The Fundamental Shift in Telecommunications
— by Rick Koenders, VP of Business Development and Marketing, bluArc Communications
Many years ago, while employed by an international phone system manufacturer, I attended a quarterly company pep rally where our CEO exhorted: “The wave is here.” He was referring to the new wave in wireline telecommunications—the wave of IP based phone systems.
While the thought of an IP telephony tsunami got the crowds excited about their stock option prospects, ultimately the biggest waves may well have missed the major telephone systems suppliers. In fact, the recent article in Telecom Insights—“Avaya: Telecom Implosion”—sheds a disturbing light on the financial state of Avaya, one of the world’s largest phone system suppliers.(www.telecomsinsight.com)
The fact is, the new wave in wireline telecommunications, while IP based, may well be Hosted Business Phone services—phone services combining the new wave of cloud computing with IP telephone services.
While there is still some time for all this to settle, it is a fact that the most rapidly growing sector of business telephone services is Hosted Business Phone services. I believe that this shift has occurred for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for the shift is the general discontent with products and services provided by the traditional phone service providers and their resellers.
The main reason for moving from old style Centrex service offerings to office-based phone systems—PBXs and Key Systems—in the first place was to decrease costs and increase functionality. While operating costs were slightly reduced, often offset by Move, Adds and Changes Fees, the promise of improved functionality rarely materialized.
The reason functionality improvements were rarely seen is because programming of office-based phone systems was, and is, extremely complicated and effectively un-programmable by the average person without years of training. Therefore, to really see improved phone system functionality, businesses needed to become what they were trying to get away from—a phone company.
On the other hand, hosted phone services are beginning to fulfill the promise of reduced costs and increased functionality. Why?
- Hosted phone services have many more leverage points to reduce costs because they capture more of the services required by business. For example, broadband and ISP services, long distance, international calling, conference calling and WiFi roaming are services that hosted phone companies provide that have a direct impact on a company’s bottom line.
- Increased functionality is the hallmark of Hosted Business Phone services, not because there are more bells and whistles with Hosted Business Phone services, but because the functionality is much easier to implement and use. With simple to use web-based interfaces and on-demand support—all included in monthly service plans—businesses can modify services, features and functionality in real time.
While there are many reasons for the movement towards Hosted Business Phone services, the move is undeniable—it is being led by function and value-conscious small businesses. It is here to stay.
If you have specific questions regarding how Hosted Business Phone services may work for you, please contact bluArc Hosted Business Phone and Internet Services at www.bluarc.ca or 1-855-279-1812.
