UC vendors targeting SMB space for growth

Unified communications isn't just for the major leagues anymore. Big players, such Mitel Networks, Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks offer scaled-down, tailor-made versions of their UC solutions in a move to capture a share of the untapped SMB market Bell Canada is doing its part too, to ensure that small offices, home offices (SOHOs) aren't left behind. Lesser-known Objectworld Communications Corp., an Ottawa-based UC provider, announced last week a new partnership with Grandstream Networks Inc. that will offer the small business community a next-generation unified voice and video communications system for as little as $250-$300 per user. While Objectworld and Mitel's (with solutions ranging from $200 to $1,000 per user) low-cost offerings may appeal to SMBs they could still be too complex for the majority of small businesses and SOHOs, according to Bell. "In the surveys we've conducted, over 90% of SMBs don't have IT staff," said Vera Reifenstein, Bell's director of voice services SMB, during a session at the IT360 Conference and Expo last week in Toronto. "They love the new technology, but they want something simple." "A lot of our customers were really concerned about full VoIP. Small businesses can't afford to have their phones go down. It really is an essential service. There's a lot of businesses that don't want to let go of the old world from a technology perspective, because it works," Reifenstein added. Yet according to a 2007 study conducted by Gartner Dataquest, 47% of SMBs viewed IP telephony as a means to improve employee efficiency and productivity. Nearly 50% said they were considering these applications to reduce long distance charges, while 29% believe such a change would offer them a competitive advantage. Bell chose a different path, a middle ground, for its SMB/SOHO offering - a PBX solution that incorporates aspects of IP. "We've come up with a solution for our 500,000 or so mass market customers that actually leverages the benefits of both the new and old worlds of technology," Reifenstein told Network Letter in a follow-up interview. "Ultimately, we're striving to be our customers' CIO," she added. Bell's Business IP Voice Wireline (BIPV) has had three launches over the past two years. The service offers a full line of telephony features, including voicemail to email, unlimited local calls, 300 minutes of North American long distance and one secondary phone number - enabling customers in Montreal and Toronto, for example, to contact subscribers without incurring long distance charges. "BIPV leverages the local loop. It's not over the top like a Vonage service that goes over your Internet service. It actually bridges the local access line, but loops into the Internet cloud to give our customers some of the advanced IP services," explained Reifenstein. Features such as Find Me Follow Me and conference calling can be controlled online, or on the handset. The solution costs just under $50 a month. Reifenstein said that thousands of Bell's customers have moved to this enhanced service, which is geared to its 15,000 SMB and SOHO subscribers. She expects more will follow as the service incorporates even greater UC functionality. "We'll be adding a soft-client sometime in the near future, which will allow clients to integrate desktop capabilities with the service. I don't have an exact date yet, but it is coming soon." "We did a sample of the SMBs using this service and it really is the hair salons and butcher shops, the real bread-and-butter of the SMB market," she added. But Bell has also developed a solution for the knowledge-based SOHO. Bell's hosted Windows SharePoint Services, with packages starting at $40 per month, offers SOHOs and SMBs more collaboration services, such as shared calendars and documents sharing between partners. "You can actually buy SharePoint as a subscriber and get something very similar to the collaboration services that a large company has," Reifenstein boasted. With no required investment in hardware, and short-term subscription terms available, SOHOs aren't forced to make large investments in the service.

UC vendors targeting SMB space for growth

News | 04/18/2008 4:04 pm EDT

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