The full promise of VOIP edges nearer

Numerous companies are bringing VOIP to the next level ()by either taking advantage of advanced features such as broadcasting, presence, find-me/follow-me features, Web conferencing, and videoconferencing, or by using their XML-enabled phones as clients for certain back-end applications.

The real promise of VOIP, however, lies in the integration of voice directly with data applications. "When you move voice to IP it becomes an application," says Bob Hafner, managing vice president at Gartner. "We've been spending the past 10 years integrating ERP, CRM, and other back-office applications with each other so that information flows through business processes relatively seamlessly. But there's also the human component, which needs voice in addition to instant messaging and e-mail."

Take this example. An employee working on a product order notices that the transaction requires approval from higher-ups. He or she clicks a button and the ERP application delivers a buddy list of all the people who have worked on this order, along with real-time presence information indicating their availability by phone and instant messaging. The employee chooses the highest-ranking person available and simply clicks on his or her name, initiating an immediate VOIP call that reaches that person on his or her preferred device. Within seconds, and without leaving the application, the approval is granted and the employee completes the order, thanks to integrated VOIP.

In fact, a German company called StepAhead Software, working together with Siemens, is in the process of offering this capability. VOIP vendors are also currently working with ERP and CRM heavyweights such as Oracle and SAP to offer similar capabilities in the future. "In the past, this employee would have no idea who worked on this form and would end up either sending it to sales or calling around to figure out what to do," Hafner says.

What is the next step? "I'd like to see the application itself recognize that information is missing and either phone or IM the appropriate person, but that's a few years away," Hafner says.

Joan Vandermate, vice president of product marketing at Siemens, points out that this type of voice/data integration can be invaluable for any number of processes, such as processing insurance claims. "We believe that by 2010, presence will be embedded in all applications."

Voice communications are headed toward becoming part of an overall software architecture incorporating voice, Web conferencing, e-mail, and IM. Microsoft's next version of Live Communications Server incorporates voice and Web conferencing. "The people we talk to are looking for a distributed software architecture that allows for intermingling of Web conferencing with instant messaging and call management rules," says Zig Serafin, general manager of Microsoft unified communications.