One-stop service for enterprise communications

Today, doing business without the help of any form of telecommunication technology is akin to taking a shower without water. Even the heartless, bomb-making and bomb-detonating terrorists who think nothing of taking the lives of innocent people, as well as their own, use cell phones and e-mail to orchestrate their operations.

If you run a business and you want your organization to be at its best in terms of effectiveness and productivity, you will definitely need various types of telecommunication means. You may need a leased line to connect your data systems and to provide your IT infrastructure. You may need a reliable mobile communication service to keep in touch with your field force.

Sometimes, you may need to broadcast messages or information on the latest price discounts to your sales force first thing in the morning so that they will be able to offer more competitive prices to your customers. You may need video conferencing facilities so you can have a regional meeting without having to waste your money on travel expenses. If you are a logistics or transportation company, you will most probably need a means to keep track of your trucks.

A taxi company is a very good example of a company with a heavy reliance on telecommunications. Their customers need to be able to reach their call center at any time of the day or at night, seven days a week. So, if they need a cab to take them to the airport, all they have to do is pick up the phone and place the order.

The dispatchers need to communicate with the cab drivers constantly to relate the customer's order and their destination. Data communication systems will beam the name and address of the waiting customers on a dashboard-mounted display.

The communication should be two-way, too, as the cab drivers may have to bid for the passengers. Besides, the cabbies must be able to report to the dispatcher in case they need help, because their car stalls or their passengers are getting unruly.

Today, a taxi company with efficiency and customer satisfaction in mind should also utilize GPS technology to be able to track the whereabouts of each of the cars in their fleet. With a GPS, or Global Positioning System, the dispatcher will be able to tell the waiting customer that a cab will arrive at his doorstep in about three minutes.

There are other businesses that have similar requirements as a taxi company. The police force certainly have a lot of different telecommunications needs to perform their duties -- if they are really serious about crime fighting, of course.

The taxi company or the police force may choose to buy all the necessary IT products and then operate the systems themselves. Or, they can simply acquire the services of the so-called one- stop communication service provider. After all, a taxi driver is supposed to carry a customer from point A to point B, and the police are supposed to protect the safety of tax payers against the criminals. Neither of them are supposed to be IT service providers.

Such a provider will have its own infrastructure, which may comprise broadband links across major points in the country as well as to an Internet hub. Such a high-speed data conduit may be used to push multimedia contents and voice and video communications, and can also support virtual private network for companies that require a secure, protected and guaranteed way to access corporate data and applications, regardless of where they are at any given time.

And today, there are telecommunications providers that have all the necessary components -- local and internal leased lines, broadband and IP-based network, mobile communication services, wireless data communication services and video conferencing servers -- to provide such organizations with the telecommunications services that they require. All under one roof. -- Zatni Arbi