Pork Rib Roast and FUD

David Byrd : Raven Call
David Byrd
David Byrd is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer for Raven Guru Marketing. Previously, he was the CMO and EVP of Sales for CloudRoute. Prior to CloudRoute, He was CMO at ANPI, CMO & EVP of Sales at Broadvox, VP of channels and Alliances for Telcordia and Director of eBusiness development with i2 Technologies.He has also held executive positions with Planet Hollywood Online, Hewlett-Packard, Tandem Computers, Sprint and Ericsson.
| Raven Guru Marketing http://www.ravenguru.com/

Pork Rib Roast and FUD

It rained Easter so the day began a bit dreary. However, there was excitement in our house because the grandkids were coming over after church. It is always fun to see them but on holidays, we try to do something special. We began with an Easter egg hunt in the house (due to the rain). The kids got 50 cents for each plastic egg they found. I noted that my oldest grandson made sure the baskets were even so each child got $4.00. They had fun and the cost of the experience was negligible. Okay, what did we eat?

I decided some weeks ago to cook a pork rib roast because as the kids have gotten older they eat a lot more food and I love the flavor of a roast cooked on the bone. I marinated the roast overnight using apple cider. I reserved a quarter cup of the marinade to use in the sauce/gravy. It came together beautifully. As for the grandkids, the roast was a hit with most requesting seconds. There was one interesting side dish. I made hasselback potatoes, a simple, but different way to prepare roast potatoes. My wife and I also made a coconut cake. It was five layers of coconut cake with a great coconut and cream filling topped with a simple sugar and egg white frosting. It was fantastic! The kids were ambivalent but the adults enjoyed the cake.

After which we played their newest favorite game, Monopoly. It was an Easter to remember.

FUD

VoIP/SIP Trunking is falling victim to FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). FUD is an old sales technique designed to slow the decision making process while a competitor positions itself to win. Gene Amdahl initially labeled it after he left IBM to start a competing company called Amdahl. IBM was renowned for developing a story line that went somewhat like this:

"That new (company, product, capability, etc.) sounds interesting but you know you will be much better off buying from IBM. We are the safe choice and bad things can happen to you if you purchase from unknown companies or unproven technologies."

The tactic not only protected IBM from intrusions into their customer base but it often delayed decisions long enough for IBM to develop additional product features to beat back the interlopers. So what is the FUD associated with IP Communications? In a simple phrase, voice quality. I am astounded that we, ITSPs, IP PBX suppliers, VARs and consultants would allow the ILECs and other incumbents to define the battleground for IP communications. And it is a battle. It is a battle we need to win. Voice Quality is not a major issue with VoIP/SIP today. In fact, since Broadvox has completed its major network upgrades, our attention has turned to improving our back end systems, provisioning, billing, and customer support. Voice Quality is towards the bottom of customer complaints or problems. So why is it at the top of mine for even those in the industry? FUD. Verizon and AT&T sell VoIP and SIP but insist it is not as good as their TDM network. Horror stories of voice quality problems stem mostly from several years ago. Additionally, too many from our industry want to compare the service provided by Broadvox and other ITSPs to that of Vonage. Vonage offers a good residential service but it is not in the same league as the business service offer by Broadvox and others.

How do we fight IP FUD? Check back on Wednesday...



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