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The Market Impact of Cisco's BroadSoft Acquisition: Page 6 of 7

Cisco Plus BroadSoft: Unique Opportunities for Mobile Operators

BroadSoft has a unique capability that enables mobile operator partners to provide a highly differentiated experience that delivers "PBX-like" features on the mobile handset. Because BroadWorks is IMS compliant, it can be deployed as part of the mobile service provider's IMS network core. Mobile communications service providers (CSPs) who deploy BroadWorks in their core can provide three significant benefits to their business subscribers:

  1. Business voice features with the CSP's mobile plans that include common PBX-enabled "mid-call" capabilities, including auto attendant, hold, transfer, forward, call park, etc. -- This gives mobile business users the same capabilities on their mobile handsets that they would expect with an office PBX system. A key difference between this type of offering and an OTT app like Webex Teams, Jabber, or UC-One, is that these features are enabled for cellular voice, not just OTT VoIP. Clearly, this is a functionality that only mobile CSPs can provide, and now Cisco can offer it to its mobile service provider customers.

     

  2. The ability to ring a "mobile number" on multiple devices -- When a person's mobile number is called, BroadSoft's IMS solution can be used to ring a person's cell phone, tablet, desk phone, or PC/Mac soft client. There are two key differences between using a mobile phone number on a smartphone for single number reach versus an OTT VoIP application:

     

    • On the mobile phone, VoIP calls already in progress may be interrupted if you get a second inbound VoIP call and the first call is put on hold (Note: If the VoIP client has implemented Apple's Call Kit, this does not apply. Call Kit-enabled VoIP apps allow callers to choose whether or not a second inbound VoIP call should interrupt the first.). However, a true mobile number call is not interrupted by a second inbound call.
    • The mobile network is generally very good for voice in terms of reliability and quality. VoIP over the mobile device can be spotty in terms of reliability and quality, plus it will consume the mobile data plan when not connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot. The single number reach in this instance comes to the mobile device over the voice cellular network and not the data network.

     

  3. Support for multiple numbers across multiple devices -- Even if an organization supports BYOD in which the employee brings his/her own mobile device with its own mobile number, a BroadSoft-based subscription from a mobile CSP allows a business number to be mapped to that same device so that mobile users can still use their own device, but it also becomes part of the company's business communications network. Effectively, each device has multiple identities: personal and business.

BroadSoft mobile business voice is a capability no other PBX or cloud-based service provider can offer mobile service providers, and an OTT mobile app will not give this level of integration with the mobile phone network. Although this segment of BroadSoft's business is nascent, it has huge potential, particularly with Cisco backing and promoting it to all of its service provider channel partners. It may erode Cisco's on-premises business faster, but it will help move organizations to cloud faster as well, which is a goal Cisco has. Plus, it can be bundled with other Cisco products and services, such as Webex Meetings and Teams.

One other important idea for mobile service providers is that now that Cisco owns it, BroadWorks can be used as a gateway to other Cisco call control platforms like CUCM and HCS. The implication is that mobile providers can put BroadWorks in their core, but register users to HCS or CUCM, expanding mobile business voice to the existing 100 million Cisco telephony customers.