3 Reasons Most VoIP Providers Will Fail

Peter : On Rad's Radar?
Peter
| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

3 Reasons Most VoIP Providers Will Fail

There are about 2000 Hosted VoIP providers in the US (if you include ILECs, CLECs, RLECs and cablecos). They can't all win in the business market for at least 3 reasons.

I talk about Integration all of the time. Why? No one wants apps that don't stand alone. Just look at an app on your smartphone like Uber. It integrates with the GPS, the phone, maps and more. Your app -- YES, VoIP is just another app for business! -- must integrate into the Inbox. No one wants to check 5 or 6 inboxes - or log into portals all day. It is a time waster.

Powered by a strong base of Skype and Office365 users, Microsoft is everywhere! And if you are not integrating with Skype or O365, then what are you thinking? Even if it is just click-to-call or unified messaging. And if you aren't with M$, then be with Google for Work.

Did you miss the announcement that Amazon has voice? Yeah, the folks at AWS realized that voice was just an app before you did, so they launched the Alexa Voice Service. "Amazon is investing up to $100 million to support developers, manufacturers, and start-ups of all sizes who are creating unique and innovative experiences designed around the human voice," says the webpage.

How about how companies are going to add voice and video to almost everything because WebRTC is ready for market?

You don't offer an SMS-enabled number! Even Frontier does that. Now we have services like Thomas Howe's KISST that is bringing intelligence to text for businesses. The peops don't want to use voice. They want to text your business customers - either help them with that or close shop.

Many small businesses like Buddy Brew and Black and Denim in Tampa have retail operations powered by iPads. How do you services fit into that culture, ecosystem?

So Integration, SMS and the power (and money) of Amazon are the top 3 threats to your business right now. It really boils down to two things: your sales and innovation - which really boils down to sales. You think you are selling Voice, replacement of the 3 P's - POTS, PRI and PBX - but you are not. You are selling a communications platform to power a small business to communicate with its customers and employees.


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