Business communication network
Exl
Infotel and Cap Gemini
Abstract
Usage of business communication network is of
immense importance for the current age organization and design of the
communication network should be such that it fulfils all communication
requirements of the organization. For the present paper two organizations have
been chosen i.e. Exl Infotel and Cap Gemini in order to analyze their business
communication needs and network which would enable their business communication
system and network as well. Due to the different size and business nature of
the two organizations there business communication requirements are different
and so as their priorities are. For small organization like Exl Infotel major
priority would be cost and speedy communication process while for Cap Gemini
real time data transfer and security of the data would be of utmost importance.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Management literature is rich with the instances
of organizations and business alliances and relationships forming a network
which is highly dependent upon communications. With more and more businesses
expanding day by day, it has become imperative that strong communication
systems are set up to facilitate the communication that can overcome distance
and geographic barriers. Taking into consideration any business, it forms a
network of communication centres with its various stakeholders like customers,
suppliers, distributors, advisors, shareholders etc. which in turn can be
considered to be a strongly coupled communication network (Nohria & Eccles,
1992). In today’s world it is through electronic links that these
communications happen and in case of some industries like pharmaceuticals and
travel, forms the basis of competitive advantage as well. In another aspect,
communication that happen in a business setup is driven largely by the
centralized design of the communication network that can help in reducing the
overall costs of communication by eliminating duplication (Williamson, 1991).
The use of communication technology is
particularly important from the perspective that it aids the workers or
employees of an organization in performing their daily tasks that may or may
not involve communication with agents outside the organization. Thus, in a
corollary to what has just been established the nature of work that employees
perform is also seen to be a major influence on the type of communication
network or setup being developed. Using rich channels and means of
communication is important to ensure that the quality of communication is high
and that poor communication technology doesn’t become a reason for poor
business results. Researchers have analysed the relationship between the choice
of technology made by managers or senior employees and their position in the
organization, and between the type of task performed by employees and their use
of technology to enable or facilitate the same (Bizot et al., 1991). In most of
the business situations it has been found that the richest form of communication
is face-to-face discussion and that mostly it proves to be beneficial. However,
considering the great diversity, distance, geographical constraints, and
globalization businesses have started adopting various technological
communication systems like telephone, emails etc which are also pretty rich in
nature. As managers reach higher designations they are found to avoid face to
face communications and rather adopt other means like email to disseminate
information or news.
Choice
of business communication system and network
An important judge of the choice of
communication medium is its quality and richness which in turn is dependent
upon the bandwidth of the channel being used and its synchronous operation.
Bandwidth allows use of wider range of items with which communication can take
place and thus face to face communication has highest bandwidth followed by
telephone calls followed by email. Synchronous communication is when all
participants can listen and speak at the same time which happens in telephone
calls but not in case of emails (Nohria & Eccles, 1992). The purpose of
each attribute is important is relevant and that when a higher social context
is involved, bandwidth is of essence whereas when complex topics or points are
to be discussed synchronous exchange is of greater importance.
Organization should thus invest in building
formal communication networks that facilitate formal communication and ensure
that the same is scalable in future. In related research, authors have shown
that organizational structure and nature of business also has a great role to
play in shaping the communication networks (Burt, 1992). It is important that
formal information and communication network be established in office setting
to ensure that communication is secure and that the loss of productivity
doesn’t happen. The basic aim of any communication network is to act as a
business facilitator and thus should not increase the overall effort required
to exchange a particular idea. Informal networks that earlier existed are being
removed at the greatest extent possible, however, they cannot be totally
eradicated as people are bound to use them for convenience and sheer lack of
willingness of using formal networks for every single thing.
In the recent developments, communications have
been greatly enhanced and developed by means of electronic data transfer known
as Electronic Data Interchange. As of today electronic data interchange is
widely used for the purpose of price quotation management, order processing,
data distribution and exchange, financial transactions etc. What has
essentially happened is that the organizational boundaries have vanished and
the ease with which data can be transferred has greatly enhanced.
Based on some research sources, a preliminary
schematic for a electronic data communication system can be developed as
follows (Chandler, 1977; Hakansson, 1982):
Figure 1 - Communication System
This model is typically applicable for any large
size organization wherein the coordination strategy plays the foremost role of
ensuring that all systems are synchronized with the same information. As can be
seen clearly, the communication network is greatly dependent upon the market
situation or the state of the industry, level of interconnectedness of the
various business partners or stakeholders, and the capabilities of the
organization in terms of the assets that it has to manage. Each of these
components influences one or the other component playing a pivotal role in
shaping the choice of network.
This model can be used to show that
organizations these days have moved to a virtual or hybrid form of network
communication model which is highly dependent upon market dynamics and the
level of coordination required between various players. As is the case with
Capgemini, being a large size organization, dealing with multitude of partners,
a strong internet driven communication network is required which can help it in
reducing costs and facilitating business over a secured network factoring in
the security of data and information being transferred. On the other hand, for
a smaller player like Exl Infotel which is still in the nascent stage of
growth, the systems in place a much more simple and minimal which are not much
scalable in terms of handling expansive communications that happen at giants
like Capgemini.
Business
communication system- A comparative analysis
The Present section would provide a comparative
analysis for the business communication systems through the networks in two
companies under consideration i.e. Cap Gemini and Exl Infotel. Though these two
companies do not have comparable size or business network as well hence there
would be high level of differentiation between the business communication
system and network developed in the two companies. Business communication
network especially email, network and connectivity among the various business
location of the two companies would depend upon the need of communication
system, cost incurred and information infrastructure setup by the organization
(Carnoy, 2009). Exl Infotel has adopted below mentioned business communication
network in order to meet their business communication, emails, network and
connectivity requirements arising in the business:
Figure 2: Showing business communication network
developed in Exl Infotel
As given in the figure above there are several
network components which are required for formation of an efficient business
communication network in an organization. Components employed above and
resulting network has been designed keeping in mind the business and
communication requirements for the organization where in this network has been
placed and depending upon the change in business requirements business
communication network would require changes so as to establish an effective
communication medium (Grossman and Helpman, 2005).
Internet connectivity in the business
communication network has been shown through DSL or cable modem keeping in mind
the two important factors for the small businesses i.e. reasonable pricing and
high speed internet connectivity which are key requirements for the business in
current information age. Emails and other intranet websites are available for
the organisation on their domain for all employees which helps in creating a
highly professional environment in the organisation. This internet connection
would further connect to the other systems and server of the organisation
through which entire management of the system and data takes place.
With high speed internet systems and with
Firewall system there would be high risk to the information security of the
organisation as organisation would be susceptible to risk and invaders can get
into operating environment getting through the Firewall. Firewall would
directly connects to the hubs through DMZ IP addressing which would be further
connected to the other data storage for the organization such as email server,
data server, print server and MS IIS server etc (Oliver, 2002).
In this kind of network arrangement for the
information system and business communication network environment there is less
emphasis on the information security as the cost become prime factor here and
for small organizations information protection system deployment becomes an
expensive affair which can be deployed with high cost hence a basic level
firewall and antivirus systems are maintained in order to avoid any probable
information security attacks towards the information system of the
organisation.
Further in order to maintain these servers
connected with each other an internal connection is deployed so that it becomes
easy for the users to synchronize data between the various servers. Internal
connection deployment among the different servers would help in order to
synchronize organisational information environment and develops a smooth
business communication environment where in each system works in harmony with
other and there are no information gaps. Exl Infotel has developed a backup for
the information system developed in the organization so that any kind of
information emergency can be handled properly and in case of any attacks on
information system there are no information losses which can be considerable
for the organization (Krafft, 2010).
For Exl infotel business communication
established in the organization is fairly simple in terms of the network
established in the organisation and cost incurred for the development of business
communication network as well. The network for the organization is small where
in most of the business activities are handled through single location and all
servers are placed at a single location only. Hence no complex business
communication network needs to be allocated for connected various users located
in multiple countries or locations and even data servers are sometimes located
at distant locations and require strong intranet communication network so as to
connect all the business activities of the companies so that real time data
transfer and communication can be established among the company wide (Oliver,
2002). Further depending upon the business needs large organizations may
require a very high level data security system which are not required in case
of the Exl Infotel as data security is not of that importance for the
organization hence threat to data is also of lower magnitude as compared with the
large organization such as Cap Gemini.
CIS 8008 business intelligenceFor Cap Gemini which is a major business communication organization business communication network deployed is of high level and utterly complex where in several network are employed in order to ensure data security as well as real time business communication needs for the users (William, 2009). Hence depending upon the business organization and size of the organisation needs for business communication network also differs and according to these needs communication networks are designed in the organisation. For Cap Gemini business communication network established can be given as below:
Figure 3: Showing the business communication
network for Cap Gemini
As shown in the figure above that business
communication network developed in Cap Gemini is quiet complex as compared to
the organization named Exl Infotel depending upon the business requirement in
the organization and size of the organisation as well. The communication
network established in the organization is quiet complex and figure above shows
the basic of that communication network which is divided among three layers as
shows above i.e. IP services, Metro Ethernet services and transmission network
(Sallai, 2012).
First layer in the communication network shows
above provides the overview of the transmission network in the communication
network which is enabled through leased lines system. There are four different
kind of transmission systems through which leased line system can be enabled
which are WDM, microwave link, NG-SDH and dark fibre links. These connections
types are enabled in order to connect the local branch offices of the company
to the main server through which major activities are happening and overall
connections are required in order to synchronize all business activities. Other
than establishing connectivity with the branch offices connection is also
established through internet in order to transfer data, image and voice into
secured manner.
Second layer of the communication network
established in the organization includes Metro Ethernet where in local
connections are established among the various users working under intranet
(Carnoy, 2009). Email are activated through intranet system of the organization
where in mail services are activated through domain and connectivity is
provided with the help of Metro Ethernet which is known for the flexible,
scalable and continuously managing leased line communication into secured and
fast data communication environment. Connection provided by the metro Ethernet
can be for the terminal nodes and user specified nodes so as to enable real
time data communication.
Third layer in the communication network shown
above provides the internet services in order to access the local as well as
international internet networks so that an efficient data can be accessed by
the users into secured manner. These internet services provided are an
efficient medium in order to connect the local area network in the organization
with the internet services (Caperna, 2005). There are three different services
present in the third communication network layer which are VOIP, IP VPN and
VSAT services. VOIP services are based on the high quality and low cost service
model in order to enable speedy worldwide private primary network communication
for the users. This telephone or fax communication network is really fast and
independent of the traditional telephone network established. Hence these
services can help in order to establish real time communication and places
where traditional telephone services are not available.
IP VPN services are enabled with the help of
MPLS protocols and are used in order to develop communication between various
branch offices of the organization so as to avoid traffic while transferring
the data and other information. Further communication established with the help
of IP VPN services are away from access of unauthorised third party reach which
makes it suitable for transfer of high value data (Walter, 2009). VSAT services
are enabled in order to provide the data transfer through satellite
communication methods and highly reliable data traffic takes place through
VSAT.
Conclusion
Two different business system and communication
network has been explained for the Exl Infotel and Cap Gemini which shows that
there are changes in the requirements for the business communication network
for the different organizations. For organization like Exl Infotel not much of
the complex network is required as higher priority is given to the cost
incurred in order to establish the communication network and speed of the data
transfer which takes place among the users. Further due to small size of the
organization there are no complexity involved and no inter organization data is
involved as much of the data is stored through the main server in the
organization which is connected through all users.
While case for the Cap Gemini is quiet different
as compared with the Exl Infotel as size of the company is very large and
accordingly business communication requirements for the organization are
complex as compared with the Exl Infotel. Organization like Cap Gemini needs
data communication system which is really fast and provides the real time data
transfer services and security of the communication network is also of immense
importance for the organization as data transfer is of high value to the
organization unlike Exl Infotel where in priorities for establishing
communication network were different.
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