VoIP Assessment Service to Ensure LAN Readiness

Digital Hands, a global provider of remote call center support for desktops, laptops, servers, networks, and PDAs, today announced the launch of VoIPWorks, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) assessment, readiness, and support service suite. VoIPWorks includes an unbiased assessment that simulates traffic over local area networks to let service providers and their customers discover issues prior to implementations.

One of the biggest challenges VARs and other providers face as they add VoIP installations to their solutions mix is lack of expertise in assessing their customer's local area network (LAN) and the lack of the technical staff needed to correct problems. Technology research authority Gartner maintains that 85% of today's router-based data networks are not ready for successful VoIP deployment and that through 2008, 75% of enterprises that fail to perform pre-implementation analysis of their networks will not achieve a successful VoIP implementation. The lack of proactive visibility to the network and associated hidden issues result in increased costs for provider and customer, compromised VoIP service quality, business interruptions, and a poor service experience.

"Gartner's assertion resonates with what we hear from our customers and partners all the time," said Charlotte Baker, chief executive officer of Digital Hands. "We developed VoIPWorks to help service providers address LAN readiness issues. It offers them the advantage of foresight prior to installation and access to beneficial resources they will need in order to prepare the customer's LAN for a successful installation."

While VoIPWorks produces a maximum benefit when used prior to implementation, it also comes to the rescue of providers struggling with existing, troublesome VoIP implementations.

"We can diagnose the source of the trouble remotely, prescribe what needs to be done, and we will either fix it or tell the customer how to do it themselves," Baker continued. "This saves the provider the expense of hiring on LAN specialists or bringing in other providers to share the job which ultimately can invite competition and lengthen the sales cycle."

When a VoiP provider contacts Digital Hands to schedule a VoIP assessment, a Digital Hands technician deploys the Digital Hands agent directly on to their customer's network. Traffic is simulated to mimic the desired number of simultaneous calls that can be made while maintaining a high level of quality. Digital Hands compiles the results and delivers a report to the service provider in a format that is easily interpreted and designed to be understood by sales representatives and their customers.

Beyond remote LAN assessments, Digital Hands can assist the provider in making the modifications to their customer's LAN when configurations are not optimal for supporting VoIP implementation. Digital Hands' help desk technicians have both telephony and LAN expertise and are able to address end users' questions quickly, professionally, and cost-effectively -- offering service providers relief from Tier 1 call center triage, Tier 2 call center resolution and emergency escalation calls. The VoIPWorks service menu is designed to enable VoIP providers speed to market by taking care of two key areas that are ripe for outsourcing in VoIP: reallocating mundane tasks where the provider lacks economies of scale and supplementing specialty labor to avoid capital outlay for systems, training, and resources that are not core to ongoing business operations.