Teleconvergence provides two different Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-oriented consulting services:
Teleconvergence VoIP System Consulting consists of end-user services that help clients determine if and how to best use VoIP in their own businesses. That's what this section is about. The four articles in the section should be read in order.
VoIP Business Opportunity Development, on the other hand, applies very specific Teleconvergence expertise in marketing and telecommunications to:
Before you proceed to the Introduction, we'd like to quote from the second article in the section, Changing Systems-Some Initial Considerations.
"One of the many things we've seen over the years is that it's very easy to get impressed or even intimidated by modern telecommunications technology, such as IP-PBXs. It's just another generation. We've seen many of them come and go. A few things change, most don't. And most changes are vendor and technology-driven and are not a result of user demand."
Teleconvergence ensures that our clients (and not any vendors) are in full control of their direction and alternatives.
Since VoIP is a technology, it can be used for many applications: a telephone system; a private or public, local or long distance or international network; to save money on long distance or international calls; to connect multiple physical locations or to extend one's presence to virtual locations; to reduce operating costs or to enhance operating capabilities, etc.
While there is much in the technology that is new, there is very little it can do that hasn't been possible for quite some time using older technology (This is currently quaintly derided as "Legacy." We'll discuss that a little later).
Before you start reading about alternative IP-PBX scenarios, here are some working definitions of the relevant terms. A PBX or Pabx simply refers to a telephone system with an attendant (live or automated), a central system (real or virtual), and numbered extension telephones associated with individual users. A Pabx that uses VoIP is simply a Pabx that uses Internet Protocol (or IP) technology. Such a system is frequently called an IP-PBX.
It is important to note that these systems can be housed on your premises or they can be shared remotely by tens or hundreds or thousands of companies, in which case they are called "Hosted Systems"."They range in price from free Open Source software to proprietary hardware and software costing millions of dollars.
In fact, the possibility of a client offering VoIP service for resale is raised twice elsewhere in this site.
The next part of this section is Some IP-PBX Alternatives and Scenarios.
Interestingly, the main reason many executives have for wanting a new IP-PBX telephone system is that it is the only alternative they've been offered. This is unnecessarily restrictive and does not reflect the range of real choices available to businesses today.
What are some of the options (which may or may not apply in any given situation, of course) potential buyers actually have?
1. Expanding or updating a current non-IP system. Even if the existing system is at capacity, most systems come in families, and a larger version may be available. Now, it may not be available from your current vendor, or at least not until the vendor faces losing your business. However, making the vendor face the facts without endangering the relationship is merely one of the functions of a competent consultant. Since Teleconvergence only recommends systems with multiple sources of supply and maintenance, alternatives are always at hand.
2. Expanding or updating a current non-IP system by adding VoIP capabilities where needed. Note: in general, they are not needed everywhere. Most good-sized phone systems work perfectly well in Legacy/IP-PBX form. Think of it as a hybrid: if it works for a car, why can't it work just as well for a telephone system?
3. If your existing phone system would be good enough if it wasn't too old to be any good any more, consider purchasing a newer preowned system that's the same as yours -- perhaps one with a larger capacity -- and using the extra equipment as a virtually free source of free cards and telephones.
4. If your system is getting old and replacement parts and models are unavailable or the feature set is also antiquated, consider purchasing a different but newer preowned Legacy system from a company that has recently purchased an IP-based system, whether they really needed it or not.
5. Using VoIP for some locations, but not all, and not necessarily for the main location.
6. Purchasing a new VoIP IP-PBX. See it really is a choice, just not the only one.
7. Instead of buying your own system, use a Hosted IP-PBX service to satisfy your needs, for headquarters, or for your branch offices, or even both.
Teleconvergence isn't biased against technology or VoIP (after all, part of our practice consists of helping clients determine whether to get into the VoIP business), but we do think a company should consider its alternatives based on its needs, not on the latest technology or what the first three salespersons you contacted said you should buy.
As we do elsewhere in this section, we'd like to again suggest that you read the information in The Teleconvergence Process, especially the first part, Selecting a System --- And Getting it Backward. The information will give you a good idea of whether our approach is right for you.
The following are often presented as flat statements, truths, if you will, about VoIP. There are undeniably elements of truth in most of them, but absolutely, positively true? 100% of the time? Harrumph. You be the judge.
"You'll save money" Compared to what? If your current system is functioning, the new one is an expense, period. Can you save money on long distance calls? Perhaps you can get VoIP domestic long distance for only a few cents per minute (quality business VoIP is Not free). However, traditional long distance is generally available for only a few cents more.
When you look at the total cost of implementing VoIP to be able to save, perhaps, two or three cents a minute, it takes a very impressive number of minutes just to break even. And the more minutes you use, the less traditional long distance costs -- if you negotiate properly. (Something else a competent independent consultant is good at doing on your behalf!)
Can you save enough on international calls? It all depends on where you call. VoIP international rates can be significantly lower than traditional rates, but the greatest savings show up on routes of much lower quality than traditional ones. Can you really save enough money to justify you or your customer not being able to hear each other clearly?
"New IP-PBX technology is better and more reliable" More reliable than what? Phone systems ran for years without any loss of service whatsoever. To the degree that IP-PBXs are based on computer technology, they're as reliable as, well, computers. They can be made robust and redundant, but so were traditional legacy PBXs, which, in the days of the old Bell System, were actually designed to last for 40 years – and did.
In fact, let's talk about PBXs. The term Legacy began to be used by IP-PBX vendors at the beginning of this century to refer to non-IP-based systems. Why "Legacy"? Mostly because the IP vendors had to imply obsolescence without being able to prove it. Especially at the beginning, existing "Legacy" systems did much more and did it much better than the new ones. Not even mentioning how much more reliably.
Legacy systems are presumably "do nothing" systems, but they are reliable. IT may expect to change systems every three or five years, but knowledgeable management knows this isn't necessarily desirable -- and it isn't necessary, at least in the case of traditional telephone systems.
Why do vendors scoff at Legacy systems? Perhaps because they last too long, usually long enough to allow the owner to avoid replacing them on a vendor's preferred time schedule. Or else perhaps because, under close scrutiny, an existing Legacy system's life cycle is longer than that of the vendor's replacement product.
It is interesting that many vendor's products become obsolete (or cease being supported) long before they can even be categorized as "Legacy." Put differently, why do some vendors help you plan for obsolescence rather than prevent it from ever occurring with their own products?
"Unified messaging is made possible by VoIP." An interesting theory, but articulated only by the ignorant. Unified messaging (voice mail, e-mail, and fax available in a single in-box) has been around for more than 20 years, running on pre-Windows operating systems like DoubleDos and OS2.
"VoIP allows companies to operate with a single dialing plan anywhere in the world." True, but the Bell System was putting together such networks for companies more than forty years ago. It is far easier and usually less expensive to create such networks using VoIP, but it is not new.
Does this all this seem as if we're negative about VoIP and IP-PBXs? It shouldn't, as we explain throughout the site. We are not against technology. We are against treating technology as an end rather than simply as a means to achieve a business objective.
For a balanced discussion of the subject, please turn to the last article in this series, The Promise of VoIP.
VoIP will play an increasingly important role in technology as the Internet gradually supersedes what could be termed "Legacy" platforms such as circuit-switched telephone networks, television airwaves, even traditional radio. This will happen not because the old telephone network or the airwaves don't work: they obviously do.
But the Internet -- with VoIP representing the part of the Internet used for voice communications -- will become dominant because its inherent interactivity simply makes for a richer and more rewarding communications, informational, and entertainment experience.
What Teleconvergence does is help our clients take advantage of this technology to better achieve their business and strategic objectives.
Please spend as much time as you like or as long as it takes to determine whether we can help you and whether you might like us to.
When you're ready, drop us a note or, better yet, give us a call. Everything here is about we can do or what we've done for others. At some point, when you're ready, it'll be time to discuss what we can do for you.
We look forward to the conversation.