At a recent joint TMA / AT&T Roadshow conference on Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) the presentations by AT&T, Novell and IBM identified applications which will eventually force us to look at our PABX systems in quite a new light. Telecommunications is clearly destined to move out of its day-to-day operational support role and to become a strategic weapon for business organisations whether in the public or the private sector. In his opening remarks to the conference, David Harrington, TMA Director General, suggested that such a move will require that the Telecommunications Manager develops the skills of overall strategy management. The Swedish Government, working with PQM Consultants, has taken this concept even further by providing non-technical decision makers with the capability to select the telecommunications services and equipment that will ensure that their organisation can provide the best possible service to their customers in the most cost-effective way. There are huge benefits to be gained in most organisations by astute investment in the upcoming telecommunications services such as CTI and Virtual Private Networks (VPN). If this investment is to be spent wisely, technical and business managers must be able to work together in making the decisions that they have traditionally regarded as their own private property.
In 1991, the cost of telecommunications within the Swedish government administration was in excess of US$250M. The total deregulation of public communications services and the consequent competitive environment presented an ideal opportunity to reduce these costs or, at least, to get a better return on the investment.
STATTEL-delegation was set up as a government commission with the task of finding ways of improving the efficiency and service level of telecommunications within the Swedish Administration. Directives given to STATTEL by the Swedish Government were to procure services based upon standards on behalf of the Administration. These services are to meet the needs of the agencies throughout the 1990's, and to achieve a cost reduction of at least 25%.
STATTEL's first step was to rationalise the procurement of data services and this has already been implemented.
The next step was a much bigger one. Voice communications account for almost 80% of the total communications costs and the task of specifying voice services is complicated by the fact that there is already a wide range of installed equipment - over 1600 PABXs of more than 25 different types. It became clear that before any real progress could be made, it would be necessary to make a completely fresh assessment of the communications needs of government organisations.
For the last thirty years, telecommunications equipment manufacturers have been working hard to provide more and more features to help us use their equipment more efficiently. The average PABX now offers literally hundreds of such features. Yet most organisations still regard telecommunications as a necessary and costly overhead rather than a valuable productivity tool. Whenever there is a budget squeeze, one of the first reactions is to reduce telephone traffic and, thus, overall communications costs. It is a brave organisation that would subscribe to the view that an increase in telecommunications costs might, in fact, reduce the total overhead.
It is not entirely clear why we generally do not appreciate the value of each and every one of the features available at our office telephone. Maybe it is because there are so many of them. Maybe it is because they seem so complicated to use. Probably it has a lot to do with the fact that we are usually taught how to operate the function without any hint of what it is really for or how it can be used in conjunction with other functions to provide even greater benefit.
Of course, different users have different needs but it is true to say that many of us mis-use rather than use our telecommunications systems. In most organisations, the biggest group of users consists of managers, experts and administrators. They tend to work on assignments that are complex, require a high concentration factor and often involve many meetings. If these people were always available to answer the phone, it would be a waste of time and money. Our research shows that for employees in this group, up to 20% of working hours can be lost as a result of being disturbed by the telephone. It is not the actual conversation that takes the most time, it is getting back to the frame of mind we were in before the call. Answering the telephone during a meeting is destructive and all participants are affected in one way or another.
There is, then, a need to make the process of specifying and selecting telecommunications services much simpler. The Swedish Government Open Telecommunications System Interconnection Profile - SOTIP - aims to do this. The original concept came from STATTEL Technical Director, Helena Lindskog. As a member of the team of specialists led by Helena, PQM Consultants has been a significant contributor to the development of SOTIP.
The primary objectives of SOTIP have been established as:
SOTIP begins by recognising that the staff of any organisation can be broken down into a small number of generic end-user types based on their work functions. Any business organisation, whether in the public or private sector, can be modelled in this way.
The first level of classification is to distinguish between those users who are identified within the organisation as individuals and those that are identified as part, or all, of a function. The SOTIP model makes further sub-classifications, thus:
To complete the picture, SOTIP also recognises the existence of other, non-personal users such as public telephones, FAX machines and Video Terminals.
For each end-user type, SOTIP identifies the telecommunications functions that should be considered to assist them as individuals in their work and as functional groupings within the overall organisation. In addition, management functions necessary for the interaction between users and service providers are also identified. Each function is briefly described and criteria based upon business needs are offered in order to simplify the selection of specific services for specific user-types or groups.
Throughout SOTIP, the overriding assumption is that any organisation should use its communication system to provide the best possible service to the customers of the organisation while helping to improve the overall efficiency of the business. In this way, the basic objectives of increased earnings and decreased costs can be achieved. This assumption has meant that the services described are not necessarily the traditional features offered by PABX manufacturers and there are many novel functions identified, particularly at the organisational and management levels. Specific emphasis is placed on services that improve the processing of incoming calls - calls from existing or potential customers - rather than outgoing or internal calls.
It is hoped that the use of SOTIP will help non-technical managers in government agencies to select communications services for their end-users based on the real business needs of the agency while also providing Telecommunications Managers with an insight into the business applications of each user-function. Having been given the wherewithal to make an informed selection themselves without relying on external consultants or even manufacturers and suppliers, these managers are much more likely to ensure that the most effective use of the services is made. STATTEL's calculations indicate that if each government employee can save 10 minutes each day through more productive use of communications services, the savings would cover the total cost of telecommunications within the Swedish administration today.
Version 1 of SOTIP has been distributed to users, manufacturers and service providers throughout Europe. Swedish Government agencies are using SOTIP as the basis for procuring telecommunications services. A high level of interest has been shown by government bodies in countries as far apart as Australia and the USA.
In Europe, SOTIP has been adapted and adopted as part of a European Union initiative on procurement methodologies where it has become known as "EOTIP".
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