SANJIV BHAGAT outlines the importance of network convergence and how it carries a lot of benefits with it which are very valuable for an organization's growth and efficiency.

Sanjiv Bhagat is Managing Director & CEO, AT&T Global Network Services India Pvt. Ltd. His responsibilities include overseeing sales and marketing, technical implementations and customer support throughout the country. During his tenure, Bhagat achieved phenomenal revenue growth and profits for AT&T Business in India. He also led the introduction of a number of industry leading services in the local market.

Before joining AT&T, Bhagat worked as a country manager for Global Network Services at IBM India and at various other positions for eight years. He also led the successful transition of IBM Network Services into AT&T Business following the completion of the AT&T acquisition of the IBM division in 2000. .

Over the last few years, there have been significant developments in the way organizations work. Organizations rely heavily upon the gamut of telephony and IP solutions for networking. Important data is saved and processed through a computer infrastructure set-up connected to a network. Network convergence is basically done to reduce infrastructure costs and simplify and expedite the work process. This also brings about efficiency along with employee satisfaction.

Network convergence carries a lot of benefits with it which are very valuable for an organization's growth and efficiency. Organizations look for low cost in voice calls, simplified network management, improved network scalability to accommodate business growth, better network redundancy (for backup in the event of an outage), better ability to launch and manage new applications, better customer service, better collaboration with customers, suppliers and partners, and last but not the least expanded number of access types (e.g., fixed-line, mobile, Web-based) by which employees can connect to the corporate network. According to the replies from executives in a globally conducted survye, each one felt that the enunciated benefits derived from network convergence are crucial to an organization.

The applications that executives consider important from the business point of view are business applications like customeret.

relationship management, enterprise resource planning and supply chain management. CRM helps in retaining customer loyalty and builds credibility for the organization as a brand whereas supply chain management helps in strengthening the supply chain of an organization. The other important applications are interactive voice response, contact centers, IP telephony, remote access via an IP phone, collaboration software, video-conferencing, unified messaging, multimedia services, enhanced call forwarding (e.g., "find me, follow me" capabilities).

Mobile technology which is a major aspect of the entire network convergence is currently being used extensively by employees in these organizations. Various surveys have shown that it is the C-level employees like the CEOs, CIOs, CSOs, the board members etc. who by and large use these phones for business purposes and their respective organizations provide them with the handsets. Mobile telephony makes working while traveling easier. Remote IP VPN (virtual private network) access to corporate networks as a mobile technology is considered to have a great impact on the productivity of the company's workforce. VoIP-enabled soft phones connected to laptops or remote PCs is also an important element of the work process. The importance of the chief security officer (CSO) cannot be understated although typically the CEO remains the primary decision-maker for electronic security decision (with the exception in Europe where the CIO is more likely to hold this role), the role of the CSO is rising, with 12 percent of companies confirming this as the main decision-maker.

The fact also becomes clear that along with mobile technology, wireless data applications are being deployed at most of these organizations. Web browsing, e-mail and personal information management (PIM) systems and instant messaging are some of the most used wireless applications. Thus, with the increase in the number of organizations which have network convergence it becomes obvious that organizations consider network convergence vital for their growth and to achieve customer and employee satisfaction and increase in productivity.

In conclusion, it can be said that security is regarded by executives as the single most important attribute of their network, more important than, say, the reliability of connections or speed. Today, organizations are equipped with incomparably better tools to protect the network than they were even in the late-1990s. IP convergence, although it may increase vulnerability in some ways, promises to take the network defenses to new levels of sophistication and reliability.

Achieving such levels is vital, because each quarter brings the appearance of new security challenges, either through the increasing ingenuity and ruthlessness of hackers, viruses or simply through developments in business strategy vital to maintaining competitiveness. Threats will remain ever-present, so dynamic and regular re-evaluation of network security policies and strategies is a matter of survival for all organizations and especially those with heavy investments in mobile technology.