Realizing the Business Value of Converged Applications

Taking convergence to the next level

Converged networks have given users the ability to receive all forms of communications using a variety of end-user devices. Laptops can become phones.

It is through converged applications that companies will truly optimize and integrate service delivery channels to help increase revenue, capture customer value and differentiate successfully. These benefits should be the driving force behind a migration to converged networks. Cost savings should be reinvested in the development of converged applications that encourage cooperation and integration between business units and enable businesses to differentiate themselves by supporting their customers with new services and functionality.

Breaking down communication barriers

Converged applications are software programs that extract information from the underlying converged network to seamlessly deliver a combination of data, voice, video and other information streams. While a converged network brings together multiple protocols and networks and allows them to flow and be managed over a single, integrated platform, the converged applications integrate dissimilar applications to remove built-in barriers that prevent seamless communication. In this way, converged applications give business leaders an opportunity to integrate historically separate sales and customer support channels (call centers, branch offices, retail venues, Websites, etc.) to:

? Enhance brand awareness and facilitate cross-selling

? Leverage realtime collaboration technologies (instant messaging, voice chat and video) to enhance customer interactions as well as to leverage product specialists ? Use self-service and remote systems to encourage the automation of low-yield tasks to help reduce costs and enable the reallocation of expertise.

Converged applications add business value

A converged application can inject new functionality into the enterprise and reshape the way we think of interacting and communicating with our colleagues

Gone are the days when every customer and clients. In sectors like banking and insurance, for example, converged had a personal relationship with staff at applications can help forge a new model of doing business that blends the best his or her local bank. aspects of tradition and technology.