Is Telephony Dying? Depends on How You Look at It (Pt 2)

The reasons behind the drop in the telephony market are made clear in a statement tucked away in Infonetics’ report, which says:

“In the first quarter of 2013, enterprise PBX spending dropped to its lowest point since mid-2009. The big squeeze is coming from hyper-competitive price pressure all over, with average revenue per line down across the board. But conservative spending by businesses is exacerbating the problem in some regions, while demand is actually flat-to-up in North America and Asia, reflecting uneven economic recoveries.”

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Is Telephony Dying? Depends on How You Look at It (Pt 1)

We hear it all the time- telephony is dead or, at the least, dying. Not long for the world. On its way out. It’s a story that people like to tell, but like most stories there isn’t much truth to it, and the truth that lies in this statement has been heavily distorted, misrepresented, and viewed through the wrong lens.

The most recent news of telephony’s untimely demise comes from a report released by Infonetics, which found that the telephony market took a skydive in the first quarter of 2013. But is that what really happened, or are there more factors at play here than Infonetics took into account? Could the telephony market actually be growing at a rapid rate, even if this one set of data makes it look like it’s plummeting into obscurity?

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Are Patent Wars Impacting the IP Telephony Market?

Apple and Samsung have been locked in legal battles for years, largely over patents related to smartphones. To perhaps oversimplify the matter Apple has been arguing that Samsung has wholesale ripped off the iPhone’s design from day one, and Samsung is countersuing on points of design minutiae that the Korean company argues Apple has stolen. While it seems obvious at first that Apple has the upper hand here, that just about every smartphone is guilty of ripping off the iPhone, when it comes down to it patent law is extremely granular and both sides have support and detraction from their legal claims.

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IP Telephony Market Flooding and Cutting the Wheat from the Chafe (Pt 3)

Can you guarantee 100% uptime for my VoIP system?

Finding companies with the right breadth and depth of experience is an important step in making sure you end up hiring the right hosted PBX provider, and if you choose a company with an impressive and relevant pedigree you’re going to avoid most of the pitfalls the emerging IP telephony market is going to throw your way. But if you want to make sure you end up with a truly great hosted PBX provider then you’re going to need to dig a little deeper and start asking some questions, working out a total evaluation letting you know whether or not they’re the real deal.

How Much Access is Enough Access?

First, you want to make sure they offer the provider can offer you nationwide (and international) access. Even with great hosted PBX providers you might run into a case where they don’t offer coverage for some very remote areas, but overall you want to make sure your new provider is going to offer coverage for major metropolitan areas and anywhere you know your organization is going to need to have phone numbers in.

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IP Telephony Market Flooding and Cutting the Wheat from the Chafe (Pt 2)

At a very basic level the age of a hosted PBX provider gives you some sort of hint of their quality. Sure, there are some startups that come out of nowhere and truly revolutionize the field with some radical advance of telephony technology, but most of the months-old companies we’re going to see launch in the world of IP telephony aren’t in the market to innovate- they’re going to launch quick to cash in before quickly burning out, and that’s not the sort of provider you really need on your side keeping your phone lines open. VoIP experience comes with time of doing business and it certainly counts.

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IP Telephony Market Flooding and Cutting the Wheat from the Chafe (Pt 1)

We’ve said it before, but it needs to be emphasized- the hosted PBX provider you sign up with will determine how positively you view the technology and your switch to IP telephony. Being picky about who you choose to work with is increasingly important as the hosted PBX market grows. Not only will more organizations find themselves joining the IP telephony movement over the next couple of years, but we’re also going to see a whole lot of new hosted PBX providers jumping into the market in order to meet this demand and, unfortunately, to try and make some quick cash on what’s shaping up to be a truly hot commodity.

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