The future of telecommunications platforms or Hosted versus CPE solutions

Cloud based or CPE solutions, which one will prevail?

Mark Shane, Sales Director at ICON says.  

 “Cloud based hosted telephony will not displace CPE PBX telephone solutions in the short, medium or long term.  The last time ICON looked at the market hosted solutions accounted for only around 10% of the total.  That is significant, but given the time hosted solutions have been available it’s not the performance one would expect of a revolutionary displacement solution some claim it to be.”  

"ICON supplies the channel with the Wave CPE IP-PBX solution, but” says Mark “we are not talking up the market just because we supply CPE solutions.  It’s because of our experience in supplying the endpoints market that we are convinced that CPE solutions are here to stay” 

ICON provides endpoint solutions that can be deployed in traditional CPE environments or as a mobility upgrade for the desk endpoint provided with the hosted solution.   Few of the Spectralink solutions are being installed on hosted solutions.  The majority, if not all, are going onto CPE equipment. 

These Spectralink handset solutions can also be deployed in remote offices in a quasi-hosted solution by connecting them remotely to the CPE IP-PBX at head office. However, most companies opt to provide remote office communications using the multi-site capability of the IP-PBX solutions such as the Wave IP-PBX solutions.

“In the channel the popularity of hosted telephony does not seem to be as great as the hype would suggest” says Mark

Microsoft Lync not a meteoric success

 “Microsoft Lync has not been the meteoric success it was claimed it was going to be a few years back.” Says Mark  

ICON distribute the only Microsoft approved voice mobility endpoint solution for Lync solutions and although pundits claim that Microsoft is one of the top 3 suppliers next to Cisco and Avaya, ICON is not seeing this reflected in its sales of Spectralink handsets for Lync.  

 “However,” says Mark “Lync is one of the main solutions in market and the fact the channel has not embraced this solution as fully as it could does not mean that it will not become one of the top channel solutions in the long term.  ICON is already geared up for Lync’s success and can provide and support channel partners with Spectralink handset solutions needed by Lync”

The future is a smart PBX  

Hosted solutions have not traditionally competed with the CPE solutions distributed by ICON and long-term their impact on our Channel Partner CPE business is not expected to change radically from what it is today.  Hosted telephony is not a disruptive technology that will change the landscape forever.  Nevertheless, it does have a place in the market and offers valuable solution for some customers. 

Looking at the market from the perspective of a hosted PBX or CPE PBX is as outdated as looking at an android or IoS handset and seeing only a telephone.  Like cell phones, PBX’s have morphed into platforms for running business apps and delivering solutions.  The future is not one of hybrid PBX solutions. It is a future of “smart” PBX’s.   Smart PBX’s, such as Wave IP, which, amongst other things, integrate with cloud based or on premises based business applications,  will manage the communications services of your road warriors and report on the performance of your advertising.

You can see this happening today.  The “smart” PBX Wave IP solution is used by US automotive dealerships as an adjunct to their DMS/CRM solutions.  With it, they track the performance of advertising campaigns, manage the workload on the parts and service departments and much more – they also use it to make calls. 

Market Report - PBX & Communications Platforms

Unified Communications PBX is now a mature product and those vendors who are going to offer a UC solution already have an established and proven product line. Competition is now moving to developing sector specific solutions and offering extended support services. Leading this move is Vertical Communications who hold a strong position in the global retail sector and have set new standards in the market by providing 5-year warranty on solutions hardware.

It is the customer facing business sectors that are hungry for the UC applications and ICON believes that throughout 2015 growth in the UC market will come from the customer-facing businesses. 

Retail -- Retail is a key market for UC solutions such as Wave IP. Customers in large global department stores have invested heavily in UC solutions. Likewise, garden centres, automotive dealers and other customer centric business are all seeing the benefits of the UC applications. 

Automotive -- Vertical Communications, the makers of the UC solution Wave IP, has launched and presented an automotive focused solution at the 2015 NADA the National Automotive Dealers Association in the US and in 2014 teamed up with Spectralink wireless to offer a UC wireless solution for retail and other customers. This sector focused solution strategy is expected to continue throughout 2015 as vendors of UC solutions look to find and dominate a sector.

Not surprisingly, the customer facing sectors of retail, hospitality and automotive are the big opportunities for UC solutions such as Wave IP. However, what and why the customers are buying UC based solutions is most interesting. 

Benefits of UC -- The ICON sales team report that often the reason a customer invests in UC based solution Wave IP is because it delivers the ability to track and manage customer communications, links with back office applications and provides the ability to link mobile users with the business applications. 

UC Applications -- The leading vendors have provided the core UC applications as standard to all desk handsets by for several years now. Vendors such as vertical Communications are now providing these applications to the mobile extension be that a cell phone or a business dedicated Wi-Fi handset. Solutions such as Viewpoint mobile delivers all the enterprise UC applications, including call recording, to the mobile handset giving the road warrior the same communications resource as their desk based colleagues. 

Wireless Solutions and how to sell them

Driven largely by the move to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the absence of any uniform 3G/4G coverage in the UK market for wireless connectivity in the workplace (which is anytime, anyplace, anywhere) is expanding rapidly and represents a great opportunity for resellers. It’s not just about creating hot spots and there are some great applications out there that really build margin and lock in the customer for the reseller.

How distributors can help resellers expand in to this market and build new revenue streams

Selling wireless connectivity is all about providing the infrastructure and endpoints to enable business solutions. This solutions driven market is expanding rapidly with real time messaging applications, lone worker, health and safety and day-to-day business solutions driving growth. Moving into this market means selling the solution, the business benefits and the business improvement that can be gained from a total solution. 

Channel partners who have traditionally sold wireless connectivity for voice applications are often unfamiliar with the business problems and needs of a sector and the solutions and applications available to help solve these and enhance business. In addition, they may find themselves competing with VARS who specialises in delivering sector specific solutions. Hospitality and retail are classic examples where specialism counts. These are large markets requiring some specialist sector knowledge and solutions. 

That is where choosing to work with the right distributor matters. Bringing a distributor, such as ICON, in at the early stages of a bid can mean the difference between winning and loosing. Value added distributors, such as ICON, with extensive knowledge of the sector and the available solutions can add the knowledge and experience to the bid that would otherwise be missing.

Often this experience and knowledge of how the sector works can be the key to unlocking an opportunity. It is knowing how the solution influences the KPI (key performance indicators) of a business that can win the bid. VAR distributors such as ICON understand how by integrating solutions such as voice, real-time messaging and alarm monitoring across a wireless network can influence the KPI of a business and how this can be used to open up the bid to the reseller.

What applications are selling well and where?

The popularity of an application depends on the sector being targeted. In client facing, businesses such as healthcare where staff can be exposed to the dangers of physical abuse staff safety solutions are popular. To deploy such a solution requires a handset that can support the solution with features such as an emergency call button, man down sensor, running sensor and no movement sensor. The problem for many businesses is that many BYOD devices do not support these features. 

In service focused industries, such as hospitality, solutions that support guest service and safety are popular. Typically these may be solutions for pre-alarm warnings, guest service call and staff task scheduling.

What constitutes a BYOD checklist for wireless solutions providers?

The key and most important check is will the infrastructure and endpoints support the applications you want to run now and in the future, deliver these at a long-term cost you can afford, and provide the opportunity for future expansion. 

Will 4G access impact this wireless market?

4G is a wireless connectivity technology that supports mobile handsets. It will have significance if the handsets have some advantage in delivering the solutions needed in the workplace. The typical BYOD mobile handset is not suited to long term continuous use in the workplace. 

The mobile handset is not sufficiently robust to survive sustained use in full-on operational environments. In comparison, the purpose built android-based handsets, such as the PIVOT from Spectralink, can deliver everything a mobile phone is able to and is also withstand the knocks and scraps of the workplace.

Mobile Distribution

Typical applications we provide are the UC application for integrating the mobile with the business telephone and real time messaging solutions which integrate with mobiles.

In this respect we believe that 2015 will see a growth in demand for mobile UC applications as businesses integrate their mobiles into the enterprise telephone system. Several vendors are already providing these applications notable amongst them is Vertical Communications which provides its Viewpoint Mobile UC application for businesses. UC applications such as Viewpoint deliver all the enterprise UC applications to the mobile handset giving the "road warrior" the same communications resource as their office based colleagues. 

We also expect a continued growth in real time messaging applications to mobiles. These M2M like solutions are increasingly being deployed in the hospitality sector to monitor BMS, PMS solutions such as 

1. heating/air conditioning monitoring, 
2. fire/intrusion/door/elevator stop alarms, 
3. integration with hotel applications 
4. emergency buttons, 
5. information broadcast, 
6. tech-alarms, room & mini bar status

Unified Communications for the SME

 An interview with Mark Shane of ICON

Is the concept of unified communications difficult to understand? Why is that and what can we do about it?

Unified Communication is industry speak and probably not understood by the average SME.  But, asks Mark do they need to understand it.  Do you need to know the terminology used in an industry before you can make an informed judgement about the solution to buy. All the customer needs to understand is that the box in front of them solves their problem and will deliver the productivity, resources or business outcome they want. 

The problem says Mark is that in many cases the customer is unaware that there are solutions that can do this.  There are several reasons for this.  Firstly, the industry has not been good at educating the market about these benefits.  Secondly, often the customer is not sold anything but a plain old telephone system either because the solution offered is not UC capable or because the sales person is more comfortable selling a traditional telephone solution rather than a business solution.

ICON has supported many of its channel partners in competitive bids where this has been the case and in most cases has successfully upsold the customer.  It helps to have a versatile UC solution such as the Wave IP to offer but in all cases, the sale has been won by putting together an offer that understands the needs of the business and proposes a solution that focusses on the business and not on the management of telephone calls.  In all cases, the concept of Unified Communications per se has added no value to the negotiations.

Should vendors produce an SME Edition of unified communications applications?

Mark is emphatic when he says that there is no need for the industry to produce an SME UC solution.  These already exist.  Solutions are available which are affordable by the SME and which deliver all that an SME needs and more.  The Vertical Wave IP business solution is one such solution.  It scales from an SME to an enterprise solution and has been deployed by an SME with as few as two handsets.  It was chosen because the business needed the capability to record calls and a Wave IP UC solution offered the best value solution.  

Are end users better served by single vendor solutions or by a best of breed mix of third party applications?

Third party applications have a place in the market but says Mark these are usually deployed when the customer needs highly advance features.  
 

Single vendor solutions are able to deliver all that the typical SME or enterprise customer  requires and can do this at significantly better value than multiple vendor solutions.  That is, of course, provided the single vendor solution like the Vertical Communications UC solution includes as standard all the applications needed.  If the applications are available only at additional cost then the situation changes completely.  
 

Single box, single vendor solutions such as the Wave IP that include as standard the core business applications needed by the SME or the enterprise have significant advantage for the customer.  The initial investment is low, there is no solution integration as there is with multiple vendor solutions, no need to take out multiple maintenance agreements and they come with the reassurance that when an application is upgraded it will continue to work with the others.

Unified Communications - an Interview with Paul Pyatt, regional account manager at ICON

Are customers initiating the UC conversation and how much of what your typical SME needs is dominated by mobile technology?

“There is still a huge educational exercise needed both in the market, and in the channel, before UC is sufficiently understood to be requested by the user.

Many users are still ignorant of what UC means and how it relates to a modern day telephone system.  The message that UC is affordable and can have a marked impact on bottom line has been slow to permeate through the channel to the end user.  In some cases, resellers do not fully understand UC and are not confident about talking about UC to the customer.  In other cases, resellers prefer to stick to the traditional sales model of proposing extensions and lines rather than business solutions.  

Nowadays business is mobile. Not only do the classic road warriors need access to their messages and calls but so do the site-based employees whose jobs take them away from their desks.  In such an environment, a UC solution with its focus on mobility will help a small or medium sized business work more effectively.  

However, instead of getting a UC solution often the customer ends up with a simple mobile phone twinning solution.  A good UC solution such as Vertical Communications Wave-IP provides close integration of the mobile phone with the UC solution.  This means the road warrior and mobile employee get the same functionality that their desk bound colleagues enjoy"

Why if a UC solution can offer mobile workers so many benefits is mobile phone twinning more often proposed?

Except for the keynote vendors such as Vertical Communications with its Viewpoint mobile app there are few vendors who have a workable and reliable UC app for android and IOS phones.  Put this together with some reseller’s unfamiliarity with UC business solutions it is easy to see why customers are often sold a twinning solution rather than a UC solution such as Viewpoint mobile.
 

Paul went on to say.  Mobile technology in and of itself is not a UC feature. Mobile access to the features of a UC solution is what it is all about and it is probably true to say that, if an IP-PBX solution does not provide mobile access to its features it is not a UC solution.    Solutions such as the Wave IP-PBX from Vertical Communications are a UC solution that provides mobile access to its UC capabilities for both android and iOS handsets with its Viewpoint mobile app.  

Where are the opportunities for the Channel and how can resellers differentiate in this market?

For the reseller who is willing to embrace UC fully the opportunities are numerous but,  says Paul, the reseller must adopt a different selling model to the traditional extensions and lines approach.  It’s all about solutions when you are selling UC

UC is about business processes and productivity.  A UC solution links in with the work processes of your company and enhances the way you work.  

The reseller who is prepared to spend just that little more time to understand the customers’ business and how they work is able to offer a solution customised for the company.  Setting themselves apart from the traditional resellers in this way is a brave step for many to take. But by doing so they are able to out run the competition and differentiate themselves from the traditional reseller whose offer focuses on extensions and lines.

Is there such a thing as killer UC app that is going to drive sales of UC CPE or hosted solutions?   

 No, says Paul. There are plenty of must have apps but at the moment there is no one app which is universally desirable by all businesses.

The true mobile UC applications such as Viewpoint come close but the SME market still has a long way to go before UC solutions have a 100% penetration into business and businesses understand the power UC can bring to the bottom line.  Until this happens, the universality of Viewpoint mobile type applications will not take off.   

 

With the plethora of end user apps aimed at the consumer market available does this make the UC a hard sell?

Selling a UC solution is about selling productivity at the bushiness level.  Get that right then the arguments for investing in a UC solution become self-evident and the need to “hard sell” the solution does not arise.   

Do you think that end users are better served by single vendor solutions or by a best of breed mix of third party applications?

A single UC vendor cannot be expert in all technologies needed to deploy a UC solution.  This has given rise to a number of alliances.  Microsoft have partnered with Spectralink who are providing the endpoints for messaging, data capture and the like for Lync, Vertical Communications has also partnered with Spectralink who it relies on to provide on-site mobility endpoints for its UC solution Wave IP.    

Vertical has also opened up its UC solution Wave IP to third party developers.   

In addition to its android and IOS mobile Viewpoint app for smart phone and tablets, Vertical is encouraging third parties to develop UC apps to run on the UC Wave –IP platform. 

The available apps include CRM integration solutions and, mobility, reporting and utility applications.

Opportunities for office wireless solutions and Android BYOD platforms - an interview with ICON

In your view do resellers often miss opportunities to add an office wireless product to their solution proposition?

Wireless solutions are not quoted as often as they could be.

Some resellers sell and support wireless solutions where the handsets are designed and built only for use in office or carpeted areas. Thus, the opportunity to place solutions in areas of the organisation such as production, service delivery, and dispatch is frequently overlooked.

In addition, the perception in some resellers’ minds is that wireless handsets are no more than a mobile alternative for a desk phone. This is often because their experience is mostly of supporting wireless solutions that are not able deliver much beyond that of a simple voice mobility solution.

With enterprise quality wireless solutions, such as those from Spectralink, the handset is frequently used as a component of a business or process solution. And in some cases, such as the Spectralink BYOD type handset PIVOT, its role as an endpoint for a PBX is secondary to its use as a device for running business apps or reporting the real time status of an organisations control, process or monitoring systems.

This extended capability opens up opportunities for the channel reseller to quote a wireless on-site mobility solution as part of a total business solution. The benefit of supporting an enterprise solution such as the Spectralink wireless solution is increased sales opportunities this opens up.

Where are the missed opportunities?

On-site mobility solutions are great tools for leveraging existing business relationships. Upselling, developing new clients, and expanding into new fields are just a few of the opportunities which resellers often miss out on because they are either not alert to the potential or the wireless solution they support cannot deliver the functionality needed by the customer.

One case in particular exemplifies the potential to upsell an opportunity, add value to the customers’ business, and strengthen the customer-supplier relationship.

This is the case of a reseller proposing to install a DECT solution in a hotel. After a call to ICON, the reseller was able to expand his proposal to include the management of the hotels fire control system using Spectralink mobility solutions. For the reseller this resulted in the expanded opportunity to upgrade the existing wireless infrastructure in readiness for an integrated fire control and wireless handset solution.

It is this ability to see and understand the bigger picture that is key to ensuring that opportunities are not missed. Often resellers add an on-site voice mobility solution to a PBX proposal only as a means of increasing the sale value and enhancing the margin.

Many resellers miss or overlook the opportunity to quote wireless handsets as alternatives to desk phones often to their long-term cost.

Quoting a wireless solution can help to lock a customer in to your business. Not quoting a wireless solution is not only a lost opportunity but may also mean the end of your business with that customer.

If you do not quote a wireless solution, the door is open for someone else to offer a solution at a later date. ICON is aware of a number of cases where resellers have displaced the incumbent telecoms supplier by doing just this. Wireless solutions such as the Spectralink voice mobility solutions can be retrofitted to just about any PBX or IP-PBX. This opens the door for a reseller to take the first steps to building a long-term relationship with a client by proposing a voice mobility solution.

However, looking at the bigger picture and adding a wireless handset solution to the proposal as part of a business solution will differentiate the proposal from the competition, deliver greater value to the customer, and produce a better margin than any number of wireless handset sales could.

In which areas of the market are you seeing strongest demand for Wi-Fi and/or IP DECT and what is driving this growth

Demand is strong across all traditional verticals. However, there is particular strong growth in on-site voice mobility solutions for real time messaging.

This is not to be confused with the handset-to-handset text messaging solutions available on many wireless solutions. Real time messaging is the integration of a business’s process and monitoring solutions with the corporate telephone network thus making it possible for staff to be automatically informed of critical events. These internal M2M type solutions can trigger alerts to Spectralink WiFi or DECT handsets whenever a state of a machine, control system or other monitored system changes.


Demand for this type of solutions comes not only from the hospitality vertical where these solutions are important for guest safety and service but also from retail and manufacturing sectors. ICON is seeing increased demand from resellers for Spectralink handset solutions integrated with the real time messaging solutions from companies such as BlueSky Wireless.

The Lync effect is also driving demand for handset solutions. However, this is particular to Spectralink wireless solutions which are the only solutions approved by Microsoft for direct connection to Lync.

The smart phone trend has also spurred growth in demand for the enterprise wireless solutions from Spectralink. As more and more companies look to use intelligent endpoints as part of their of business process it is becoming evident that the smart phone device has some significant drawbacks. Companies are turning to the dedicated enterprise wireless solutions from Spectralink such as the smartphone like PIVOT handset. PIVOT runs android applications like a smart phone but also delivers quality QOS, trouble free roaming and wire line like voice quality.


At brand level, demand for Spectralink solutions is being driven by the global technology and commercial partnerships established by Spectralink.   Channel partners are benefiting form the CISCO and Microsoft Lync technology approvals and the commercial arrangements with Avaya.

What's new and exciting in the office Wi-Fi and IP DECT product stable and what new margin opportunities are available for resellers?

New for 2014 is the Spectralink PIVOT smartphone type handset. Spectralink has combined its renowned handset durability and voice quality with smartphone-like usability in the PIVOT solution. PIVOT is based on the Android platform.

PIVOT is designed to bridge the gap between friendly/familiar/versatile consumer smartphone and purpose-built, enterprise, mobile, voice capable, computing devices. What makes the PIVOT solution different from other smart devices is in part Spectralink's hard-earned skills in on-site mobile voice solutions or what it likes to describe as “the secret sauce of VoWiFi”. PIVOT is built for purpose. Unlike BYOD consumer smart devices it can take the knocks and scraps of the workplace and has the added functionality for running business apps and enabling IT managers to control its data security and access to apps.

Retail, healthcare and hospitality system vendors using BYOD, mobile computing, and PDA devices will particularly benefit from PIVOT.

Does the timeworn voice over Wi-Fi versus IP DECT debate still apply?

WiFi and DECT are no longer competitive technologies.

However, in those cases were simple voice mobility is required the technology attributes do play a significant part in the decision about which solution to select. In these cases, issues of cost prevail and considerations usually focus on the quality of the wireless infrastructure and whether or not it will support a WiFi solution.

However, when the on-site mobility solution is deployed as part of a business solution then each technology is developing its own unique strengths and attributes. Voice over WiFi is best suited to data intensive applications where voice is not the primary requirement. DECT on the other hand is the better option for low data intensive messaging apps and were voice quality and extreme handset robustness is required.

Only in scenarios where DECT and WiFi could deliver equally does it come down to issues of deployment such as legacy infrastructure and choice of handset.

What is your channel strategy for Wi-Fi and/or IP DECT ?

As a value added distributor and solutions based company ICON’s strategy is focused on mobility solutions in general and not on the technologies in specific. Over the past year we have worked closely with our vender partner Spectralink to develop a UK national strategy for its mobility solutions.

The result is a strategy that aims to strengthen ICON’s already close working relationships with channel partners in the telecoms channel and in the converging IT reseller channel.

The aim is to work with the channel to develop sales through classical key account management (KAM#1) and relationship marketing. 

In practical terms this means

• Working through our UK account management team to develop the close relationships with individual channel partners
• Building the people and internal working processes needed to provide the pre-sales and support services our channel partners need.
• Providing a total solutions capability with the ability to deliver not only the voice mobility technologies but also the business solutions with which these integrate and the support services (training, solution workshops, second line support) needed by the reseller to sell, install and support the solutions

#1 “KAM is an approach which includes developing long term relationships with strategic customers whose needs you understand in depth and for whom, you develop a special offer with a differential advantage to offers of competitors” McDonald, MIllman, Roger 1996

Why should resellers focus more on the potential of Wi-Fi and/or IP DECTproducts?

In the medium term telecoms and IT resellers will need to offer some form of voice mobility solution that will support a range of business applications.

There is a fundamental restructuring taking place in the market and voice and solution mobility is key. The BYOD trend has kick started the move to use handset based business apps in the workplace. However, it is becoming evident that this can only happen if specialised and dedicated on-site voice mobility solutions that can integrate with the business solutions to deliver a not only the business app but a robust voice solution are available.

With the application specific solutions introduced by Spectralink PIVOT, this is fast becoming a standard market. Ignoring this trend is choosing to not to succeed.

How would you summarise?

The enterprise quality wireless solutions such as from Spectralink are no longer being used as mere mobile desk phone replacements on a business telephone system. They are being integrated with real time messaging solutions to deliver critical management and control information to staff or in the case of the PIVOT smart phone solution being used to provide an android platform on which to run business applications. The opportunity for the reseller is to exploit these new applications by selling not an on-site mobile handset but a business solution.