| End-to-end service | |
| “Companies are trying to figure out how to take advantage of the new computing tools in their employee’s hands, and how to use them to become more effective in the field” |  Three Ireland : Karl McDermott, head of ICT |
| After such a prolonged economic downturn, cost saving remains a top priority, but the focus is now turning to productivity and competitiveness. Companies are trying to figure out how to take advantage of the new computing tools in their employee’s hands, such as smart phones and tablets, and how to use them to become more effective in the field.Three Ireland provides a business consultancy service for Irish companies. We look at how they perform specific tasks and how they could be optimised by the use of technology. We work closely with companies to identify their business needs and once that’s established we recommend tailored, workable technology solutions which can help them to support and maximise their growth potential.
One example of how we differentiate our service is through the provision of a full end-to-end service. In the case of apps, we do the business process analysis, build and test the app, figure out the best device for staff to use the app on and provide a managed service for the delivery of the device and data package. We also help companies looking to upgrade their systems by working with them and enabling them to move away from legacy telephone systems to up to date and modern technology solutions which allow for instant messaging and video calls and so on. Three is unique in the Irish market in providing a Cisco-based unified communications service from the cloud allowing customers move from the old to the new without a major capital expenditure. |
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| 2015 Tech | |
| “In 2015, a job will be defined by output, not geography” |  Jabra : Nigel Dunn, managing director |
| Contact Centre Super-Agents: Voice is still the preferred channel. Agents will be recognised as an organisation’s frontline and will challenge the industry’s negative perception.Call centre directors will provide ‘super-agents’ with the appropriate tools — outdated headsets will make way for the latest technology.
2015 will see a refocus on the customer experience, leading to greater retention and profitability for contact centres. New Ways Of Working: Home/flexible working leads to increased efficiency and a happier, more loyal workforce. In 2015, a job will be defined by output, not geography.To support flexible working, UC deployments will increase. For ROI on UC investments, companies will focus on user adoption — ensuring staff fully utilise the technology so they don’t fall back on traditional comms.Wearable Technology and Business Use: Wearable technology will grow in popularity. As the design aesthetics of these products matures, this will lead to mainstream acceptance. This acceptance will drive innovation and adoption of wearable tech in business.Wearables that keep us connected and organised will become easier to use, more portable and increasingly useful – educating us or enhancing our skillsets.BYOD Plateau Effect: We’ve seen a resurgence of the laptop in 2014, with tablet sales slowing.Will 2015 tablet sales intensify, as Apps continue their dominance? Apps are being utilised in business more, leading to headsets becoming the conduit between app and user, to keep us connected and working. |
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| The grid model | |
| “Instead of buying, configuring and replacing the hardware, businesses increasingly just want to buy those services themselves. PBX, Wi-Fi, computing are all becoming available” |  eircom Business Solutions : Enda Doyle, director of Business Development and Innovation |
| The way ICT is sold and consumed is already transforming and that change will accelerate in 2015. The dominance of traditional hardware vendors will be diminished as customers demand per-use fees and avoid buying their own hardware. Decades ago, large businesses literally bought their own electricity generators: today they plug into the grid. That’s exactly where ICT is going. Instead of buying, configuring and replacing the hardware on which their services run, businesses increasingly just want to buy those services themselves. PBX, Wi-Fi, computing (storage, compute, back-up) are all becoming available, internationally, as connected services that “live” inside the network. ICT companies who have poor offerings in this space will need to explain the reason why.
The move towards connected services is good news for service providers like eircom Business Solutions, because the centre of gravity is moving back to the network, and that’s our home ground. We were early to recognise our customers’ appetite for connected services, and in 2015 we’ll deliver a huge range — IP telephony, contact centre, IaaS, (compute, storage and database, etc.), Wi-Fi — all on subscription-based models.Certainly we’ll facilitate customers who prefer to own their hardware, but while those account for more than 95% of the Irish market now, we see that falling to below 75% of the market within two years. There’s just no need for customers to buy big infrastructure: at eircom Business Solutions we’re buying super-sized infrastructure and simply selling a slice of it to businesses. Connected services are an internationally proven model, and you’ll see a lot more of them in Ireland in 2015. |
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