on its core business and on increasing its profitability.

In addition to the SLA, what else must an outsourcing provider offer to a business? A provider needs to remember that a complete solution is preferable than a long menu of services that it can offer. In most cases, an outsourcing customer simply wants to avoid having to mix and match the components to build the system that they need for their operation.

Still related to the packaged outsourcing offering, a provider must also do its best to customize its solution to the needs of its clients. In other words, personalized solutions are preferable to the one-size-fits-all solutions.

In this regard, a concept called Integrated Business Solution, or IBUS, has been proposed. It is an integrated, cost-efficient, on-demand and highly customizable solution that makes network and application services available to end users anywhere and at any time.

More specifically, an IBUS will support the business processes without forcing the company to stray beyond their core competence and become another IT company. An IBUS consists of layers of services -- from the high availability infrastructure, the leased lines and the GSM network up to the various other services that help the company realize the promised benefits of technology.

So, today, if your business is under pressure to lower its costs, the more sensible way is to find an IBUS provider and trust them with your technology services. -- Zatni Arbi

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