While unified communications can clearly enable more efficient and more consistent communications across any platform, for users in any location, there are different approaches to implementing a unified communications system. A single-vendor approach, such as Microsoft Exchange in combination with Microsoft Lync, can provide a robust unified communications experience and can make users more productive. However, an open approach that leverages cloud-based productivity applications, such as Google Apps integrated with a software and hardware agnostic unified communication platform like Esnatech Office-LinX, permits the re-use of existing PBXs and other systems, and provides the necessary flexibility to allow organizations to adopt a wider variety of less expensive on-premise and cloud-based applications.

1. WHITE PAPER
Taking a Strategic Approach to Unified
Communications: Best of Breed vs.
Single Vendor Solutions
An Osterman Research White Paper
Published April 2012
sponsored by
SPON
sponsored by
Osterman Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 1058 • Black Diamond, Washington • 98010-1058 • USA
Tel: +1 253 630 5839 • Fax: +1 253 458 0934 • info@ostermanresearch.com
www.ostermanresearch.com • twitter.com/mosterman

2. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Unified communications provides a number of benefits to any organization:
• The ability for users to have an integrated experience that combines their email,
voice, Web conferencing, mobile and real time communications and collaboration
into a single, cohesive experience.
• The ability to have available a consistent interface on any platform, from any
location. This enables employees to work from home or while traveling and
remain as productive as they are while in the office.
• The ability for employees to make decisions more quickly by having all of the
information and other tools necessary to communicate and collaborate,
regardless of their location.
• Significantly reduced IT and telephony costs by integrating various modes of
communication into a single and consistent communications platform. An open approach
to unified commun-
THE MIGRATION TO UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
Organizations are migrating toward unified communications because of two key ications permits the
issues with conventional communication systems: re-use of existing
PBXs and other
• Integration of data
systems, and
In a conventional communications scenario, users employ an email system on a
desktop computer, laptop or mobile device; make telephone calls and access provides the
email on a desktop telephone or on their mobile device; participate in instant necessary flexibility
messaging conversations with a standalone client on their computing to allow organ-
platform(s); participate in Web conferencing sessions with yet another
standalone client, and so on. These tools allow users to be productive, but the
izations to adopt a
standalone nature of these applications negatively impacts productivity when wider variety of less
users try to share data between the various communication modes or when they expensive on-
are out of the office. Further, messaging and telephony are often managed by premise and cloud-
separate groups, creating additional problems.
based applications.
• Organizational flexibility and agility Moreover, the use of
Conventional communications tend to limit the flexibility that organizations have open solutions
in allowing employees to work remotely. For example, while employees can provides more
access corporate email from virtually any Web browser, accessing telephony, fax,
Web conferencing and other systems is not as easily accomplished when users flexibility and lower
are working remotely. This limits the ability of organizations to enable telework overall costs over
and thereby drives up overall IT and telephony costs. the long term.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
While unified communications can clearly enable more efficient and more consistent
communications across any platform, for users in any location, there are different
approaches to implementing a unified communications system. A single-vendor
approach, such as Microsoft Exchange in combination with Microsoft Lync, can
provide a robust unified communications experience and can make users more
productive. However, an open approach that leverages cloud-based productivity
applications, such as Google Apps integrated with a software and hardware agnostic
unified communication platform like Esnatech Office-LinX, permits the re-use of
existing PBXs and other systems, and provides the necessary flexibility to allow
organizations to adopt a wider variety of less expensive on-premise and cloud-based
applications. Moreover, the use of best-of-breed solutions provides more flexibility
and lower overall costs over the long term.
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 1

3. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
WHY UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS?
The term “unified communications” is what its name implies – a set of communication
tools that are assembled into a single interface and integrated into a single
management system. Unified communications includes a variety of communications
and collaboration tools: email, calendaring and scheduling, voice/telephony and real-
time communications capabilities that are presented to a user through a thick client
and/or a browser-based interface. Other functions that may be included in a unified
communications system include text messaging/SMS capabilities, fax services,
mobility services and Web conferencing. Many unified communications systems also
integrate security capabilities like intrusion prevention, anti-spam services and anti-
virus capabilities.
CASE STUDY
COMMUNICATION SILOES LIMIT EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY
In a conventional communications system in the typical workplace each computer The City of
user normally has: Westerville, Ohio
• An email client that includes calendaring and scheduling (usually Microsoft
migrated to Google
Outlook) Apps and needed a
• Customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage and new phone system
communicate with customers and prospects that would provide
• A desktop telephone
• An instant messaging client
full unified
• A mobile phone that, among other things, offers text messaging/SMS services communications
• Availability of a departmental fax machine services within
Google Apps. The
NON-UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS CREATES PROBLEMS city selected a Mitel
This configuration of separate communications tools and interfaces works reasonably
well while the user is in the office, but there are some significant limitations. For phone system that
example, email messages are accessed in an email client on the computer, calls are was SIP integrated
made and voicemail messages are accessed through the telephone, and instant to the Esnatech
messaging conversations are conducted in a separate client. When faxes are sent or
received, users must walk to the fax machine and process individual pieces of paper.
UC&C application
However, when users need to work remotely, their desktop telephone cannot be server. This
used, and faxes are largely inaccessible without the assistance of someone else in the extended Mitel
office who can re-send or read the faxed information. The only communication mode dialing, presence
that works more or less like that of the in-office experience is email, normally
accessed through a Webmail interface.
and messaging
services directly into
Although this conventional and widely used approach to communications allows users Gmail and Google
to be productive to a point, consider the benefits of a unified communications Apps, enabling
system:
employees to access
• Users can send or receive email, make calls, access voicemail, conduct instant voice and fax
messaging conversations, and send or receive faxes from a single interface. messages from
Moreover, data can be shared digitally between all of these communication
modes.
Gmail and initiate
calls off the Mitel
• All of these capabilities are accessible on any platform, regardless of location – a phone system
desktop computer, a laptop or a mobile device – and also using a thick client or a directly from Google
Web browser.
Apps.
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS MAKES PEOPLE AND
COMPANIES MORE EFFICIENT
Obviously, the unified communications scenario is preferable for users who need to
work more efficiently, particularly when traveling or when they must work from
home. However, such a unified communications system is also preferable for the IT
and telephony groups in a company because they are not managing individual
communication silos, but instead are managing a single, integrated system. This
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 2

4. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
results in synergies that would not be possible in a conventional communications
scenario.
Organizations that deploy unified communications systems also benefit in several
other important ways:
• Users with access to all of their communication tools from a single interface can THE “HOTELING”
be just as productive when on the road or when working from home (e.g.,
during periods of inclement weather) as when they are in the office. This gives CONCEPT
decision makers the flexibility to allow their employees to work from anywhere,
If a 500-employee
resulting in an enhanced user experience and potentially greater retention of
employees. company has a
teleworking plan, it
• From a more strategic perspective, however, because employees who have can reduce its office
access to all of their communication modes from a single interface can be highly
productive, this allows organizations to operate with much less office space than
space by 20% if
would otherwise be required if an office or cubicle must be made available for each employee
every employee. Osterman Research estimates that the typical organization can works at home just
save $600 per employee per year in just facilities costs when employees can one day per week.
work from home just one day per week – the “hoteling” concept used by many
companies, including Boeing and IBM.
This reduces office
space by an average
TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP CAN BE DRAMATICALLY LOWER of 150 square feet
WITH AN OPEN SOLUTION per teleworker
More important, however, are the costs associated with the particular unified (cubicle, common
communications solutions that will be deployed. For example, an organization of
5,000 users that deploys a combination of on-premise Microsoft Exchange and
space, etc.).
Microsoft Lync will spend roughly $4.8 million for basic unified communications
functionality, but could spend up to $9.5 million for a fully configured system that If office space is $20
includes compliance-focused archiving, Lync Online Voice and voicemail. This per square foot per
translates to a per user cost, assuming a three-year lifecycle, of $27 to $53 per
month.
year (typical cost in
an urban area), the
However, using an open approach – such as Google Apps in combination with cost savings are
Esnatech solutions – the annual cost would be $65 to $120 per year, or $5.40 to $600 per employee:
$10.00 per user per month.
Without telework:
TAKING A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO Space for 500
employees x 150sf
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS each x $20/sf = $1.5
Once the decision has been made to adopt unified communications and to realize the million
cost and efficiency benefits that it can provide, the next decision comes down to what
type of unified communications system should be deployed. While there are a
number of unified communications vendors offering a variety of solutions, the With telework:
decision really comes down to whether a single vendor or open approach should be Space for 400
followed. employees x 150sf
each x $20/sf
USE OF A SINGLE VENDOR APPROACH
The use of a single vendor unified communications system does offer some
= $1.2 million
advantages. For example, Lync – Microsoft’s unified communications platform –
integrates instant messaging, voice, audio, video and Web conferencing services via a Savings:
single interface. Lync also integrates presence management so that ad hoc voice $300,000 or $600
calls and video meetings can be initiated quickly between team members and others
on Lync. Lync integrates with non-Microsoft services as well, such as AOL Instant per employee
Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. ($300,000 ÷ 500
employees = $600)
Although Lync provides solid functionality, perhaps its most important benefit is that
it comes from a leading vendor. Given Microsoft’s position in the communications,
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 3

5. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
applications and server markets, the decision to implement Microsoft’s single vendor
technology approach can be easily defended.
However, the disadvantage of using any single vendor technology, particularly for a
critical infrastructure backbone like unified communications, is that it provides
minimal interoperability with solutions from other vendors. Whether for corporate
politics or other reasons, quite often a single vendor technology simply will not
interoperate with leading competitive solutions, thereby limiting the utility of the
technology to a reasonably small subset of the user environment. Also, many single
vendor solutions like Lync require significant investments to deploy and manage.
They do not allow full value to be extracted from existing solutions because of the
“rip-and-replace” nature of their deployment and they permit less organizational
flexibility than most organizations prefer.
USING A BEST-OF-BREED APPROACH
Using an open approach to unified communications, on the other hand, provides
more flexibility because adopters are not wedded to a single vendor approach. Other
important advantages of an open approach to unified communications include: Open solutions are
better suited to help
• As with many leading, single vendor solutions, an open unified communications
technology can provide the same high level of robust functionality. organizations
realize the full value
• There are several vendors in the space that have a long track record in providing from their existing
cloud services, presence and interoperability – vendors that have expertise and
experience in offering highly scalable and efficient unified communications
hardware and
platforms. software
deployments.
• Open approaches are consistently less expensive than single vendor solutions Because the right
and offer much lower total cost of ownership initially and over the long term.
open solutions can
• For example, when the vendor of a single vendor solution is selected to provide be integrated into
unified communications or other functionality, the customer is more or less existing infra-
locked in to that vendor and the associated third-party ecosystem unless they structure, this
opt to undergo an expensive rip-and-replace exercise to switch to another
vendor. However, when an open vendor is used, this provides “forward further drives down
flexibility” that enables switching to another vendor’s underlying technology the total cost of
without a complete rip-and-replace. This offers decision makers a somewhat ownership because
safer decision, a less costly migration path, and the ability to change vendor
of the extended life
direction much more easily.
of existing systems.
• Open solutions are better suited to help organizations realize the full value from
their existing hardware and software deployments. Because the right open
solutions can be integrated into existing infrastructure, this further drives down
the total cost of ownership because of the extended life of existing systems.
• The net result is much greater organizational flexibility because of the wider
interoperability of open solutions and the longer life of the existing infrastructure.
PRICING COMPARISON
A comparison of the costs of Microsoft Lync with Google Apps/Esnatech will vary
based on the size of the organization, the specific features to be deployed and other
factors. However, a review of the following table demonstrates the dramatically
lower cost of ownership when using a combination of Google Apps and Esnatech
Unified Communications for Google™ Apps compared to Microsoft Exchange in
combination with Microsoft Lync or Microsoft Office 365 in combination with Microsoft
Lync or Microsoft Lync Online.
Just using these rough comparisons, a 1,000-user organization will save $246 per
user, per year using a combination of Google Apps and Esnatech Unified
Communications for Google™ Apps compared to on-premise offerings from Microsoft;
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 4

6. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
savings will be lower when comparing Office 365 to Google Apps/Esnatech, but are
still substantial at $150 per user per year. It is important to note that there are other
cost savings, as well, including:
• Avoiding the cost of replacing a PBX by extending its life until it needs to be
replaced instead of replacing it prematurely.
• Avoidance of rip-and-replace costs in mixed environments.
• Power costs, which can total several thousand dollars per year in larger
environments.
• No need to purchase mobile phones for users because of the ability of Google
Apps/Esnatech to interoperate with any mobile OS.
Three-Year Cost Comparison of On-Premise Microsoft Exchange/
Lync vs. Esnatech/Google Apps
Annual Costs per User
Google
Apps/
Exchange Microsoft Esnatech
Server (Dell PowerEdge T510) $9,512 -
Three-year 24x7 support, four-hour response $8,796 -
AV/AS appliance (Barracuda Spam & Virus
$4,397 -
Firewall 200)
Exchange Server software $15,996 -
Exchange Client access licenses, 1,000 $67,000 -
Exchange software maintenance for 1,000 clients $105,000 -
Windows Server 2008 $14,796 -
Exchange Server OS software client access
$38,951 -
licenses or equivalent
Outlook, 1,000 $100,000 -
Google Apps - $150,000
Google
Apps/
Lync Microsoft Esnatech
Server (Dell PowerEdge T510) $9,512 -
Three-year 24x7 support, four-hour response $8,796 -
Lync Server Software $3,999 -
Lync Instant Messaging and Presence $138,000 -
Lync software maintenance for 1,000 clients $69,397 -
Unified Communications for Google™ Apps - $210,000
Google
Apps/
Labor Microsoft Esnatech
IT admin cost (Year 1) $160,000 -
IT admin cost (Year 2) $168,000 -
IT admin cost (Year 3) $176,400 -
TOTAL $1,098,552 $360,000
TOTAL PER USER PER YEAR $366 $120
Note: 2.0 FTE IT admins required to support the Microsoft environment
Source: Osterman Research estimates and published data
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 5

7. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
Basic Pricing Comparison of Microsoft Office 365/Lync vs. Esnatech/
Google Apps
Annual Costs per User
Google
Google Apps/ Apps/
Function Microsoft Esnatech Microsoft Esnatech
Email, word
processing, Microsoft Office
Google Apps $168 $50
spreadsheet, 365 Plan E2
presentations
Unified Unified
communications Microsoft Lync Communications
$66 $70
(mobility, speech and Online Plan 2 for Google™
presence services) Apps
TOTAL PER USER PER YEAR $234 $120
CASE STUDY
Another consideration when comparing the cost of competing on-premise solutions is Township High
the complexity of the architecture required to support unified communications. While School District 214
Microsoft’s unified communications solutions offer robust functionality, they require in Illinois migrated
the use of multiple servers to perform the various roles associated with unified
messaging, fax services, speech services and other critical roles. Moreover, the cost
to Google Apps in
of the Microsoft stack is relatively expensive compared to other solutions, particularly 2009. They needed
for video functionality. Some solutions, such as Esnatech’s, can satisfy these roles a UC solution that
using a much less complex, single-server approach. In fact, a hybrid approach that would improve the
allows enterprises to connect to third-party applications can provide additional
benefits and potential cost savings. While Lync integrates with a variety of third- current system in
party applications, services and systems, it may not satisfy all of an organization’s place, but maintain
integration requirements. the functionality
that was already
THE IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION
Another important issue to consider is not only the current offerings from a particular
available. Esnatech
provider or the cost of obtaining these solutions, but also the innovation that a Office-LinX
provider can offer that will add value over time. For example, in the context of seamlessly
unified communications, Google offers Hangouts, a video conferencing service that connected their
enables up to nine people to participate in a group video session. Google+ is a
rapidly growing social network that provides a number of innovative features like
phone system to
grouping particular users into “circles”, or affinity groups with whom users can share Google Apps and
only certain types of information. Google is one of the top two mobile platform provided the staff
providers and continues to provide innovative solutions to integrate unified with single inbox
communications and other technologies into the mobile experience.
access to all voice
Esnatech is working closely with Google to enable new and innovative applications and email messages,
that will expand the envelope of unified communications. For example, Esnatech presence
federates live phone status and federates presence into the Google cloud which, in
information shared
turn, can feed into any new Google applications. This enables Gmail to become a full
collaboration interface using a completely Web-based set of applications. across Google Talk
and Calendar and
fixed-to-mobile
SUMMARY convergence.
Unified communications offers any organization a wide range of benefits, not least of
which is the ability to enable telework and other remote work more effectively by
providing users with a consistent interface to all of their communication and
collaboration functions. However, there are various ways of deploying unified
communications, using single vendor approaches or those that are based on open
systems. The latter, while providing more flexibility in how systems are deployed, is
also significantly less expensive than single vendor solutions. While the combination
of Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Lync, and other single-vendor solutions, offer
robust functionality, the single vendor approach is much more expensive than a
©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 6

8. Taking a Strategic Approach to
Unified Communications: Best
of Breed vs. Single Vendor
Solutions
multi-vendor, open approach such as the combination of Google Apps and Esnatech
Unified Communications for Google™ Apps.
ABOUT ESNATECH
Esnatech is a global leader in cloud-enabled Integrated Unified Communication
solutions. The award-winning Office-LinX™ platform integrates cloud, mobile and
social communications with traditional voice and messaging to give information
workers the freedom to choose how, when and where they communicate. No costly
hardware upgrades, no new learning curve —just simple and easy access to
communicate and collaborate.
For more information, please visit www.esnatech.com.
© 2012 Osterman Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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©2012 Osterman Research, Inc. 7