Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard of numerous stories of hosted VOIP providers who are experiencing business problems.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a critic of the PBX-as-a-service industry.   For certain applications and customers, it’s the perfect solution.  In fact, our company sells hosted VOIP for specific applications.   However, much like its analog predecessor Centrex, it’s a one-size-fits-all product, with very little capability to customize the service to meet your business needs.   Therefore, it works well in simpler, less communications-intensive businesses.  However, a technology assessment is not what this post is all about.

Today, the hosted VOIP marketplace is the wild west.  There are virtually hundreds of companies providing the service, most with little business history and no track records.   The technology and business case of hosted VOIP can be quite compelling, but beware the industry.  After all, you entrusting your entire business communications to these folks.

There are some excellent players in the marketplace who’ve got sustainable business models and have been in the game for years.   San Francisco-based CallTower has been around since the turn of the century and is thriving.    Wholesale Hosted VOIP provider, New Global Telecom (NGT) boasts of beginning their business way back in 1996, making them a grandfather of the industry.

However, these two are exceptions in this wild territory.   Large providers such as SunRocket and VOIP Inc. both evaporated in the past year leaving customers without service.   Locally, a swarmy company by the name of Xiptel, headed by the fast and double talking Peter Geddes did the ol’ corporate switcheroo buying out the assets of the old company and reviving themselves the next day as, guess what, Xipcom dga XIPTEL.   However, they “forgot” to tell their customers and agents.   Pretty sleazy if you ask me.

As time goes by, the industry will mature, the weak will whither and die and the sleazeballs move to the next wild west game.  Until then, be very careful when considering hosted PBX.  there are some safe choices, but you’ll have to do some heavy digging to find the gems.

I’d like to hear about your experiences.

Randy Kremlacek

Teledynamic Communications provides free educational materials about telecommunications on an ongoing basis to our subscribers and customers. The company provides a complete range of VOIP, telecom and data solutions for business.

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Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received a number of emails from CLEC and LEC carrier salespeople.   They all have a common theme – Their competitors are all doing horrible in this recession.  The meaning, although usually unstated, is that the email author works for the only telephone company in the industry that will survive today’s dire straits. Here’s an excerpt from one of the missives:

Sprint

Losing a lot of lines, especially with residential to cellular and cable as well as competition in small to midsize business.

XO

Carl Icahn is using tricks to try to get more control over XO and away from the shareholders.  XO stock at .18 cents per share and trading over the board.  De listed – no longer on NASDAQ. 

AT&T

Recently stopped using its Vonage-like service

TW Telecom (Formerly Time Warner)

Shares tumble as economic slowdown is pressuring revenue.  Recently trading at 

Had to disconnected a lot of customers who are not paying building

PAETEC

Missed their earnings and revenue projections. Stocks fell accordingly.  Stocks down and trading at .92 cents.

CBeyond

Stock took a big hit and analysts have downgraded it.  Trading at $11.59, down from a high of $46 earlier this year

What’s sad is that these salespeople are doing their companies and the telecom industry a disservice.  Communicating to the world a grim (and inaccurate picture of  impending death and destruction spreads unfounded fears about the telecom industry.   You would think that a perceptive salesperson would have learned long ago that fear breeds indecision.  Why would a customer make a change in carriers today if the messages that they hear in the sales process are filled with anecdotes of the demise of the industry. The Teledynamic Service Department has received several calls asking for their opinion on the health of carriers.  We always respond with a message that we believe that the carriers will survive and will be around for the long haul.

Guys, why not clean up the message and provide your prospects, partners and customers a positive voice in this recessionary environment.   Stop sniping and get back to helping your customers!

Randy Kremlacek

Teledynamic Communications provides free educational materials about telecommunications on an ongoing basis to our subscribers and customers. We are a provider of a complete range of VOIP, telecom and data solutions for business

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I’ve been in the business of selling and implementing business telephone systems since 1985.   Over the years, I’ve observed many businesses making their decision on which PBX to purchase based upon the aesthetics of the phone that would be on their desk.   I’ve always considered calling handling to be the core component of a telephone system and the phone just a device used for making and receiving calls.   Many end-users (and decision makers) place a larger emphasis on the desk phone.   In other words, looks count, sometimes even to the detriment of functionality.

When Cisco and3Com introduced the IP PBX in late 1998, their desk phones were quite limited in functionality but had a “new technology” feel to them and were readily embraced by buyers.  It didn’t take long for IP PBX manufacturers to catch on to this wave of interest and design telephones with large screen menus and brushed silver bezels.  These new phones were really a hit.  It wasn’t unusual for buyers to spend up to $1,000 for a fancy new IP phone with a color screen, web-browsing and other features rarely used.

However, that seems to be changing rapidly.  Phones are being replaced by devices.  Huh, you say?   Softphones eliminate the desk phone.   Smart wireless phones are serving dual purpose – they function as a cell phone outside of the office and as a mobile office phone within the business.  Microsoft’s Office Communicator has a built-in softphone.  Any IP-enabled product could conceivably be a phone.  Thus, the change from “phone” to “device”.  It’s funny, I’ve heard a multitude of names for phones over the years:  Station, set, phone, terminal, handset and now device.

So after many years of experts prognosticating the disappearance of the common desk phone, to be swallowed up by the data network may finally be coming true.   Certainly desk phones won’t be obsolete tomorrow, but rather they’ll be just another “device” from which to choose.  My prediction is that these devices will blossom and users will have an overwhelming array of products from which to choose.   It’s likely that users will find something that fits them just perfectly.  Good luck to the IT department in supporting this potpourri of new technology!

tell me what you think.

Randy Kremlacek

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Every year as the weather turns worse, we start getting the first of the phone calls from customers who have a downed phone system.   Sometimes it’s electrical spikes.  Other times the power was off for an extended period of time and the UPS system quit before the power resumed.   Water damage happens often in tilt-up buildings and older San Francisco office buildings.  And one of the most common problems is on the outside – the AT& cabling had a weather-related failure.Unfortunately, disasters are a part of life here in the Bay Area.

Earthquakes, weather-related disasters, computer viruses, internet attacks and carrier failures are to name but a few.  As we grow increasingly inter-connected and more dependent upon a rich communications infrastructure we grow increasingly vulnerable to disaster.

Getting back to business after a disaster depends on preparedness planning done today. Businesses invest a tremendous amount of time, money and resources to make their ventures successful, and yet, while the importance of emergency planning may seem self-evident, it may get put on the back-burner in the face of more immediate concerns. Being prepared can mean staying in business following a disaster. An estimated 25 percent of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster!

A survey by AT&T shows that almost one-third of U.S. businesses do not have continuity plans and nearly 40% do not have off-site back-up or redundant systems. This lack of preparedness comes despite the fact that two-thirds of those companies surveyed admit to having lost business because of previous disasters.

Do you have a plan for keeping your communications up and running in the event of a disaster?   Here are a few of the areas to consider:

POWER - Do you have an adequate UPS (battery backup system) in place?

ALTERNATE PATHS - If your T1 or PRI goes down, do you have back up lines?

PBX BACKUP - Do you have a current data backup of your system?

HARDWARE REDUNDANCY – Hard drives and power supplies fail

EMERGENCY CALL RE-ROUTING- if your system or service fails, do calls automatically get routed to another number?

ALTERNATIVE WORK SITE - Does your company have a plan in place to transfer calls to a secondary location in the event of disaster?

The above points illustrate some of the methods to reduce the chance of telecom failure and speed recovery from disasters.  In a bit of good news on a bleak subject, many of the measures are inexpensive and easy to implement.

To help you identify the areas of vulnerability and how to protect your business, I have created a “Communications Disaster Prevention & Recovery Guide”.  If you want a copy, just let me know and I’ll email it right out.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Randy Kremlacek

Teledynamic Communications provides free educational materials about telecommunications on an ongoing basis to our subscribers and customers. We are a provider of a complete range of VOIP, telecom and data solutions for business. 

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