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.
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July 2011

You are browsing the archive for July 2011.

Differentiating Yourself When Considered a Commodity

July 29, 2011

Over the past two weeks, we have engaged the real estate representatives that can influence our ability to sell in buildings where we have a PBX or can provide broadband access and hosted services. Although, the majority of the presentation was about the benefits of working with Cypress Communications and Broadvox since the acquisition and the growth of cloud computing, the questions we received were more about existing services. What was surprising was the question that assumed we are selling a commodity product.

Often, when asked “what does Broadvox sell?” I find it simpler to respond with a “phone service” or a “phone line”.

Commercial Real Estate and Cloud Computing

July 27, 2011

Over the last two weeks Broadvox and Cypress have met with our major landlord and tenant representatives in Dallas and Atlanta. The meetings were held to engage the major commercial real estate players that have worked with Cypress over the last decade or so and to discuss the future of VoIP, Unified Communications and cloud computing. Obviously, this audience does not follow IP communications or IT trends closely, but they do need to be prepared to solve their current and future tenant requirements. Therefore, we articulated the growth and importance of VoIP and hosted VoIP to their clients.

OMG, Crab Cakes and Bing

July 25, 2011

It was an interesting weekend for food beginning with Friday’s grilled lemon chicken breasts. Using my usual brine of salt and lemon juice (1 teaspoon each per cup of water) the breasts were incredibly juicy and flavorful. Saturday we decided to try a new restaurant in the neighborhood. It is a breakfast and lunch place and we tried it in either day one or two of its opening.

Internet Marketing State of the Union (con't)

July 22, 2011

Before I begin, I need to note that Matthew Sharp has been nominated for Channel Manager of the year. Many of you know Sharpie and how well deserves the nomination and the win. Today is the last day to vote. Please fill out the Channel Partners voting form and help Matt to victory!

Internet Marketing State of the Union

July 20, 2011

The primary topics normally discussed on this blog involve IP telephony, the VAR community, Unified Communications, and of course my passion for food.  Occasionally, I like to spice it up and discuss marketing and more specifically, internet marketing.   The shifts this year to internet marketing efforts have been substantial, so I will split my opinions into two posts.    

A lot has been happening this year regarding the major search engines and internet marketing. 

Simple Soup and the Simple Mind

July 18, 2011

Not the best weekend for food as I made Buffalo wings on Friday at my wife’s request, had take out Indian on Saturday (my request) and grilled turkey wings on Sunday (a failed exercise). Does that mean no recipe this week? No, of course not. I did make one dish that is worthy of sharing, tomato basil soup.

Tomato Basil Soup

July 18, 2011

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds, medium plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 2 shallots, halved
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 6 basil leaves
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons chiffonade fresh basil leaves

 

Directions

 

Place all ingredients into a blender and purée.

The E-SBC is On the Rise

July 15, 2011

Broadvox is closely aligned with several E-SBC suppliers; AudioCodes, Ingate, Cisco and others. However, only recently did I note the growth in the market segment. According to Infonetics, Enterprise Session Border Controller sales grew by 70% in 2010. The growth was fueled in part by the continued adoption of SIP Trunking.

PBX Sales Are Growing Again

July 13, 2011

According to a study released in June by Eastern Management Group, sales of PBXs in 2010 grew 16% over 2009. Moreover, SIP Trunks are installed on 45% of newly installed IP PBXs. This remains consistent with what many of the Broadvox VARs are experiencing. The growth in PBX sales is crosses SMBs and enterprises with each looking to benefit from decreased cost and improved productivity through PBX upgrades, replacement and new installs.

The market leaders are the usual suspects with a couple of surprises.

Surprising Consumption

July 11, 2011

This weekend the Broadvox and Cypress management team met at our CEO’s home in Ohio for business discussions and dinner. Two of us were asked to cook for the 21 attendees. Frank Grillo, EVP Applications, Implementation and Support, and I accepted the challenge without pause. Please consider, we would have no time for advance preparation, work in an unfamiliar kitchen with unfamiliar tools and try to blend our styles of cooking.

Red, White and ooVoo

July 1, 2011

As the Fourth of July is approaching with many on vacation, I’ll make this brief. I was wondering what I could find that would tie our country’s independence to IP Communications. Clearly, it wasn’t around during the Revolutionary war and no amount of spin can change that. Perhaps, a few of us will forego traveling to an actual fireworks display and watch it over the web or replays on YouTube. But that is hardly worth noting.
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