On Rad's Radar? - apps Archives

Another iPad App

2012-04-05T16:28:10Z

I get an email daily about how someone launched an iPad app. Wahoo. Apparently, launching an app is now a media event.

People forget a couple of important details:

The Cloud is all about High Availability of data. If you want people to use your service, end users must be able to access their data on your platform from whatever Internet-enabled device they use. Apple, Blackberry, Android, Windows - doesn't matter.

The iPad app shouldn't just be about data access. What makes the app any better than just using the website? It has to either make the business process easier or it has to be enhanced. It shouldn't be like the LinkedIn apps that I have seen, which offer limited functionality.

Just giving your sales force an iPad doesn't make them better. But designing an app that can access network maps, lit buildings, collateral, service inquiries, quoting tool and forms might make them more efficient, which is the aim.

At some point, having a couple of hundred icons on your device to access every website you need is going to get arduous. Scrolling through bookmarks in your browser is easier. Unless that app is awesome and useful, it gets relegated to the back of the line.

So, as a note, stop sending me your press releases about your iPad/Android app releases.

The Scoop on TDMobility

2012-03-23T16:09:04Z

I spoke with Brian Kosoy, PR manager for Tech Data, and Charles Kriete, the Executive Vice President of TDMobility. Kriete is also the founder of the company that developed some of the key technology (CellManage) in TDMobility. His company was acquired by the joint venture between Tech Data and Brightstar. TDmobility launched recently as a way for VAR's to offer cellular service - handsets, devices, netbooks, tablets, mifi - to their customer base through Tech Data. Give it a listen. (embedded Flash player)

There are 2 sections. TDActivate acts just like an authorized dealer does for cellular products. Pick your device, pick your plan, activate it through the carrier - all through a TDMobility. It is not a true MVNO. It all goes through the carriers - AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

TDCellManage is the MDM or mobile device management platform. It is similar to a TEM model, where you can see the carrier billing, the devices, the contracts. It can be more as a solutions and software pillar to provide applications control on the device, email security, remote security (like wipe), desktop virtualization and anti-virus. RIM, Good and AirWatch software is available. This is the value that the VAR can add over an authorized agent, Best Buy Mobile or Amazon.

It's all about Management - managed servcies, TEM (telecom expense mgmt) or MDM (mobile device mgmt). Get in the game!

Download the mp3 here.

iPad, MDM and Other News

2012-03-09T15:12:30Z

Bandwidth.com bought DASH Carrier Services and renamed it inetwork. Apparently, inetwork is doing gangbusters in the wholesale VoIP space, the largest arbitrage space left, I would imagine. It's the new LD. inetwork offers origination, termination, e-911, SMS and toll-free. The cool thing is the TelcoTranslator that they launched to help with all the acronyms.

Birch has bundled credit card processing with its SMB services. Smart for the retail space. They might want to add 3G/4G redundancy to that. Oh, and I sure hope that are working on PCI Compliance.

So Apple's ipad3 is out. In 4Q the iPad outsold PC's in number of units sold. TDmobility told me that the future is in mobile devices not in PC's or laptops. (Netbooks and tablets are considered mobile devices.) But what is a telecom or pharma sales force supposed to do with the iPad after they plunk down $500 a piece for 50 or 100 of them? Speaking with Jody Haneke last night, it's all about interactive apps that make the sales presentation come alive. (That's what Haneke Design does here in Tampa Bay, home of some great mobile marketing talent.)

The big thing, according to both Haneke and Charles Kriete at TDmobility, is MDM: mobile device management. MDM involves more than just inventory tracking of mobile devices. It includes remote wipe, anti-virus, virtualization, application control and more. If there was a managed service that Agents would want to jump on early, MDM would be it. It only takes 50 or 60 phones to be worth it for a business. There is also room for just mobile security management. The threat to mobile devices is huge. Imagine a virus turning your phone into a surveillance device!

Rumor Mill: is DT bidding on EarthLink? Tata and Vodafone are bidding for Cable & Wireless.

I Can Do It Myself

2012-03-06T14:37:09Z

I hear this all the time: "I can do it myself!" Backup solution? No, I'll build one myself. Outsource your email? No, I can run my own email server. White-label VoIP? Nope. I'm going to spin up an Asterisk box and use that.

You think I am kidding, but I'm not.

Yesterday it was: We needed to re-do our Broadsoft portal. After shopping around, we decided to build it ourselves.

It makes me wonder about a couple of things:

Are you a hobby or a business? A hobby is when you like to tinker with technology. A business is something else.

Do you know what your time and effort is worth? It takes a lot of time and effort to build a solution, maintain that hardware and software, and support it. Add in licensing, backup, redundancy and security to that budget number. Factor in that while spending your time and effort on Building Your Own, you could have been doing something else -- some other priority, some other revenue generating activity, or personal time.

There is always a debate about buy versus build. There are many reasons to buy: faster to market, outsourced skill and support, no CAPEX, knowledge base, etc. Yet there are reasons to build: you want more control, special features, proprietary, etc.

In today's world, where most service providers don't market very well or brand themselves (or their servcies), buying is the way to go. Why? It isn't about you or what you want. It's about your customers and what they want. It's a speed to market. It's about capturing wallet. And you can't do all that by yourselves. You just can't.

When I examine VDI, VoIP/Hosted PBX, UC, backup and conferencing, there isn't any special sauce being pitched. To the marketplace, it's one big nosie box about the tech and its features. That's why it doesn't sell fast and that's why you don't have to spend the effort building your own (in my opinion).

Can you put a competitive service together that your customers will be happy with in the most efficient manner?

Don't look at the cost (unless you factor in your time saved), look at results.

What Else Are You Going to Sell?

2012-03-04T23:44:40Z

TDM is running out of runway. Agents have already switched to selling Ethernet, MPLS and SIP Trunking. What else can they be selling?

Back-up, like Conferencing, is a cash cow that Agents just don't sell. From archiving email per federal regulations to backing up laptops, smartphones, databases, customer records, billing and more "in the Cloud", online backup service isn't much different from Google (see Chrome ad) or Apple iCloud. Access to everything you need through an authorized device attached to the Internet is the beauty to Cloud services, but backing up data is vital to business continuity. How long can a business run without billing records or a customer database? Not very long. Think how flummoxed you are when you lose your contacts in your smartphone. Imagine that contact list was your business. That's why backup is important (to your customers). VAR's are already selling different versions of online backup: their own; a white-label from Remote Backup, DriveHQ or LiveDrive; and a resell of Carbonite (who is hugging Agents right now) or Intronis (who loves the Channel) or Anxient or many others. There are some like SugarSync or Mozy that backup your smartphone and your laptop to the same account.

Managed Security - most of the CLEC's (XO, EarthLink, Netwolves, Integra, Cbeyond), the RBOCs and the ILEC's (Windstream and CenturyLink) offer some type of security offering, usually Managed Firewall, IDS (Intrusion Detection Service) and Network Monitoring. As more data moves to the web (Cloud), security will become even more significant, in the form of email and application security, encryption, event and log management, and mobile device management. For example, Reflexion provides hosted email security, archiving and encryption services exclusively through the channel.

Hosting and email services - everyone has a website or blog; everyone has email. Why shouldn't you be offering those services too? XO started out as Concentric Network, a hosting company. This was Cloud before it was called that. XO sells Hosted Exchange and website hosting. Megapath just rolled out the Microsoft suite. Intercall offers Live365. It isn't big dollars, but it is a place to get your feet wet in Cloud and apps.

Managed IT - remote monitoring of servers and desktops - is a VAR service powered by software like Autotask, Connectwise, Kaseya and GFI MAX. As businesses are essentially dependent upon computers and technology to do business, managed IT services become an option when skilled technical support staff are too expensive, churned or unavailable.

A step past, Managed IT is the remote desktop - aka Desktop-as-a-service (a term I dislike) and VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure). In 1999, Wyse terminals were going to replace desktops for efficiency. It didn't happen (except in the POS space.) Now we are trying it again. MSP's offer this service - with a big fat helping of bandwidth. There are big names in this space, including Citrix, VMware, and Microsoft. There are also a number of providers, like IIS Group, who provide VDI through the channel. Navisite, which TWC owns, just chose Desktone as its DaaS partner.

Next to DaaS is HaaS, or Hardware as a Service. Don't ask me how this is different or how it isn't just leasing. Ask Chartec.

There are issues with selling cloud services - like the service provider's (SP's) financial position; redundancy and resiliency of the SP's architecture; SP's ability to scale in terms of on-boarding new customers properly and scaling tech support for end users; the end users' experiences as cloud services will change some business environmental factors; and licensing issues.

That being said, Agents should be surveying their current customers about the needs outlined here. Why? To get a bigger share of the customer's wallet.

Another way to look at it is: the customer is going to shop these services like he shops T1's, broadband, and voice. He might as well pay you to shop them for him, like he does for the telecom stuff. Get in there!

If you liked this, you might like this blog post too:

What about selling Cloud

One addition, I interviewed VAR Dynamics (local boys from Tampa) at ITEXPO. VAR Dynamics is a private-label Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Cloud business apps provider selling exclusively through channels. Apps include Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SharePoint, Zimbra, BlackBerry BES, email encryption, email archiving and more. There will be cross-over in what a provider sells. Just as VAR Dynamics sells the Microsoft software and email security, CLEC's that you are already familiar with - like XO and Cbeyond - offer a variety of services to sell deep into your customers.

Where Will the Revenue Come From?

2012-03-02T16:00:45Z

The screaming you hear is coming from execs at the global cellcos. For years we have been hearing how voice will be free. (Hasn't happened yet, but it has flat rated.) Now it seems the text messaging revenue arm is decreasing - 9% from last year globally.

According to this article, "Pinger and an explosion of smartphone messaging services -- like iMessage, BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber Media, Facebook Messenger and KakaoTalk -- have managed in just a few years to slash away at the important revenue that cell phone companies get from text messaging. Analysts say there's no end in sight to the financial blood letting."

This explains all the metering and bandwidth caps. Revenue is flat for cellular so they need to make it up in data revenue. When you are spending $7-9 Billion per year on the network, plus paying for roaming and having to buy spectrum, you want ARPU and revenue to go up.

There is also all this envy to Apple, Google and other cloud companies that are making money from apps, shopping and usage that the cellcos are not getting a piece of.

I think it is also why a good many cell phones do not have wi-fi. That tends to work two ways though: wi-fi is capacity offload while the customer is still paying you a monthly rate. Wi-fi upload may be how they save some money on capacity upgrades. Wi-fi capability in teh handset would also be a way to appease the folks who get throttled or capped. However, that doesn't help the carrier revenues. They just don't want to be a dump pipe, but every move they make seems dumb.

A Fun Chat with VAR Dynamics

2012-02-01T05:51:08Z

It started out coincidentally as VAR Dynamics CEO, Tony Francisco, was on my plane this morning. And he just recently moved from Silicon Valley to Tampa Bay, where I live. He is working with Gazelle Labs and spoke at BarCamp Tampa Bay, which is an un-conference I co-organize for the last 4 years. I had to go to Miami Beach to talk to him though. Go figure!

VAR Dynamics is the geeks in the cloud that run the servers that run the software that VAR's and service providers then re-label and sell to end-users. Back in the day, they would be labeled Master MSP as they enable MSP businesses. I called then an MSPE - a managed service provider enabler. Tony disliked that immediately. They are like the VAR Viagra - get them up and running on the Cloud in a day, fully turn key and automated through the magic of open API's. Tony didn't like that either, but his VP of Marketing, Darrek Porter, a man who was in politics once upon a time, did. This system allows VAR's to consume and re-purpose cloud apps in a self-service atmosphere.

I like it when the discussion is lively, more like buddies chatting over coffee than telling me your talking points. VAR Dynamics has almost 200 partners, which include telcos, VAR's and MSP's. What's the difference between VAR and MSP? Mainly mindset. Break/fix versus MRR (monthly recurring revenue).

VAR Dynamics white labels a lot of Microsoft products like Exchange, Sharepoint, CRM and soon Lync Lite. They also white label Blackberry Enterprise Server and Zimbra. Why Zimbra? "For those that don't like Microsoft." They have add-ons like archiving and "Compliancy", which means help complying with the myriad federal regs like PCI, HIPAA, GLBA, SOX, etc.

Francisco did name drop Autotask, ConnectWise, Jamcracker and Reflection as current or future partners -- again through the magic of well coded open API's.

Are you a company with a base of customers looking for MRR - "and control of their future"? Then VAR Dynamics wants to talk to you.

How do you control your own future? By selling white-label services, you are the provider - no carrier deciding that the bottom looks better when they stop paying commissions - so the monthly commission isn't going to get cut off, unless the customer leaves you.

It's a Mobile Monday

2012-01-30T16:51:18Z

It's a mobile Monday as I get set to pack up to head to ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami Beach.

Yahoo was being Yahoo this morning as it announced - in the same breath - that it has launched a "Mobile First" mindset, then shut down 10 mobile apps. Granted, some of them were not doing well (like Yahoo itself), but it's schizophrenic to do it on the same day.

Patent house Klausner Technologies sues MetroPCS for Visual Voicemail Infringement. That's always fun - and profitable for the patent house. Hopefully, in this case, it doesn't mess up the consumers' experiences.

AT&T is now supporting DISH Network at the FCC on its deployment and usage of spectrum in the 2 GHz range that it acquired from bankruptcy court via TerreStar Networks and DBSD North America. In the Fierce article, it is suggested that the support is because AT&T has eyes for DISH spectrum. And as you have read, the rumor mill has AT&T bidding on DISH - for less than what T-Mobile would have cost. It will depend on the FCC rules on the spectrum.

Both Verizon and AT&T had bad quarters. AT&T attributed its $6.7B bad quarter to its $3B T-Mobile acquisition break-up fee. Some of it may be due to having too much focus on the merger you thought for certain was going to pass. VZ blamed pension liabilities on its loss. Windstream changed its pension accounting method.

Not for nothing, but the pension liabilities that VZ and CenturyLink (via Embarq) owe SHOULD have been funded all along -- not in lump sum, quarter killing fashion. I wonder if this is a boat anchor that will sink them?

While AT&T whines at the FCC about a "clear spectrum policy", can I remind that of a few things? One, you have spectrum. Deploy what you have! And try not to mismanage it this time, so your top execs don't have to explain it to Congress again! Two, what spectrum do you want auctioned off? There simply, at this time, isn't any. You and your ilk have bought it all up, horded it, did not deploy it, and screwed the pooch that is mobile data networks in America. Your pals at CTIA didn't plan well for the future either. Did you think that the spectrum was unlimited?

In more AT&T whining, there is this article about the roaming rules and how Sprint is free-loading. My understanding about spectrum was that deployment was required - with an expiration date. What happened to that? Where is the enforcement?

In cool news: Sprint has a $100 7-inch ZTE Android tablet coming out!

Is All Broadband Going Metered?

2011-12-05T20:56:30Z

Many rural fixed wireless ISP's meter their service for network management and costs reasons. The spectrum is finite, which means that wireless ISP subscribers can only get a set amount of bandwidth from that tower. The backhaul from the tower would be the other limiting factor.

In cable systems, the backhaul to the neighborhood is the bottleneck. The next bottleneck is the Internet gateway - how big is the pipe to the Internet that the cable system uses locally (and just how congested is it).

The DSLAM is the bottleneck for most neighborhoods. And the backhaul is the next bottleneck. It's tough to backhaul a 48 port mini-DSLAM with 2xT1, but it is done. Often.

As you have seen on the commercials, VZW and Ma Bell limit your mobile data to 2GB and 5GB. Sprint does too, except on your smartphone, but according to reports today, will be stopping that practice and moving to caps as well. T-Mobile has caps.

Ma Bell and TWC both trialed caps on consumer broadband. Supposedly this bombed but we know that Comcast and others have bandwidth caps for consumer broadband.

Now CenturyLink is capping DSL. CenturyLink is announcing the following Excessive Usage Policy (EUP), which will become effective in February 2012:

CenturyLink's EUP applies to all residential high speed Internet customers and is only enforced in the downstream (from Internet to customer) direction. Video services provided by CenturyLink PRISM™ TV are not subject to the usage limits. The policy has the following usage limits per calendar month:

• Customers purchasing service at speeds of 1.5Mbps and below, have a usage limit of 150 Gigabytes (GB) of download volume per month.
• Customers purchasing service at speeds greater than 1.5Mbps, have a limit of 250GB in download volume per month.

This will be one more pinch point for the consumer. Consumers are streaming music, movies, TV, living on social media, and sharing media with their friends. Stores this holiday season are selling TV's and DVD players that are all Internet-enabled to stream GoogleTV, Netflix, HuluPlus, Pandora, YouTube, CinemaNow and more. (Heck, you probably read my rant about all the buffering I go through with BHN.)

Not only that, so many tele-workers are using consumer broadband from home, working in The Cloud (so to speak).

VoIP, web/video conferencing, Skype, Citrix and virtual desktop, VPN and security wrappers, CRM, backup, virus and software updates - that cap will be hit quick in 2012.

The funny thing is that most of it was poor planning on the network operators part. And because they are a slave to The Street, who still see telcos as rate-of-return dividend checks, the consumers will get pinched. So too will providers, when the consumers find out that the backup or the VDI app or whatever is costing them $10 extra a month, it's out. Watch.

Cell Phones Offer No Privacy

2011-11-30T21:09:46Z

Beyond the fact that radio frequencies can be listened to with Radio Shack parts - I'm not even talking NSA spycraft here - two reports out this week show that malware is present and accounted for on cell phones. Awesome, right? I mean, how long did that even take?

One article details how the IEEE has found that as many as 2000 free smartphone apps carry malware. Who says free is good?

Smartphones are a gateway to corporate information, email, data on applications, passwords and more.This is one more issue that corporate IT has to deal with.

Last week, an Android developer named Trevor Eckhart revealed that Carrier IQ had installed a rootkit on smartphones that logs user keystrokes. "The new video Eckhart released, however, shows that the software also reports the content of text messages and even logs encrypted web searches," reports TJS. There is no way to turn the software off either.

"If this flap doesn't make people wake-up to the need for better privacy laws regarding what information tech companies can collect without user permission, we're not sure what will."

Can I Have Siri Without the iPhone?

2011-11-02T14:00:57Z

In this TMC article, Tammy Wolf writes about a few hot tech trends. This one is surprising.

The iPhone 4S' Siri and IVR technology: One of the most talked-about features on the all-new iPhone 4S, the virtual assistant application Siri makes it possible for smartphone users to perform everyday tasks only using the sound of their voice. Using interactive voice response (IVR) technology, which has long been used by contact centers and enterprises for customer assistance, applications like Siri are designed to remind you about important meetings, help you draft e-mails and place calls, and basically function as your "co-pilot." With similar applications continuing to pop up, the recent emergence of an Android knock-off called "Iris, and Siri's potential functionality on the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch, it's looking like IVR may become a permanent staple in the design of smartphones.

This one also has me asking: How come there aren't services like this for business owners based on IVR technology?

This type of technology makes directory assistance obsolete -- or allows for a company to provide awesome DA/411 service.

I remeber when Atlantic.Net was launching VoIP. Marty talked about having DA/411 be taken over by his support staff who could use Google and the web to answer customer questions. Also, he could sell preferred listings. "Oh! You need a florist? Well Brenda's Florist is the preferred florist."

innovation is mainly about new ways to skin a cat.

EarthLink Buys Some Synergy

2011-11-01T05:06:20Z

EarthLink is buying two divisions from Synergy Global Solutions: its IT Solution Center, a 24-7 help desk and network operations center, and its cloud-hosted application business, according to Buffalo News.

EarthLink gets relationships with about 120 VAR's that laready sell the Solution Center and hosted application services. That's probably as valuable as the NOC itself.

"In addition to the Solution Center, EarthLink is acquiring Synergy's cloud-based application service which provides end-to-end hosted IT capabilities for the environmental services vertical market. This service already utilizes the EarthLink Cloud framework for hosting its cloud-based application service and features SuccessWare21® software." [marketwatch]

The fastest path to Cloud and Managed Services is via acquisitions, so expect more of them. If the company has a NOC or data center, contracted customers, and a channel (VARs or Agents selling services), it means gold.

CLEC, ILEC and some cable companies are realizing that just selling pipe isn't going to be enough. Managed services and Applications - OSI Layer 7 - si where the money will be in the future.

As an Agent, I'd start brushing up on how to sell managed services.

How Do You Make it Rain in the Cloud?

2011-10-10T16:12:31Z

Here at Microcorp's One-on-One event, I moderated a panel this morning about various cloud services with Level3 (CDN), Cbeyond (Virtual Servers), Intercall (Microsoft 365/Linc), EarthLink (Security), and PAETEC (Visual Messaging). It's an eclectic mix, but that should tell you that there are many ways to leverage this thing called CLOUD to make money.

The Cloud is really a value for IT services. It's about leveraging the technology and the technical skill set of another company in order to let the business focus on their own finctionality, instead of the tech that might help the business operate.

The move to the Cloud by carriers is due to the lack of margin growth in the primary business of access. It's moving up the OSI stack from Layer 1 (wireless, copper, fiber) to Layer 3 (Internet) to Layer 7 (Apps). As we have learned with the iPhone, people use apps. Apps drive traffic. So if you go after the apps and move them into a data center (into the Cloud!), then you make it possible for the business to have access to that data 24/7 from any where with many devices - laptops, smartphones, etc. That's the trend in the marketplace.

Just to simplify Cloud for you: email, anti-virus, websites (hosting), Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, Google Apps, Gmail, Hosted PBX, conferencing (GoToMeeting, Webex), Skype - are all examples of cloud applications.

The three things driving the cloud trend: ubiquious broadband, the economy, and the fast paced technology space. The economy means that companies have to do more with less (less people and less money). It means that there is cost cutting. Broadband is available in most places - DSL, cable modem, 3G, 4G, WiMax, LTE, satellite, wi-fi. This means you can get access to your data and apps (Gmail, Google Apps, Dropbox, whatever) from any where. Finally, the technology is changing so fast that by the time you install it, the tech is probably almost obsolete. Cloud apps means that you lessen CAPEX and upgrades (like with Microsoft software) are taken care of my the service provider.

There's revenue here. Either you be the one to have the conversation with your customers or someone else will. And they will get those commodity services like broadband, T1 and PRI after they get the cloud services.

The Latest in VoIP Updates

2011-09-19T22:00:37Z

There is just so many press releases. I'd say news but much of it is not new (that is to say innovative) or really news worthy other than as tidbits of info to keep up on the sector.

Metaswitch got into the SBC market, because their clients didn't want to buy the market leader, Acme Packet. Level3 jumped into the SBC market with a new service: Managed SBC.

Skype bought Groupme for a rumored $80M. Groupme was a contestant at the second Startup Camp, that also had the makers of the Android desktop phone, Glass.

Interesting thought: Inter-op is about user experience, so is device choice. Think about deployment from the user's experience.

Telesphere partnered with CosmoCom to add cloud-based contact center solutions. That's one more customer that won't be using BroadCloud. Oops! BSFT bought web conferencing company, iLinc, for just $2.4M. The hope is that clients will use BroadCloud instead of third party companies (like Citrix, MegaMeeting or CosmoCom) to fill in the UC components needed for the complete UC experience.

Sangoma acquired all the key assets of Vegastream.

InterCall announced that it will extend its Smoothstone VoiceMaxx IP-PBX services with the addition of VoiceMaxx CE, a suite of service packages based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution. Both Smoothstone and Intercall are owned by West Corp.

Here's something startling: a company debuted at ITEXPO with "a 100 percent turnkey white label product that will not only include provisioning, support, billing and telco services, but will also incorporate all of RealLinx products (VoiceLinx, SecurityLinx and BroadbandLinx)."

RingCentral got $10M more in funding. Aren't they self-sufficient yet?

8×8 recently acquired cloud-based call center provider Contactual Hosting.

"NetSapiens' SNAPsolution is utilized by One Source Networks to power a hybrid of cloud-based and premise-based solutions, integrating all of the necessary service delivery components critical to the OSN VoIP infrastructure, such as accounting, provisioning, and call switching to enable OSN's end-user applications such as unified communications, virtual PBX, conferencing, and enhanced call center solutions."

"Virtual PBX Complete with VoIP Anywhere allows customers to use their smart phones and computers as VoIP handsets with complete business phone system capabilities."

CounterPath added SMS, chat and presence to its Bria mobile app. Counterpath also launched the Client Configuration Server (CCS), a carrier grade server platform specifically designed to allow enterprises and service providers the ability to efficiently and consistently deploy, configure, update and upgrade softphone and UC Client end-points.

Zendesk adds some VoIP functionality via Twilio. Zendesk Voice is a cloud-based call center that integrates with the startup's popular help-desk platform.

Vocal IP Networx now offers a unified communications (UC) platform, dubbed Vocal UC, utilizing Microsoft Lync software.

Lessons in the Cloud

2011-09-12T22:02:57Z

One of the great lessons in the Cloud is how do you sell it?It all comes down to the messaging (marketing or story you are telling) and the sales approach (or technique).

Sitting with Jeff Uphues of Cbeyond Cloud today at ITEXPO, we spoke about the lessons that Cbeyond has learned about selling cloud services.

Cbeyond has 800 direct sales and about 2000 channel partners, who are taking their Cloud Services to the marketplace – not just in their 16 markets but nationwide. (Cloud can go anywhere there’s decent Internet access.)

Zane Long is the Channel Head at Cbeyond who has been responsible for making it easier for channel partners to do business with Cbeyond. Making things simpler and easier is the key to Cbeyond Success. By assisting channel partners with collateral, messaging, and sales tactics, Cbeyond has enabled their channel to grow ARPU. (About $200 of ARPU for the cloud customers above the telecom spend.)

As Cbeyond makes the transition from CLEC to Cloud Provider, the barrier to sales has been the messaging. It’s very challenging to talk to a business owner about PaaS or Iaas or bytes, RAM, GB, and CPU cycles. Let’s face it: who understands that? More important: Does the buyer care? No. What do Business Owners care about? Her business, profit, assets, customers and employees. The buyer does not care about IT or technology. The buyer just wants the technology to its job. (Frequently that’s why businesses hire VAR’s or MSP’s).

The other key for Cbeyond is disrupting the current model. So while they sell three figures of PBX units per month, the new pricing scheme will create some friction in the marketplace as PBX sales migrate from per seat to company size pricing.

Keep an eye on Cbeyond as they move further into cloud and the CLEC (Access) piece becomes less the focus.