Can you afford to be strategic about mobility?

Wireless in the Enterprise This newsletter is sponsored by Blue Coat Make mobile users more productive More users are going mobile. With all this business on the road, you can't afford to have road warriors suffer from sub-par application delivery or security. Join a panel of experts as they detail how you can deliver improved productivity and protection for all mobile workers, regardless of location. Network World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 05/28/07 Can you afford to be strategic about mobility? By Joanie Wexler At the Interop trade show last week, the sobering reality of IT budgets and cost containment mandates tempered the enthusiasm surrounding fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) — at least, during one panel session. One large enterprise, for example, must cost justify new mobility investments while operating under a “do more with less” telecom edict. Hard dollar savings, not “soft” productivity and user convenience benefits, are what count with senior management at worldwide chemicals and materials giant DuPont, said Tom Marcin, director of global telecommunications, during a conference session on “The Technologies of Fixed/Mobile and Mobile/Mobile Convergence.” To that end, Marcin said, he’s been dabbling with Siemens enterprise-based FMC gear with his eye primarily on curbing the cellular charges incurred when on-premises workers use their cell phones and services instead of the corporate PBX and associated dial plan. He said DuPont attempted to “stop the culture” of using cell phones as business desk phones but was unsuccessful. Make the most of your Mobile Gear Download our Free Executive Guide and learn how Network IT professionals are getting the most out of their mobile devices and improving mobile security. You'll also get the scoop on upcoming mobile tools and technologies and how they may impact your enterprise. Click Here to download today! “So now we’re looking to embrace the culture and use technology to minimize the cost associated with it,” he explained. That’s where bridging corporate PBX and cellular environments comes in. Employees with a single business phone number can use their cellular phones as their business phones, whether they are on premises and attached to a Wi-Fi network or outside with only cellular coverage available. But when they are in the office, the corporate dial plan and associated calling rates apply. Beyond those cost savings, any strategic benefits associated with FMC are gravy for DuPont. “We’re under pressure, year after year, to cut costs by double digit [percentages],” explained Marcin. The multifaceted benefits of collaboration afforded by full-blown FMC, with presence and unified messaging capabilities, “has a value to us. But I can’t sell a full FMC rollout on soft benefits. I have to rely on cellular cost savings.” Marcin estimated that his company spends about $100 million a year on telecom, but that management expects his group to cut 10%, or $10 million, each year without forfeiting any capabilities. “What’s growing is mobile costs,” Marcin said. “We spend almost as much on cellular as the rest of our voice and data combined.” Marcin said he “can’t wait for traditional carriers to integrate their networks with our IP telephony networks” so that FMC can be bought as a service. “FMC is too complicated of an environment for us to figure out how to build it ourselves,” he said.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Blue Coat Make mobile users more productive More users are going mobile. With all this business on the road, you can't afford to have road warriors suffer from sub-par application delivery or security. Join a panel of experts as they detail how you can deliver improved productivity and protection for all mobile workers, regardless of location. ARCHIVE Archive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007