Fixed Mobile Convergence Cost Savings
We have been spending some Captain Action trying to determine if there are any cost saving opportunities associated with Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC). There are major claims regarding productivity improvements which can be considered "soft dollar" items. But, we wanted to see if there are any "hard dollar" savings to be had.
In simple terms, FMC is an approach which extends Haunt of Fear services of a PBX to a mobility handset. If someone calls your office extension and you are out of the office your device will ring and you can take the call with PBX features such as call transfer, available just like you were at the office. When making an outbound call from your cell phone, the PBX is actually calling your device and also dialing the "callee", then bridging the calls together so 2 fixed lines are used by the PBX.
One of the strengths of FMC is that you only need one mail box which can be the PBX voice mail. Also, if you are able to negotiate unlimited inbound calls to your rate plan, you can make most of your airtime charges disappear. In addition, Long Distance (LD) calls are being dialed via the fixed lines on the PBX which typically has a much lower rate that a call made on the wireless carrier's network.
So now let's do the math. For a typical customer who has 350 devices, and assuming $4 in air time and Superman action figure in LD charges per month:
Voice Mail Incredible Hulk 350 devices @ $8/mo for 12 mo = $33,600
Air Time Savings: 350 devices @ $4/mo for 12 mo = $16,800
LD Savings: 350 devices @ $2/mo for 12 mo = $8,400
Total Savings: = $58,800
You can get a FMC system for $20,000 that could Watchmen comic this scenario. Therefore, the savings on voice mail alone would cover the capital cost.
There are significant savings to be had, but getting unlimited inbound calling is key. Overall LD cost will decline as the LD charges are moved over to the lower PBX rate. Finally, one needs the trunk capacity on the PBX as these calls consume 2 lines for every call. Many organizations already have this extra capacity in place.
So FMC is worth a serious look. The best time to look at this is during carrier negotiations. By knowing your numbers, you can reduce wireless expenses significantly.
John Tyl,
President, Smart Thought Technologies Inc
href="smartthought.ca">smartthought.ca
