Convergence of voice and data creates new professional requirements
BY KAREN SHERIFF

For students living in the residence of St. Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo, poor telephone service was an annoying fact of life. An outdated copper network provided poor coverage in some parts of the building while rooms housing two students couldn’t even have a second line added. The arrangement was hardly a selling point in recruiting today’s connected, tech-savvy young people.
But Darren Becks, director of residences, facility operations and human resources for St. Jerome’s, saw a solution—make the leap from technology laggard to leader by introducing a Voice over IP (VoIP) network complete with wireless handsets, voicemail and all the latest features.
Unfortunately, as a typical small and medium business (SMB) with limited technology expertise and resources, Darren said outlining a big-picture vision was much easier than formulating and executing a detailed plan to make it happen.
That’s because in today’s communications landscape of voice-data convergence, there are many options for SMBs to consider: architectures, applications, and various nuances specific to each SMB’s needs. As a result, it’s essential to have an engaged partnership with a trusted technology advisor spanning the design, implementation, management and support of integrated IT and telecommunications business solutions.
As Darren said: "I may have had a vision, but I couldn’t make it happen alone. A strong service provider partnership was critical. Tapping into the expertise of a network manager, a project manager, a finance person putting together a business case—that’s the external help you need to make a project like ours work."
Darren did make his project work and is today enjoying the benefits, making St. Jerome’s one of countless SMBs seizing the opportunities created by the convergence of telecommunications, information technology and Internet Protocol (IP). According to an extensive survey of Canadian SMBs conducted last year by IDC, the percentage of small and medium businesses using IP to replace their traditional voice systems increased from two per cent in 2004 to more than eight per cent last year.
It’s a transition that is not only bringing new capabilities to SMBs, it also means major changes for the people who used to manage telecom and IT separately.
As Lawrence Surtees, director of Canadian telecom and Internet research and principal analyst at IDC Canada, phrased it: "You can’t separate telecom or telephony from the IT, computer and data communications stuff. It has all become melded. IT is wrapping its arms around telecom. With VoIP, voice is part of the IT space."
It’s something Andrew McDonald has experienced first hand. Andrew is the IT manager at Binney & Smith Canada, the SMB best known for making Crayola crayons. At his company, a staff person used to handle telecom as one of many administrative tasks.
Not anymore. Now it’s his responsibility.
"With VoIP, I now have a voice system I can manage with computer skills I’m familiar with, rather than telecom skills I’m unfamiliar with," he said.
Similarly, Becks said the integration of voice and data over a VoIP network may have given his IT manager much more to oversee, but the nature of the technology means it’s all much easier to manage.
"There’s been an increase in load, but because of the way the network works and some of the efficiencies that are built into it, it’s actually streamlined it all for us. Any of the additional quantity burden has been offset by the streamlining of the technology. It’s amazing how much we’ve added to the network without adding any extra people. We’ve even made the function of the IT manager easier."
Now that’s the type of convergence any IT manager can get excited about.