Whether used for external communication with customers or internal communication between employees and departments, making sure calls run smoothly and easily is vital to organizations. High-quality, reliable calls backed by cellular data ensure information is passed along without being dropped, which in turn allows internal initiatives and customer communications to flourish. Without a reliable calling solution, organizations risk poor quality calls, bungled management of clients, and failing compliance.
Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams provide an extended mobile-first Teams experience by joining the Teams experience with a single business-provided phone number and coverage network. Verizon offers three Microsoft Teams calling solutions that enable Teams users to make and receive calls outside the organization to virtually anyone anywhere, including customers, partners, and other employees on both wireline and wireless/cellular solutions. Companies can mix and match the three solutions to choose the right solution for each individual employee, whether they are onsite, remote, hybrid, or mobile. This centralizes the workforce communications experience, creates consistency of business policies, and provides an optimal calling experience for all employees, regardless of where they are physically located.
Verizon commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Verizon’s Teams calling solutions on their organizations.
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed the IT director of a healthcare management company with experience using both Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams (VCMT) and Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams (VMMT). Forrester used the interviewee’s experiences to project a three-year financial analysis for their organization. To keep the interviewee and their company anonymous, Forrester refers to the organization as “Dermex.”
The IT director noted that prior to using two of Verizon’s three Teams calling solutions, Dermex struggled with call consistency issues and poor call quality, which hurt the organization’s operations, branding, and bottom line. It also lacked the ability to comply with regulation-based reporting requirements and had to frequently work with its call center to resolve technical issues.
After the investment in VCMT and VMMT, the IT director was able to finally centralize the organization’s calling and collaboration with Teams and support its hybrid employee base (e.g., mobile workers, desk workers, etc.) with both a landline and mobile calling solution that is best suited for each persona. The IT director shared that regardless of location, Verizon’s network improved call quality and said its technology helped Dermex employees consolidate voicemails, further centralizing communication channels and reducing management costs. This ultimately improved communications with patients and customers.
Key Findings
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for Dermex include:
- Hundreds of hours and more than $1.2 million saved annually in managing legacy solutions. Switching to Verizon’s Teams calling solutions enables Dermex to retire its legacy outbound calling solution. This not only saves Dermex $1.2 million in fees annually, but it also allows the organization to avoid 280 hours of labor its IT director previously spent troubleshooting each year. This benefit has worth a risk-adjusted, three-year PV of $2.5 million for Dermex.
- 99% reduction in individual clinic landline spend. Dermex runs a total of eight clinics, and each spends $50,000 maintaining its landline phone systems. With Verizon Teams calling solutions in place, the clinics reduce this spend to $500, which is approximately a 99% reduction. Over three years, this benefit has a risk-adjusted PV of $1.3 million for Dermex.
- 30% increase in patient appointments. Verizon’s Teams calling solutions help Dermex better manage its brand by controlling and providing consistent caller ID names and numbers. This ensures the end customer’s spam filters handle the calls correctly. Because of Verizon’s better caller ID branding, when Dermex employees call patients to confirm their appointments, the patients recognize the phone number and answer the calls. Better patient outreach leads Dermex to a 30% improvement in the number of patients that complete their appointments compared with the prior process. This directly improves profits and yields a risk-adjusted three-year PV of $1.2 million.
- Nearly 90% time savings realized in setting up new-employee mobile lines. With Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams, Dermex decreases the time required to set up and assign Microsoft Teams numbers from 67% in Year 1 to almost 90% in Year 3. This saves system administrators significant time and yields a risk-adjusted, three-year PV of $13,000.
- Significant time savings on training for new hires and IT directors. With Verizon’s Teams calling solutions, Dermex also saves time on training new employees with training time decreasing by 75%. These savings impact both new hires as well as those in charge of the training. Over three years, Dermex saves a risk-adjusted total PV of $21,000.
- Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams implementation efficiencies. The Verizon team deploys VCMT lines at 20 sites on behalf of Dermex. This leads to time efficiencies for the IT director because Verizon performs the tasks associated with the project. However, because some organizations may be hesitant to share secure information with a third party, Forrester considers this an avoided cost and did not include this benefit in the financial model and ROI calculation. However, a sample calculation is provided in Table F.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for Dermex but are not quantified for this study include:
- Enriched customer experience. Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams enables Dermex to provide higher-quality customer service to its patients and connect them quickly and easily to frontline workers, thus improving customer loyalty.
- Improved employee experience. Dermex employees find Verizon’s Teams calling solutions to be easier to implement and use than other solutions.
- Enhanced call quality. The higher quality and reliability of each call positively impacts customer loyalty and the overall quality of service offered by Dermex.
- Increased understanding of technology due to Verizon customer service and support. The IT director said Verizon provides exceptional customer service and support that helps with deployment and regularly troubleshoots tasks.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for Dermex include:
- $817,000 in licensing costs. Dermex deploys both VCMT and VMMT to support its in-office and mobile workforce. Annual costs include the cost per user for VMMT and VCMT, Verizon mobile phone plans and devices, Microsoft Teams E3 licenses, and Microsoft Teams Phone Standard licenses.
- $327,000 in internal preparation and implementation costs for VCMT. These costs include the time required to prepare account information, labor time on the implementation itself, and the fully loaded salaries of system administrators, directors, and CIOs involved in the process.
- $51,000 in the internal preparation and implementation labor costs for VMMT. Dermex has 1,800 employees use VMMT on their devices in Year 1. As the organization grows and hires new employees, its system administrators and IT director need less time to set up devices. By Year 3, they only require 10 minutes per device.
- $445,000 in ongoing management and training costs for VCMT and VMMT. Dermex has an IT director, system administrators, and its CIO help maintain Verizon’s Teams calling solutions and requires additional time and effort for designing training.
The interview and financial analysis found that the representative’s organization experiences benefits of $5.01 million over three years versus costs of 1.64 million, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $3.37 million and an ROI of 205%.
Key Statistics
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Return on investment (ROI):
<205%>
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Benefits PV:
<$5.01 MILLION>
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Net present value (NPV):
<$3.37 MILLION>
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Payback:
<6 MONTHS>
Benefits (Three-Year)
Benefit 1 sentence case Benefit 2 sentence case Benefit 3 sentence case Benefit 4 sentence case Benefit 5 sentence caseTEI Framework And Methodology
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams can have on an organization.
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Due Diligence
Interviewed Verizon’s stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams and Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams.
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Interviews
Interviewed the representative of an organization using Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams and Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams to obtain data with respect to costs, benefits, and risks.
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Financial Model Framework
Constructed a financial model representative of the interview using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
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Case Study
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Verizon’s and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams and Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams.
Verizon’s reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Verizon’s provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Consulting Team:
Stephanie Slate
Sarah Lervold
Drivers leading to the Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams investment
Key Challenges
Before implementing VCMT and VMMT, Dermex managed calls through a legacy solution that required landlines and physical call centers to function.
The IT director noted how Dermex struggled with common challenges, including:
- Lost revenue due to inconsistent, low-quality patient outreach. The IT director explained to Forrester that many of their organization’s phone numbers appeared as spam calls to patients, which meant that patients often ignored these calls. This poor caller-ID branding resulted in missed appointments and, therefore, missed revenue because Dermex lacked control of how its caller ID appeared on Teams with its legacy network. Overall call quality was also poor, and calls were dropped while employees were out in the field. The IT director told Forrester: “Patients won’t answer the phone for a number they don’t know. … The call quality was also terrible.”
- High level of manual effort required to resolve call center issues. The IT director described how Dermex had to spend a significant amount of time working with call centers to resolve and troubleshoot issues. They said, “With our legacy solution, I was in the call center for five days a week for at least one or two months.”
- Lack of reporting. A key requirement for Dermex was having the ability to report on calls and messages to comply with government regulations. The interviewee stated: “Being in healthcare, we absolutely have to pay attention to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) [regulations]. … It’s the first thing we have to ask.”
Solution Requirements/Investment Objectives
Dermex executives and internal stakeholders determined the organization needed a solution that could:
- Comply with HIPPA regulations.
- Enable unified communication across mobile devices.
- Improve overall call quality.
- Improve the ease of managing its phone system.
USE CASE DESCRIPTION
Dermex is a healthcare management organization that employs 2,500 people and hires 120 new employees each year. Dermex has two models: A portion of its employees work in one of eight healthcare clinics, and they previously used a legacy voice calling solution before switching to Microsoft Teams. However, the legacy phone system did not support easy caller ID branding or modification with Teams, which frequently resulted in patients ignoring clinic outreach calls including appointment reminders.
Dermex also has a group of home healthcare workers who require a fully mobile solution because they work remotely in the field. These home health workers often experienced dropped calls and other quality issues.
For its healthcare clinics, Dermex opts to augment Microsoft Teams with VCMT to ensure that calls are not marked as spam and patients answer outreach calls. The company invests in VMMT to allow its mobile staff to communicate with patients when they are in the field and to reach other staff members when they are out of the office via the call forwarding feature. VMMT also provides employees with a single business-provided phone number for mobile and desktop devices.
Quantified benefit
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Retired legacy outbound voice calling solution savings | $985,536 | $985,536 | $985,536 | $2,956,608 | $2,450,882 |
| Btr | Legacy wired phone solution savings | $536,400 | $534,600 | $534,600 | $1,605,600 | $1,331,107 |
| Ctr | Profit increase from business instability mitigation | $243,000 | $510,300 | $729,000 | $1,482,300 | $1,190,353 |
| Dtr | New-hire setup labor savings | $4,536 | $5,307 | $6,033 | $15,876 | $13,042 |
| Etr | Staff training efficiencies | $8,070 | $8,564 | $8,564 | $25,199 | $20,849 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $1,777,542 | $2,044,308 | $2,263,733 | $6,085,583 | $5,006,233 |
RETIRED LEGACY OUTBOUND VOICE CALLING SOLUTION SAVINGS
Evidence and data. Implementing VCMT and VMMT allowed Dermex to realize significant savings on licensing and maintenance of its prior solution.
- Working with Verizon allowed the IT director to spend much less time troubleshooting when things went wrong. They told Forrester: “I have full control. … If someone tells me that a patient called or that the line isn’t working, I can just look into that.”
- The move enabled Dermex to reduce its reliance on external vendors. The IT director said: “With Teams, I love how everything is together [and] everything is in. We can keep everything in-house. Verizon is [using] that same method.”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex previously spent $1.2 million per year in legacy solution fees.
- These fees are completely eliminated by using Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams.
- With prior solutions, the IT director had to spend 280 hours per year on troubleshooting with call centers.
- The IT director avoids this troubleshooting time with Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams.
- The average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director is $42.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include the following:
- The size and type of the organization’s prior legacy spend, which will vary depending on the cost of the previous legacy system.
- The degree to which Verizon and Microsoft Teams can eliminate the organization’s prior spend.
- Amount of time the IT director required for troubleshooting that is avoided.
- The fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.5 million.
RETIRED LEGACY OUTBOUND VOICE CALLING SOLUTION SAVINGS
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Retired annual legacy solution cost | Interview | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 | |
| A2 | Time dedicated by IT director to troubleshoot legacy outbound calling solution (hours) | Interview | 280 | 280 | 280 | |
| A3 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | TEI standard | $114 | $114 | $114 | |
| At | Retired legacy outbound voice calling solution savings | A1+(A2*A3) | $1,231,920 | $1,231,920 | $1,231,920 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓20% | |||||
| Atr | Retired legacy outbound voice calling solution savings (risk-adjusted) | $985,536 | $985,536 | $985,536 | ||
| Three-year total: $2,956,608 | Three-year present value: $2,450,882 | |||||
LEGACY WIRED PHONE SOLUTION SAVINGS
Evidence and data. Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams didn’t just replace Dermex’s prior calling solutions, they also allowed it to almost completely retire landlines for several clinics. Once Dermex made this change, it was also able to retire the existing desk phones since they were no longer needed.
- The IT director told Forrester: “We have eight brick-and-mortar clinics with landline services. … We’re looking to save tens of thousands of dollars by cutting the rest of the phone lines for those clinics.”
- The IT director also stressed how this changeover resulted in better overall control of calling: “This is the first time that we’ve felt more in control of our phone system.”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex has eight clinics and spends $6,250 on landlines per clinic.
- VCMT and VMMT enables the organization to avoid 99% of this spend by carrying voice traffic on Verizon’s peered Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) connection to its Microsoft tenant and existing excess internet capacity at the clinics.
- VCMT and VMMT enables each clinic to retire 25 desk phone lines in Year 1.
- Each phone line costs $10.
- Because Dermex is a healthcare management company, it opts to keep some aspect of a legacy landline to enable its fax machines because many local hospitals still rely on fax for secure communications.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include:
- The organization’s number of locations with landlines and phone lines that can be retired.
- The organization’s existing internet connectivity.
- The cost of each landline and desk phone.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.3 million.
LEGACY WIRED PHONE SOLUTION SAVINGS
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Number of clinics | Interview | 8 | 8 | 8 | |
| B2 | Average cost of landlines per clinic | Interview | $6,250 | $6,250 | $6,250 | |
| B3 | Previous monthly spend on clinic landlines with legacy solution | B1*B2 | $50,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |
| B4 | Percent savings with VCMT | Interview | 99.0% | 99.0% | 99.0% | |
| B5 | Subtotal: Legacy clinic landline savings | B3*B4*12 | $594,000 | $594,000 | $594,000 | |
| B6 | Desk phones per clinic that can be retired with VCMT in place | Interview | 25 | 0 | 0 | |
| B7 | Total desk phones that can be retired with VCMT in place | B1*B6 | 200 | 0 | 0 | |
| B8 | Cost per desk phone line | Interview | $10 | $0 | $0 | |
| B9 | Subtotal: Retired desk phone savings | B7*B8 | $2,000 | $0 | $0 | |
| Bt | Legacy wired phone solution savings | B5+B9 | $596,000 | $594,000 | $594,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Btr | Legacy wired phone solution savings (risk-adjusted) | $536,400 | $534,600 | $534,600 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,605,600 | Three-year present value: $1,331,107 | |||||
PROFIT INCREASE FROM BUSINESS INSTABILITY MITIGATION
Evidence and data. One of the larger issues Dermex struggled with was calls to patients appearing as spam, which limited its ability to conduct business. With Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams, Dermex mitigated this by making sure its caller ID was properly displayed.
- The IT director told Forrester: “Our biggest hurdle was that when calls went out, they came up as spam. We were losing patients, we were losing appointments, and [we were] losing business.”
- VCMT ensured that Dermex’s number would be properly identified, avoiding lost business.
- The IT director told Forrester: “The number we’ve tested is working with the caller ID policy. … It’s not showing up as spam.”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex sees 25,000 patients per year. This number increases to 35,000 patients in Year 2 to 50,000 patients in Year 3.
- Dermex previously only saw 45% of patient appointments fully complete.
- With the support VCMT, Dermex sees a 20% improvement in its patient appointment completion rate. By Year 2 and Year 3, this rate improves by 30%.
- Each patient appointment is worth $800 in revenue to Dermex.
- Dermex has a profit margin of 15%.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include:
- The organization’s number of patients or customers per year.
- The number of patients or customers the organization loses per year due to caller ID improperly displaying phone numbers.
- The organization’s revenue growth from increased customer/patient visits.
- The organization’s profit margin.
- Whether or not patients confirm appointments and do not show up.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.2 million.
PRODUCT INCREASE FROM BUSINESS INSTABILITY MITIGATION
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Number of patients | Interview | 25,000 | 35,000 | 50,000 | |
| C2 | Percentage of patient appointments completed in the prior environment | Assumption | 45% | 45% | 45% | |
| C3 | Patients seen in the prior environment | C1*C2 | 11,250 | 15,750 | 22,500 | |
| C4 | Improvement in patient appointment completed rate | Interview | 20% | 30% | 30% | |
| C5 | Percentage of patient appointments completed | C2*C4+C2 | 54.00% | 58.50% | 58.50% | |
| C6 | Patients seen | C1*C5 | 13,500 | 20,475 | 29,250 | |
| C7 | Average value of a patient appointment | Interview | $800 | $800 | $800 | |
| C8 | Revenue growth from increased patient completion rate | (C6*C7)-(C3*C7) | $1,800,000 | $3,780,000 | $5,400,000 | |
| C9 | Profit margin | Assumption | 15% | 15% | 15% | |
| Ct | Profit increase from business instability mitigation | C8*C9 | $270,000 | $567,000 | $810,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Ctr | Profit increase from business instability mitigation (risk-adjusted) | $243,000 | $510,300 | $729,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,482,300 | Three-year present value: $1,910,353 | |||||
NEW-HIRE SETUP LABOR SAVINGS
Evidence and data. Streamlining calling with VMMT enabled Dermex to realize time savings on rolling out new mobile lines for new hires.
- The IT director described setting up new lines as cost-effective and inexpensive: “We’re only paying for the service per line. The hires already know how to use it.”
- The interviewee noted that with VMMT, the actual implementation process for setting up lines for new hires became much faster than before: “We’ve been able to really drop the time down because we already have the phones.”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex sets up 120 new mobile lines per year.
- The time required to set up equipment and assign Microsoft Teams numbers for each new mobile line drops from 1.5 hours to 30 minutes in Year 1. As system administrators get more comfortable with the technology, it takes them less time to set up new phones. They need just 20 minutes per device in Year 2 and 10 minutes per device in Year 3.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include:
- The number of new mobile lines the organization sets up per year.
- The time required to set up each mobile line.
- The degree of savings the organization achieves.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $13,000.
NEW-HIRE SETUP LABOR SAVINGS
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Number of new mobile lines required per month | Interview | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
| D2 | Subtotal: Number of new mobile lines required for new hires | D1*12 | 120 | 120 | 120 | |
| D3 | Time previously spent by system administrators setting up equipment and assigning Microsoft Teams numbers per new hire in the prior environment (hours) | Interview | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| D4 | Time spent by system administrators setting up equipment and assigning Microsoft Teams numbers per new hire with VMMT (hours) | Interview | 0.50 | 0.33 | 0.17 | |
| D5 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of a system administrator | TEI standard | $42 | $42 | $42 | |
| Dt | New-hire setup labor savings | (D3-D4)*D2*D5 | $5,040 | $5,897 | $6,703 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Dtr | New-hire setup labor savings (risk-adjusted) | $4,536 | $5,307 | $6,033 | ||
| Three-year total: $15,876 | Three-year present value: $13,042 | |||||
STAFF TRAINING EFFICIENCES
Evidence and data. The IT director stated that due to preexisting knowledge of Teams and mobile phone usage among Dermex employees, training for VMMT was simpler than for prior solutions.
- The interviewee described how Dermex was able to significantly scale back training: “We don’t do that type of training anymore. I have guides that I present. But, in general, we can just go, ‘Here’s your call etiquette,’ and the calls come through Teams, and they follow the script.”
- Much of the time savings became possible because VMMT only requires basic knowledge of Teams and making phone calls. The IT director summed it up: “[New hires] already know how to use it. The training is for understanding the process of using the planner. After that, it’s: ‘Here you go. You’re all set.’”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- In its prior state, Dermex required 1 hour per week for training.
- With VMMT, Dermex only needs 15 minutes for training.
- The training process involves two directors of training and the IT director.
- The fully burdened hourly rate for a director of training is $65.
- The fully burdened hourly rate for an IT director is $114.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include:
- The training time the organization requires before using VMMT.
- The staff involved in training and their respective salaries.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $21,000.
NEW-HIRE SETUP LABOR SAVINGS
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Time per week dedicated to Microsoft training in prior environment (hours) | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| E2 | Time per week dedicated to Microsoft training with VMMT (hours) | Interview | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | |
| E3 | Directors of training | Interview | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| E4 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of a director of training | TEI standard | $65 | $65 | $65 | |
| E5 | Subtotal: Savings for improved efficiencies for directors of training | (E1-E2)*E3*E4*49 | $4,778 | $5,070 | $5,070 | |
| E6 | IT directors who support training | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| E7 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | $114 | $114 | |
| E8 | Subtotal: Savings for improved efficiencies for IT director | (E1-E2)*E6*E7*49 | $4,190 | $4,446 | $4,446 | |
| Et | Staff training efficiencies | E5+E8 | $8,968 | $9,516 | $9,516 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Etr | Staff training efficiencies (risk-adjusted) | $8,070 | $8,564 | $8,564 | ||
| Three-year total: $25,199 | Three-year present value: $20,849 | |||||
VCMT SETUP EFFICIENCES
Evidence and data. The IT director said Dermex’s executives and internal stakeholders opted to have Verizon employees set up much of the initial deployment for VCMT. This means the IT director saved time on tasks they normally would have to handle.
However, Forrester did not incorporate this benefit into the financial model because while Dermex opted to have Verizon do the work, other organizations may be reluctant to share password and security information and may desire to keep that work with internal employees. Because this is considered an avoided cost, Forrester modeled an example that readers can use to estimate potential further positive impact and ROI.
The IT director said: “Verizon gave us the walkthrough. We got everything licensed to make sure Verizon and Teams were talking to each other on the wireless side. I followed the steps, simplified things for my team, and automated things into Microsoft Office 365. It gives them the license [and] the policy, and we’re done.”
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex has 20 regions that need VCMT setup.
- The IT director dedicates 6 hours per day for four days to set up each region.
- The fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director is $114.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this benefit for organizations include:
- The number of regions the organization needs to set up.
- The time dedicated by an IT director and their respective salary.
- Whether or not the organization opts to keep the work in-house, which would negate the impact of this benefit.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $45,000.
VCMT SETUP EFFICIENCES
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XX1 | Regions | Interview | 20 | 0 | 0 | |
| XX2 | Time an IT director needs for setup per region (hours) | Interview | 24 | 0 | 0 | |
| XX3 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | |||
| XXt | VCMT setup efficiencies | XX1*XX2*XX3 | $54,720 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Atr | VCMT setup efficiencies (risk-adjusted) | $49,248 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $49,248 | Three-year present value: $44,771 | |||||
Unquantified Benefits
The IT director mentioned the following additional benefits that Dermex experienced but was not able to quantify:
- Enriched customer experience. Being able to contact customers more reliably as well as transfer and follow up with them more quickly enabled better customer service for Dermex. The IT director gave an example on how VMMT and VCMT enabled employees to give out direct mobile phone numbers because they could now track it within the Microsoft Teams environment. They said, “We’ve absolutely seen better patient care because of it.”
- Improved employee experience. Improved ease of use also benefited employees by reducing time required for training and troubleshooting. The interviewee said: “[The typical attitude is:] ‘Here’s your team’s phone. Use it for work. Cool. You’re done.”
- Enhanced call quality. Not only did VCMT and VMMT provide better overall call quality and more reliable connections for Dermex, but it also helped it route calls to the right people and thereby retain more business. The IT director gave an example about calls being routed when going on vacation: “I can just forward my calls to my help staff or forward my number to a partner … and they can do the same thing when they’re off.”
- Increased understanding of technology due to Verizon customer service and support. The interviewee said Verizon provides a high level of customer service and support, and they praised both its work during the initial implementation and while providing ongoing assistance. The IT director said: “Our representative has really bent over backwards for us. … They’re welcoming, very honest, and [they] have taken care of us. … They’ve definitely helped us with our vision of staying mobile and connected. I can’t see ourselves anywhere else right now.”
Flexibility
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement one of Verizon’s calling solutions for Microsoft Teams and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
- Ease in adjusting calling numbers. The interviewee explained to Forrester how having the ability to switch numbers enabled improved organizational agility: “Teams is your native dialer. But if you want a Verizon number on top of it, we can change the native dialer to Verizon, and the Teams number is still there to use in Teams.”
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Quantified cost data
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ftr | VCMT and VMMT licensing costs | $25,286 | $314,820 | $318,533 | $322,245 | $980,884 | $816,844 |
| Gtr | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VCMT | $166,320 | $176,550 | $0 | $0 | $342,870 | $326,820 |
| Htr | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VMMT | $271 | $51,955 | $2,590 | $1,564 | $56,380 | $50,818 |
| Itr | Ongoing management and training of VMMT and VCMT by internal staff | $0 | $205,025 | $166,525 | $161,575 | $533,124 | $445,403 |
| Total costs (risk adjusted) |
$191,877 | $748,350 | $487,647 | $485,384 | $1,913,257 | $1,639,885 |
VCMT AND VMMT LICENSING COSTS
Evidence and data. The IT director explained to Forrester that Dermex pays annual licensing costs for its use of Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams, Verizon Calling with Microsoft Teams, and E3 phone licenses.
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex pays a monthly fee of $8 per user for Microsoft E3 Teams Phone Standard licenses.
- The organization pays an additional $4 per VMMT Teams line, $35 per Verizon phone plan, and an additional fee for VCMT. This fee totals $2,437.50 in Year 1 and $7,800 in years 2 and 3.
- Dermex already has mobile phones paid for and in place.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this cost for organizations include:
- The organization’s number of existing and new users of Microsoft Teams.
- The number of phone plans the organization requires.
- Fees the organization incurs for Verizon Calling Solution for Microsoft Teams.
- Whether or not the organization needs to purchase additional phones for its employees.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $817,000.
VCMT and VMMT Licensing costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Existing VMMT users | Interview | 10 | 1,800 | 1,825 | 1,850 |
| F2 | Net new hires on VMMT | D2 | 0 | 120 | 120 | 120 |
| F3 | Microsoft E3 Teams Phone Standard license per user | Assumption | $96 | $96 | $96 | $96 |
| F4 | Cost per VMMT line | Interview | $4 | $4 | $4 | $4 |
| F5 | Cost per Verizon phone plan | Interview | $35 | $35 | $35 | $35 |
| F6 | Subtotal: VMMT cost | (F1+F2)*(F3+F4+ F5) | $1,350 | $259,200 | $262,575 | $265,950 |
| F7 | Fees for VCMT users | Interview | $2,437.50 | $7,800.00 | $7,800.00 | $7,800.00 |
| F8 | Microsoft E3 Teams Phone Standard license per user | Assumption | $19,200 | $19,200 | $19,200 | $19,200 |
| F9 | Subtotal: VCMT cost | F7+F8 | $21,637.50 | $27,000.00 | $27,000.00 | $27,000.00 |
| Ft | VCMT and VMMT licensing costs | F6+F9 | $22,988 | $286,200 | $289,575 | $292,950 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Ftr | VCMT and VMMT licensing costs (risk-adjusted) | $25,286 | $314,820 | $318,533 | $322,245 | |
| Three-year total: $980,884 | Three-year present value: $816,844 | |||||
INTERNAL PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION LABOR FOR VCMT
Evidence and data. To use VCMT, Dermex’s employees needed to spend time on several implementation tasks and other tasks in Year 1.
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Dermex spends 180 hours preparing account information during initial implementation of VCMT and 576 hours in Year 1.
- Dermex dedicates 20 hours to troubleshooting upon initial implementation and again in Year 1.
- Dermex spends 1,200 hours on implementation tasks during the initial implementation and an additional 1,500 hours in Year 1.
- The implementation team includes two system administrators, the IT director, and the CIO. Each spends portions of their time on implementation tasks.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this cost for organizations include:
- The time the organization requires for implementation tasks.
- The number and types of FTEs required for the organization’s implementation tasks.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $327,000.
INTERNAL PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION LABOR FOR VCMT
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Time dedicated to preparing account information (hours) | Interview | 180 | 576 | ||
| G2 | Time dedicated to troubleshooting (hours) | Interview | 20 | 20 | ||
| G3 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | $114 | ||
| G4 | Subtotal: Internal labor needed to prepare account information for porting | (G1+G2)*G3 | $22,800 | $67,944 | ||
| G5 | Time dedicated to implementation (hours) | Interview | 1,200 | 1,500 | ||
| G6 | Percentage of time dedicated to implementation of VCMT by IT director | Interview | 70% | 70% | ||
| G7 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | $114 | ||
| G8 | Percentage of time dedicated to implementation of VCMT by a CIO | Interview | 10% | 10% | ||
| G9 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of a CIO | Interview | $146 | $146 | ||
| G10 | System administrators | Interview | 2 | 2 | ||
| G11 | Percentage of time dedicated by system administrators | Interview | 15% | 15% | ||
| G12 | Average full burdened hourly rate of a system administrator | D5 | $42 | $42 | ||
| G13 | Subtotal: Internal implementation labor for VCMT | (G5*G6*G7)+(G5*G8*G9)+(G5*G10* G11*G12) | $128,400 | $160,500 | ||
| Gt | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VCMT | G4+G13 | $151,200 | $160,500 | $0 | $0 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Gtr | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VCMT (risk-adjusted) | $166,320 | $176,550 | $0 | $0 | |
| Three-year total: $342,870 | Three-year present value: $326,820 | |||||
INTERNAL PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION LABOR FOR VMMT
Evidence and data. Dermex needed to implement Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams to support a specific persona of workers (e.g., its mobile workforce) as they operated in the field.
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- Each user of VMMT spends 30 minutes on setup tasks upon initial implementation and during Year 1. This time decreases to 20 minutes in Year 2 and to 17 hours in Year 3.
- A system administrator spends 90% of their time on these tasks, while the IT director spends 10% of their time on these tasks.
Risk. Factors that could affect the impact of this cost for organizations include:
- The organization’s number of existing and new VMMT users.
- The time required per user on the organization’s setup tasks.
- The amount of time required of the organization’s system administrators and IT directors.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $51,000.
INTERNAL PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION LABOR FOR VMMT
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | Existing VMMT users | F1 | 10 | 1,800 | 1,825 | 1,850 |
| H2 | Incremental VMMT users | Interview | 10 | 1,800 | 25 | 50 |
| H3 | New hires on VMMT | F2 | 0 | 120 | 120 | 120 |
| H4 | Subtotal: Cumulative VMMT users | H2+H3 | 10 | 1,920 | 145 | 170 |
| H5 | Time needed for VMMT setup (hours) | D4 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.33 | 0.17 |
| H6 | Percentage of time dedicated to VMMT implementation by a system administrator | Interview | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% |
| H7 | Average full burdened hourly rate of a system administrator | D5 | $42 | $42 | $42 | $42 |
| H8 | Percentage of time dedicated to implementation of VMMT implementation by an IT director | Interview | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
| H9 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | $114 | $114 | $114 |
| Ht | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VMMT | (H4*H5*H6*H7)+(H4*H5*H8*H9) | $246 | $47,232 | $2,354 | $1,422 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Htr | Internal preparation and implementation labor for VMMT (risk-adjusted) | $271 | $51,955 | $2,590 | $1,564 | |
| Three-year total: $56,380 | Three-year present value: $50,818 | |||||
ONGOING MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING OF VMMT AND VCMT BY INTERNAL STAFF
Evidence and data. Following implementation, Dermex requires employees to spend time performing ongoing management and training tasks for both VMMT and VCMT.
Modeling and assumptions. For Dermex, Forrester assumes the following:
- The IT director spends 40% of their time on management tasks in Year 1. This reduces to 20% in Year 2 and to 10% in Year 3.
- A team of five system administrators spends 20% of its time on management in years 1 and 2, and it adds one additional system administrator to the team in Year 3.
- The CIO spends 10% of their time on management across all three years.
- The IT director spends 1 hour per year creating training guides for case managers.
- Each of the 400 case managers spends 2 hours preparing for training each year.
- Dermex spends 13 hours on training each year, and most of this time is spent by two directors of training.
Risks. Factors that could affect the impact of this cost for organizations include:
- The amount of time the organization’s IT directors, CIO, and system administrators need to spend on management tasks.
- The amount of time the IT director and directors of training need to spend preparing for and conducting training.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $445,000.
ONGOING MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING OF VMMT AND VCMT BY INTERNAL STAFF
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I1 | Percentage of time dedicated by IT director to maintaining VCMT and VMMT environments | Interview | 40% | 20% | 10% | |
| I2 | Average fully burdened annual salary of an IT director | TEI standard | $175,000 | $175,000 | $175,000 | |
| I3 | System administrators | Interview | 5 | 5 | 6 | |
| I4 | Percentage of time dedicated by system administrators to maintaining VCMT and VMMT environments | Interview | 20% | 20% | 20% | |
| I5 | Average fully burdened annual salary of a system administrator | TEI standard | $65,000 | $65,000 | $65,000 | |
| I6 | Percentage of time dedicated by a CIO to maintaining VCMT and VMMT environments | Interview | 10% | 10% | 10% | |
| I7 | Average fully burdened annual salary of a CIO | Assumption | $225,000 | $225,000 | $225,000 | |
| I8 | Subtotal: Ongoing personnel costs for VCMT and VMMT environments | (I1*I2)+(I3*I4* I5)+(I6*I7) | $157,500 | $122,500 | $118,000 | |
| I9 | Time IT director dedicates to create VCMT training guides for case managers (hours) | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| I10 | Case managers | Interview | 400 | 400 | 400 | |
| I11 | Time case managers dedicate to reading VCMT training guides (hours) | Interview | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| I12 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of a case manager | TEI standard | $32 | $32 | $32 | |
| I13 | Time dedicated to VMMT training (hours) | D2*52 | 13 | 13 | 13 | |
| I14 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of an IT director | A3 | $114 | $114 | $114 | |
| I15 | Directors of training | E3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| I16 | Average fully burdened hourly rate of a director of training | E4 | $65 | $65 | $65 | |
| I17 | Subtotal: Training costs for VCMT and VMMT environments | (I9*I14)+(I10*I11*I12)+(I13*I14)+(I13*I15*I16) | $28,886 | $28,886 | $28,886 | |
| It | Ongoing management and training of VMMT and VCMT by internal staff | I8+I17 | $0 | $186,386 | $151,386 | $146,886 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Itr | Ongoing management and training of VMMT and VCMT by internal staff (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $205,025 | $166,525 | $161,575 | |
| Three-year total: $533,124 | Three-year present value: $445,403 | |||||
Consolidated Three-Year Risk-Adjusted Metrics
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits-
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($191,877) | ($748,350) | ($487,647) | ($485,384) | ($1,913,257) | ($1,639,885) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $1,777,542 | $2,044,308 | $2,263,733 | $6,085,583 | $5,006,233 |
| Net benefits | ($191,877) | $1,029,193 | $1,556,661 | $1,778,350 | $4,172,326 | $3,366,348 |
| ROI | 205% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months |
Appendix A: Total Economic Impact
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Total Economic Impact Approach
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Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire organization.
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Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.
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Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
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Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
Appendix B: Endnotes
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
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