How to Carve a PBX

The vertically-integrated silo of the PBX is obsolete. A like-for-like replacement of any PBX - TDM or IP - should be challenged before making any investments. We saw this happen with mainframe computers several decades ago (See "Only the Paranoid Survive" by Andy Grove, Chairman Emeritus, Intel). Now it has happened with PBXs, the mainframes of voice communications. So, what would you buy instead?

A recent chat on this topic brought up the Thanksgiving image of carving up a turkey (e.g. this great Whole Foods YouTube). So, how about a post on "how to carve a PBX?"

Just like the turkey video, there will be some preparation. In our case, let's assume that the enterprise already has an Instant Messaging (or an internal business social networking) system with access to the corporate directory, including the names and phone numbers of all the employees. This includes the mobile device clients for the IM systems, such as for Microsoft Lync, Salesforce.com Chatter, IBM Sametime or Connections, etc. We will assume that your enterprise has some experience with Session Border Controllers (SBCs), which will certainly be the case if you have SIP trunks, and/or smart gateways to support Voice over IP (VoIP) connections to the public networks. Also, just as the video recommends using a sharp knife, PBX carving needs a sharp mind for IT architecture and economics.

OK, let's begin carving.

Step 1: Take off anything that doesn't need telephony features. This will include almost all of those things that are now on analog lines or on IP-based Analog Telephone Adapters (ATA); examples include fax machines, door alarms, refrigeration alarms, ATM machines, parking lot phones, etc. There is no reason to be paying for PBX ports, licenses and maintenance on these devices, most of which don't even have a dial pad and many of which never receive a call or use any of the PBX features (ever seen a Fax machine on hold or in a conference call or a pickup group?). You can remove these from your PBX and connect them directly to analog ports on a gateway or session border controller for a much lower cost. Or, move them to a very low cost open source switch such as Asterisk software. (Note: Cisco's UCL Essential license, with a license list price of only $40, may provide an exception to this, but most customers are still licensing these analog device ports at the same price as a user phone line.)

Step 2: Remove the mobile, field and remote workers from the PBX. For most companies in most industries roughly 30% of the workers are field workers or workers who do not need a PBX phone number. The enterprise is usually either buying or reimbursing for the user's mobile device, which is increasingly the case with the overwhelming BYOD trend. What's more, all of the leading US cellular carriers are now offering unlimited voice minute plans, so there are no savings and likely some added costs from routing the mobile calls through the PBX.

If you still want the remote employees to have an enterprise direct inward dial (DID) number on their business cards, those DID numbers can land on the directory-enabled SBCs or gateways and be routed back out to the cellular user's phone. Or, the DID provider may allow a permanent redirect of individual DID numbers while the call is still in the network. The cellular user can set their phone to route unanswered calls to the enterprise's voice mail or unified messaging system (a PBX phone line is not required for each mailbox). The mobile users will be able to make calls from their smartphones using their e-mail contact lists and their IM contact lists, with no need to dial manually and no need to install a PBX-based mobile client on the device. If the remote users want a nice speakerphone or handset when they are in the office, they can use the attractive and economical Bluetooth docking stations, rather than an expensive PBX phone line.

We're halfway done and your PBX is probably about 50% smaller.

Step 3: Move the in-house collaborative roles to a communications-enabled collaboration system. This includes roles such as R&D, business planning, product management and marketing, legal department, and often most of the enterprise leadership. These people communicate almost entirely in the context of documents and information, so move their communications to their document environment. Microsoft Lync with Office, IBM Sametime or Connections with IBM Docs, and Google Apps are all examples of this. Since these employees are working on a PC (Windows or Mac) or tablet (Windows, Mac, Android), they will likely feel comfortable using a wired or wireless headset and the built-in cameras for their voice and video communications. Note that this approach to collaboration starts from the documents and workflows, not from the voice or video calls that most IP PBX providers position as the basis for collaboration, though most IP PBX providers do have plug-ins to connect their communications to Microsoft Office and/or Google Apps.

Step 4: Audit and remove phone lines/numbers that are only there for voice mail routing to employee mailboxes. Many roles in retail, transportation, manufacturing and distribution operations, financial services, local government, and education do not need a dedicated PBX line. These roles do need to receive voice mail while at work and need to return calls and make other calls when on their breaks (if they are not using their own cell phones for these purposes), so provide plenty of telephones in the break rooms and provide each employee with a voice mailbox; but a DID number will not be needed if the voice mail system prompts the caller for a spoken name or a mailbox number.

We're almost done. At this point the PBX should be supporting primarily call center agents, desk-based workers (who are likely using application software for most of their work), operator or receptionist positions, and some number of open space phones (lobbies, cafeterias, safety phones, etc.). So the final actions are:

Step 5: Cut out the phones for desk-based or device-based business application users that weren't removed in Steps 2 and 3. The new model is to embed communications directly into the business applications whether on PCs/Macs, tablets or smartphones (often called CEBP or Communications Enabled Business Processes). Increasingly, the business applications suppliers are already including communications features in their software and their user interfaces and are providing APIs or standards-based modules for connection to gateways, to the telephone network/PBXs, to directories, and to IM systems. Users will often prefer wired or wireless headsets and USB or Bluetooth appliances rather than desk phones, since that's what they already use in this BYOD world.

Step 6: Clean up the maintenance contracts. You can now save money year after year by downsizing the maintenance contract to cover only those user licenses that are still needed. The PBX vendor will sternly warn you that if you remove the licenses from maintenance you can't get them back without buying new user licenses; but you know you won't need the licenses that have been carved off so go ahead - cancel them and reduce your maintenance costs.

Step 7: Garnish this platter-full of cost savings with some treats and goodies. The turkey-carving video showed garnishes of fresh herbs. But in our case, maybe the garnish is to add some enhanced video or BYOD options, to refresh the mobile device reimbursement policies, or to provide a menu of PC and device appliances such as headsets and speakerphones.

If or when you ever decide to replace this much smaller PBX, you will save significantly by buying only what you need for the future, not what you had in the past.

If you serve this action plan up to your CIO and CFO, they will most likely savor the experience much more than a Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course, you may have your own way to do this. Some may even prefer Turducken, i.e. stuffing the turkey with lots of other things, analogous to stuffing the PBX licenses with UC components such as video conferencing bridges. But the disaggregation of the PBX is a pretty certain future, so best to get the sharp minds together now and start carving. Enjoy!