Telephony Bits And Big Hair Issues

The greatest opportunities lie in the midst of muddied waters where there is confusion. Such is the case for the convergence of voice and data in the SMB space. Sure, the enterprise has enjoyed amazing voice capabilities on a network for many years, but SMBs are just realizing the power of enhanced telephony offerings. Ergo, the keen SMB solution provider now is taking notice of the voice/data convergence opportunity.

You probably wished you learned a foreign language in high school, eh? Why? Because the convergence of voice and data in SMB requires that you be bilingual. You must speak both telephony and network infrastructure. Here, I have some bad news. In my experience of implementing our super-duper telephony system in our own firm, we have seen very few bilingual solution providers in the SMB space.

I have three thoughts on the IP telephony opportunity:

• Think SMB: I know there are consultants who speak both telephony and network infrastructure. However, these highly skilled individuals likely are being seduced by the big deals in the enterprise space (starting at $100K) vs. our small SMB deals (coming in at $5K to $10K). Enterprise thinking means going after the big dogs and going for big dollars. SMB thinking means serving your client base.

• Understand the business: And you thought software licensing was complex. Try telephony licensing on for size. Here the situation is compounded by longtime licensing practices from the telephony industry being introduced into the data world. I'll give you an example: Our computer-based telephone system can perform amazing feats, but each time we wanted to invoke additional functionality such as allowing my laptop to "tap" into the PBX system over the Internet when I'm traveling, I discovered I needed a new license. The costs—often well justified because of the benefits—were a surprise.

• Learn the quirks: One employee of mine, a former hair dresser, was committed to having stylish hair that was at odds with the USB headset. She insisted on using a traditional-style handset most of the time but wanted the option of using a headset. The problem was each of these devices represented a network node, with a unique IP address, and the developer assumed that each node would also have a unique extension number. In the real world, that assumption failed.

There is a lot of confusion in the IP telephony market, right down to the big-hair issues, and learning to be bilingual isn't easy. But that also means there is plenty of opportunity.

SBS CONSULTANT HARRY BRELSFORD IS CEO OF SMB NATION, BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASH. HE CAN BE REACHED AT WWW.SMBNATION.COM. WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? SEND SUBMISSIONS TO JOHN LONGWELL, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, AT JLONGWEL@CMP.COM.