In 2003, Broadsoft was selling its softswitch to anyone who would buy it. Today, they are trying to sell direct. All in all, it is technology that is still struggling to find its voice.

Today, VeloCloud is selling its SD-WAN software to anyone who will buy it. They are having a problem selling it direct. Correction: they took the BSFT route of selling only through providers.

I have called UC a garbage can term often. Everyone has a definition for it. There is little agreement on that definition. It has a variety of other names: Hosted VoIP, Hosted PBX, UC&C, UCaaS, etc. It consists of many different components / features: voice, video, conferencing, collaboration, UM, etc.

SD-WAN is following suit. Load-balancing, packet shaping, circuit bonding, et al are all being re-framed as SD-WAN. It is becoming a garbage can term for a white box with a variety of functions.

As a buzzword takes off, every marketer wants to jump on-board. However, all it does is make the buzzword meaningless to the buyers. And we have to ask: Are there in fact buyers? If you had a hard time selling your box with Function A, what makes you think adding Function B and the hastag #sdwan was going to make it more appealing?

One thing to think about is product-market fit. The other is a clear value state to the defined target market. If you say 1-500 employees or 1-1000, you have no clear product-market fit. I have no idea what you told your investors about the market but it is likely a lot smaller than you think. It also will be segmented like crazy.

Some businesses will make great use of UCaaS or SD-WAN, others not so much. The sooner you identify who benefits most, the easier it will be to sell. Who benefits the most and why.

Note: If you are selling through an indirect sales channel AND you do not have a rock solid USP and target market, THAT is why it isn't selling (not because of the channel).

VeloCloud responded to this HERE.