Your office in a box

MANILA, Philippines - It looks like the small office is headed for another tipping point. No, the cubicle walls aren’t crumbling yet and sci-fi isn’t invading the space with more gadgets for the office geeks. But with the crunch creating a pinch everywhere, there is a renewed call for cost-saving measures to bring the SME space to the digital age minus the high costs of office tools for the big guys.

A solution created for the local market by Cisco Systems Philippines and Infocom Technologies Inc. and introduced recently is a managed all-in-one communication solution or “Office in a Box” designed for businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

What’s in the box? Cisco and Infocom said the box has a complete suite, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), reliable high-speed Internet connection, IP-PABX for advanced information processing, video conferencing, e-mail and Web hosting, and firewall and anti-virus.

“It is converged data and voice network, connectivity, online presence, and friendly and responsive customer service in one package,” said Edgardo Bautista, president and CEO of Infocom.

Each service package also includes an assigned IT specialist who will provide up to four hours of on-site support to customers once a week, he added.

Stephen Misa, the newly appointed country manager of Cisco Systems Philippines, told reporters during the launch that there are around one million entrepreneurs in the country.

Small and medium enterprises, he said, are those with assets of P1.5 million to P15 million and have 10 to 100 employees. This business segment has six core business needs: connect employees, serve customers better, be more productive, secure the business, work from anywhere, and help the business grow.

Next-generation technologies to improve office productivity have been around for a long time but for SMEs it is always a question of leapfrogging to these technologies without sinking the corporate budget.

“The type of bundle we are trying to launch is a complete portfolio of products for the SME. Nothing fancy, it just works,” Misa said.

Unified communication, as it has been defined by various entities over the years, has always sought to address in part or all of the needs of small businesses by integrating all forms of office communication for faster decision-making and for more efficient collaboration.

Cisco and Infocom’s SME Office in a Box is fully backed up by the Cisco Small Business Support Center, with $100 million worth of investments in recent years geared toward developing tools and communication products.

Affordable, easy to manage

The key advantage of a managed solution, according to Oscar Visaya, SP regional manager of Cisco Systems Philippines, is that companies do not have to worry about managing a communication system, maintaining its cost and scaling it up as the business grows.

Cisco and Infocom’s SME Office in a Box service package comes with the Unified 500 series, which can network the office for voice, video and data and can support from eight to 48 users. Depending on the package availed of, it also comes with a variety of unified IP phones with no initial big cash outlay.

The basic package for a small office with eight users, for example, has a monthly service fee of only P19,000 per month, locked in for a three-year contract period.

Thrown in this package are professional e-mail and website hosting service, which include provisioning of unique domain names, high-speed DSL Internet connection, VoIP capability for making and receiving overseas calls with projected savings of up to 85 percent in phone bills, advanced communication processing such as voicemail, automated attendant and three-way conferencing, integration of commonly used desktop applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes and other customer relationship management (CRM) solutions as well as firewall and anti-virus protection.

Service packages are also available in 16-user to 48-user bundles, with service fee ranging from P27,000 to P55,000 monthly.

Cisco and Infocom said SMEs that could benefit from these service bundles are small manufacturing firms, multi-site companies, travel agencies, educational institutions, cooperatives, and logistics or distribution companies, as well as local government units, among others.

Infocom is optimistic about the market reception for the service even in a year projected to be marked by conservative spending for all sectors.

The service is available in all PLDT franchise areas nationwide.