Recently in apps Category

This PowerPoint presentation represents the outline of what my panel was going to discuss at Broadsoft Connections. We were going to make 3 points about Marketing a Profitable UC Bundle: 

1. Does Bundling Work;
2. How do you sell it;
3. What makes a successful bundle

Does Bundling Work? It depends. Are you using a Bundle for Customer Retention or Customer Acquisition? Our panleists included to ILEC's and 1 CLEC competing directly against one panelist.

The big point to make is that if you add one component sold separately between 15-20% of your customer base will uptake that new component (if marketed well). However, if you add it to a bundle, many more folks will take it. Albeit at a less margin, but more overall revenue.

Everyone was in agreement that the only way to sell a UC Bundle was face-to-face. A sales force - direct or indirect - could sell it. The hardware salespeople have a problem transitioning from selling a box to selling the Invisible. But training can fix that.

Upselling an existing bundle customer can work via tele-sales to increase stickiness and ARPU.

What makes a successful bundle? No one is sure yet. The only point that could be made is that it needs to be simple. Small business wants the pain of technology removed from their business life. And Broadsoft's 180+ features, Xtended Apps, and the XML on the phone are an infinite list of possibilities that will confuse the sales team let alone the consumer. Bundles should be created to attack a market segment, niche or vertical.

I'm in Atlanta speaking at the Microcorp One-on-One event about Trends in 2010. The three trends that I see for agents are the following: Applications, Quality of Service (QOS), and Mobile Broadband (MBB). But they are kind of inter-dependent. Ubiquious broadband leads to innovative uses and applications. Applications like on smartphones lead to a greater need for mobile broadband networks.

Mobile Broadband is growing. Smartphones are replacing cellular handsets. Social networks are moving to mobile devices so people can Facebook and Tweet. RIM's Blackberry brought us mobile email, but it is a standard on many phones now. Netbooks and data cards are presenting the US cellular companies with some fits. They like the additional revenue, but have to keep dropping billions on the network backhaul and capacity upgrades. (And another $45B+ on the upgrade to LTE/4G).

All this means that there are new uses for the mobile broadband, like the Kindle. Sprint's Wispernet allows Amazon to instantly download books, magazines, newspapers and blogs to Kindle devices. Machine-to-machine devices can utilize the cellular data network to provide connectivity for ATM machines, security cameras, and a host of other devices that need to communicate with a NOC or remote server.

All of this is a cycle of applications driving network usage. Ubiquious broadband driving more apps. It's one reason that the FCC needs to maintain open network and Net Neutrality guidelines in place.

Applications - like email, databases, office suites, CRM - are creating a demand for managed services, such as an outsourced IT department. In addition, businesses are looking at the Cloud - moving applications to a data center for redundancy, security, and availability - as a way to save money and stop worrying about the IT department. With applications being delivered in the Cloud or by way of SAAS or even Virtualization, Agents have a chance to offer more than just Internet Access or WAN circuits, like private line. Agents can sell Layer 2 to Layer 7 - pipe to apps. It's a way to get deeper into accounts. It's a way to offer a complete solution. It's a way to deliver on the label of Trusted Advisor.

Applications are driving sales. Voice and email are just the primary apps. Business critical data is also driving mobile broadband. Ubiquious broadband is allowing for innovative ways of accessing data. The problem becomes reliable access to the data. That's where Quality of Service comes in. QOS on the WAN is what is needed to access data reliably and quickly. The MPLS trigger is the Class of Service reliability and prioritization of data over the network. This is paramount for businesses running a truly converged network with video, database, VoIP, email and Internet riding the same pipes. WAN Optimization is selling due to the cost containment and the performance enhancement. Big bang for the buck.

So the agents can sell mobile broadband, applications via Virtualization or SAAS, and add QOS to the WAN to provide reliable access to these business critical data.

My buddy, Derek Thompson, just started at Fishnet Security. Besides peddling Bluecoat and SonicWall Managed Services, he is also selling WAN Optimization. While I have heard of this, I had no idea what it was or how it worked. So Derek invited me to sit down with Doug Kruger of Riverbed. Doug explained it simply enough.

One reason companies consider WAN optimization is if the company needs more bandwidth. It may not need more bandwidth, it may just need to better utilize the Internet Access it already has.

Multi-location companies sometimes have servers at each branch instead of consolidating the servers in one data center. This saves money on maintenance and storage, but in some cases may mean a bigger pipe to access the servers in real-time from the data center.

By consolidating servers into one location can save on manpower, maintenance, and data storage/back-up costs. This is also the sales trigger for Virtualization and Cloud Computing. Save on hardware, labor and storage.

TCP and latency are other reasons that companies buy bigger pipe, when perhaps they could just optimize the current WAN connections (or change to MPLS pipes instead of DIA or dedicated Internet access circuits at each location). TCP is not the most efficient protocol, but it works, just sometimes creating excess packet traffic across the WAN.  Latency for real-time applications is also a real problem across the Internet. Lastly, many applications, including Microsoft Office, create excess traffic on the WAN when any document is being opened. 

One of the ways that companies like Riverbed optimize the WAN is to eliminate duplicate data traffic. It's called De-Dupe and the effect is to eliminate up to 80% of traffic across the WAN. WANO technology usually will work on eliminating all the excess packet traffic on the WAN, which will usually result in a bandwidth savings. 

Riverbed tweeks TCP headers to modify the TCP window sizing issue. The tech here gets beyond me and my discussion, but by modifying the TCP packet headers much of the TCP "noise" on the WAN is cut down. By diminishing the excess packet traffic from apps and TCP, WAN optimization technology is able to save a lot of bandwidth. 

Riverbed also works on application latency in a similar vein, by the mitigation of excess packet traffic from apps like Microcosft Office. The technology guesses what the application will ask for and deliver it all at once instead of in 20 different packet streams. Many Fortune 5000 companies use WAN Optimization due mainly to cost cutting force on them by the economy. Data is business critical, so any way that you can save money on the WAN is a good thing.

Master Agency Microcorp is holding its One-on-One Event for its agents in Atlanta next week. I will be moderating a session on Trends for 2010 & Beyond, where we will discuss the next series of services that Agents can create revenue streams from. 

You've heard the noise about Conferencing coming from the likes of Premiere and Inter-Call. With the Green movement and the economic realities of cutting down travel expenditures, video and web conferencing are selling. It's just a software application that can be sold as a service - (notice I mentioned app and SAAS there?). It creates a revenue stream for an Agent by cross-selling to your existing client base.

You can also offer Hosted Microsoft Exchange email and the Office Suite software. Alternatives to that would be Google Apps and now IBM LotusLive iNotes.

Managed Services is the new buzz word around the Industry. Outsourcing IT (computer support, server maintenance, software updating and backup) is a growing market segment as small businesses find it harder to keep IT staff in place (and trained). Also, IT is becoming mission critical -- well, access to data, email, voicemail is becoming business critical.

The panel will be with InContact, Sprint and New Edge Networks. We will be discussing 4G and M2M as a growth sector. Private Networking and QOS on the WAN for today's real-time traffic. And finally how apps like UC and Contact Center software can provide agents a renewed high margin business.

Please note I didn't mention Cloud or Virtualization.

I received yet another press release from the BSA (Business Software Alliance). It was about a funny video. Why the PR firm thought it was relevant to me is astounding.

It got me thinking. Is the BSA losing relevancy?  Two things are shaping the commercial software world:  SAAS and Open Source.

The BSA's job is to stop piracy - in the US mainly. However, piracy around the world dwarfs the US. < I won't rant here about copyright or the fact that there are way too many lawyers.> Needless to say, the BSA makes a living chasing small business owners about licensing. How do they find them? Disgruntled employees who turn them in. (I've seen it happen. Not pretty at all).

When most software moves to the Cloud or as a service, licensing headaches will disappear. (Data security headaches will increase dramatically however). So the BSA is expiring.

One of my sessions at ITEXPO in Los Angeles will be Developing Profitable Web 2.0 Solutions. The all-star panel consists of Ifbyphone, Voxeo, and Intelepeer, who will be talking about how to us an API to create a new app. Should be good content. Stop by at 9:30 AM on Thursday.

Jaduka and StrikeIron announce partnership. Millions of NetBeans, IBM and SalesForce developers can now add voice to their apps in minutes. Here's Thomas Howe's announcement post. Here's StrikeIron's blog post. The press release is here.

While speaking at the FISPA meeting this week, I kind of focused on sales and marketing. Why? Mainly the E-Myth. Most of the ISP owners are technical but are very uncomfortable talking about business, marketing and especially sales. One point that is important is that ISP's are NOT selling Internet Access. ISP's are selling reliable, dependable high-speed access to Facebook, YouTube and the rest of the websites and Web Apps that people desire to use. SAAS and VoIP means that ISP's need to be cognizant of the fact that if you keep selling Internet Access you will relegated to a dumb pipe. Instead, you should be offering not just the access but also some of those Apps. (That's what the RBOC's want to do).

ITSP's are NOT selling replacement phone service. They are selling business productivity and efficiency through a new, reliable and redundant platform for voice service. It's NOT about saving someone 10% -- it is about understanding how the business uses the phone (and other communications services) to interact with prospects, customers, and employees.

Google Voice is now going public. Luckily, for some providers Google announced that it will charge for enterprise and premium users. At the FISPA meeting, IKANO (Disclaimer: I rep IKANO's Google Apps for ISP's) presented the concept of ISP's moving their email service to Google. This was at the tail end of a CLEC session where the discussion centered around becoming a CLEC is about controlling your destiny and your services. Well, outsourcing your email - still the killer app for users - for an ISP is tantamount to losing control. And the fact that Google - IKANO's partner for email - is launching Google Voice is just one more reason that the ISP's will say No to Google Apps. They see Google as the new AT&T.

Because broadband is so slow in the states, Amazon has resorted to allowing companies to mail in their portable devices for data storage and upload. According to Cloudave, it could take "82 days (with 1.54 Mbps T1 connection) to migrate one terabyte of data with 80% network utilization."  So "Amazon has resorted to old fashioned approach from the previous eras. Users can mail Amazon their data in one of the supported portable storage devices and Amazon will transfer it to users' AWS account from within Amazon's high speed internal network."  Sad really.

Tonight, Steve Case was on twitter tweeting, "Sad AOL went from being Internet pioneer/leader to also-ran. But still more there then most understand; hopeful can return to greatness." My replies were as follows: what they need are some young, hungry start-up execs, but what they will get is a stodgy exec that wants to cost cut and ride it out.

Why do I say that? Look at Embarq. Hesse had a couple months to pick a team and formulate a plan for the soon-to-be spun off Embarq. What did he do? Let's go with DSL and cost cutting. Blah! They needed that at Sprint not at Embarq. The next guy, Gerke, who took over last March, has been trying to be innovative with the eGo home phone. But EMBQ was already up for sale just trying to find a match.

Then you have EarthLink. Under Barry, it was trying everything: Muni Wi-Fi, BPL, MVNO, etc. He dies. The balls drop to the ground. The Board hires Rolla Hoff to come in, cost cut and try to find a buyer. No go. Just ride it out.

AOL has a wealth of brand recognition and content. It has active email accounts and IM users. My thoughts: go mobile with mobile IM app, definitely make the website and its content WAP based. Create MyAOL for the smartphone for $9.95 per month.

Also, I would have a premium email service that has extra value like saved address book, calendar and mobile access.

AOL has an advertising platform that I am not certain would spin-off, but if it did, there's cash and potential there, just like with the dial-up silo. And ADN, which it the AOL backbone is also something that could be leveraged.

I would even partner with ISP's to be the portal and content partner. Maybe the cable guys would like a deal like Yahoo! has with AT&T.

Anyway, there's plenty there to be worked (a social network too I think), but it wouldn't be that hard to find someone creative and passionate enough to run it. (Hey, Steve, my CV is on LinkedIn!)