I have seen so many VoIP Providers, I can't keep track. But that also means that the VoIP providers are not doing a very good job of Messaging, Positioning and Differentiating their offerings.
The only VoIP provider I know that has married Hosted Exchange with Broadsoft is Simple Signal. It makes sense to me because what is UM (unified messaging) but voicemail to email - everything in one box.
Google Voice does it as well. One inbox for Gmail and Google Voice. And GV has some nice features like a transcript of your voicemail; recording calls; and more.
Recently, I read that a company had instituted a who-is-calling-please response into every call before th ephone rings. I love this! No more dumb dialers. No more UNKNOWN or OUT OF AREA on the Caller ID.
Quick rant: I pay Verizon $22.35 for Worksmart which includes Caller ID, but most of the time it is Unknown. WTH? How does it not even known when AT&T calls me? Or almost any other CLEC? Lazy. That's why you are losing customers.
Presence (not to be confused with tele-presence) was supposed to integrate IM/chat, email, mobile and desktop phone. I haven't seen much of that in real world implementation. (I understand why, but I'm just pointing it out). Skype does a decent job of video, voice or chat - plus recording, but it isn't a phone line replacement service.
Broadsoft has allowed many ITSP's to hook to SalesForce.com. Why not offer a hosted CRM software that is married to your PBX and email offering? VoIP is just one application.
- HD Voice
- conference-on-demand (web and video)
- call blocking
- Portal as easy as AT&T CallVantage
- call logs that can match up caller ID
- simultaneous ring
- find-me-follow-me
- 3-way calling
- caller ID
- voicemail
- vm-to-email
- call forwarding
- Do Not Disturb
- what you are doing
- who has the best message
- are you a cutting edge ITSP
M5 announced that the marriage of the M5 Genband-based Hosted PBX with SalesForce.com and Call Metrics has been a hit.
There are a lot of VoIP providers out there right now. I can see what it would be hard for people to find the right solution. It really comes down to your businesses needs, and picking a provider with a great reputation.
Our solution, FreedomIQ, is seeing great growth and we're happy to be a part of this hot industry.
I would urge businesses seeking VoIP not to select a provider on price alone. The last thing you want is a cheap phone service representing your business.
John, I didn't say anything about price. I'm looking for Service Providers who have a bundle of services that makes it easy for a small business or specific vertical to take advantage of all the technology out there - IM, email, PBX, presence, conferencing, collaboration, etc.
The piecemeal deal of this, that, and the other software or online app is kind of crazy. Kind of like it took Trillian to offer a cross-platform IM client. One stop shop. One throat to choke. It isn't about the price -- it's about the ease of use, the value, the efficiency, the productivity gain.
I agree wholeheartedly, but the issue we see, and the reason our customer acquisition is so high, is many business owners choose to shop on price, i.e. they want the cheapest provider. But the thing is, once they find out that the provider is not offering a quality service they are forced to switch providers, and this is not always an easy task.
You are right though. With all the streams of communications available it is important the the business chose a provider that offers a service which can interact with all the technologies vital to the businesses communications.
FYI, LightEdge Solutions provides BroadSoft with integrated hosted Exchange and OCS.
http://www.lightedge.com/