Hosted Solutions - the Third Way !

In recent years a third alternative has emerged, Hosted Solutions - or "Software as a Service". Why does this apply to Telecoms? Because nowadays you can buy Telephone System functionality without having to buy a Phone System.

How does it work? All the clever stuff is done by the Service Provider, at their end, all the customer does is rent the services they need, and, usually, manage them via a Web Browser.

So why is it good, and who is it good for? Well, its good for:

1. Companies with low IT skills
2. Companies who dont know exactly what or how many telecoms services they need
3. Companies who dont want to tie up capital in a Phone System
4. Companies who are wary of buying technology that will be outdated as soon as they buy it - rented Services tend to add features pretty rapidly
5. Companies that have several offices in various locations, or staff working from home
6. Compaines that need "resilience" ie. a system that can route calls to an alternative destination if the preferred destination is not reachable

Sounds perfect? Well, there are also downsides:

1. Cost - on a call for call basis the cost will be higher over the longer term, although there are increasingly competitive deals emerging all the time
2. Control - you are limited to the features and capabilities of the Hosted Phone system, and if you need something special or unusual it will either not be possible, or, if it is, will tend to be very expensive to customise
3. Data security - if you, for example, record your calls, you dont have control of the archive or its security

You also need to ensure the Hosted Phone System Solution has "diverse routing" capability ie. if it is VoIP based they can send calls to analogue handsets in your offices if the IP trunks fail (and they will!). IP trunks are improving in reliability all the time but dont forget you are getting "cheap" calls at the expense of not "owning" the connection from end to end for the duration of the call, you are sharing it ....

Clever stuff though, and its what I use for my businesses ....

To VoIP or not to VoIP? The case for VoIP.

VoIP is great for sending calls long distances at minimal cost. If you've tried it to call Aunty Mabel in Australia you will know Skype works - and if you have used it you will be aware of the quality of call you can achieve most of the time.

So if you need to call colleagues long distance, talk to overseas suppliers, make internal calls to staff working from home or even if you run a cheap long distance call shop then Voice over Internet Protocol is the technology of choice for you.

However VoIP can also be used for making internal calls between sites or even to remote parts of your offices that dont have telecoms cabling, and more and more phone systems are coming onto the market that use it.

Plus you can also use VoIP for moving external calls around if call quality isn't vital to you - if you have ever called a customer support operation that has foreign staff and poor call quality you will know what I'm talking about. In the above case, you need to ask if the companys image suffers if their customers experience poor call quality.

You can of course use VoIP to build top quality call handling systems - but you need a top quality data network to move calls over. The crux of the matter is the network needs to be prioritised for voice packets. This is because, simply put, VoIP works by breaking the conversation into little pieces and then sending them across a data link. If you think about it sending pieces of data across a link, if a piece gets lost the far end requests it gets sent again, but if a piece of a voice call gets lost, then there is no point in asking for it to be re-sent!

The technologies required to do this are called Voice Optimisation and to get good call quality every link along which you send calls requires to be Voice Optimised - using "Quality of Service" (also called "Class of Service") and "Packet Prioritisation".

On a network you have direct control over (normally the Local Area Network or LAN) you can ensure Voice Optimisation, but on links or "Circuits" between sites or to the Internet you have to specify they are to be used for VoIP to the Service Providers you are renting them from eg. BT, Virgin, Cable & Wireless. You really need to read the small print carefully and match the quality of the Circuit to the requirements of the VoIP phone system you are using.

This is, of course, why Telecoms Resellers like to order your Circuits for you - plus many get commission from the Service Providers, but that is another subject for the blog, the many ways Telecoms Resellers make money out of you...

The key question you need to figure out the answer to is - what benefits will you get from using VoIP and do the benefits justify the costs? Obviously this answer varies from company to company so there is no "right" answer, but it is the business process you need to go through to arrive at a decision.

To VoIP or not to VoIP? The case Against VoIP.

Why cant I use Skype for my business phone calls? Its free......a common question asked of Telecoms Resellers.

The answer is you can, its called Voice over Internet Protocol - there are several types of VoIP, commonly nowadays there is SIP, H.3223, Cisco Skinny etc. but they are all types of VoIP. VoIP is nowadays commonly touted as the technology of the future in telecoms. Every manufacturer, every reseller will be telling you their product is better at VoIP than all the others, all the Resellers will be telling you the benefits of IP trunks rather than traditional Analogue or ISDN connections - because this is a technology that is coming of age.

However, for good quality Business Telephone calls, there are serious issues with Voice over Internet Protocol to consider.

The main issue is continuity. VoIP is usually delivered into a business or a home via a Broadband ADSL connection. ADSL/Broadband is a shared connection, you share it with other users, thats why it is cheap! This is called "Contention". The more users you share the connection with the higher the contention ratio, eg. 20:1 is 20 users sharing one connection, 50:1 is 50 users sharing the connection. This is commonly called packet switched technology, meaning the voice calls are broken into packets, like data, and transmitted. Whereas with ISDN or Analogue lines you have a dedicated connection with dedicated bandwidth, which you "own" for the duration of the call. Nobody else shares that circuit while you are using it - this is called Circuit Switched technology.

Have you noticed how your home Broadband/ADSL works well during the day until 4pm? And it is slower at weekends? This is because when the kids get home from school they download stuff and watch stuff online, sharing the bandwidth of your connection. Less information can get through, slowing your connection.

The same is true of all Broadband connections, including Business ADSL.

For data this is irritating but not the end of the world, but if you are using the connection to talk the conversation quality is rubbish or even the connection drops. Not good if you are trying to project a quality business image to potential customers or suppliers!

I have tried many different types of ADSL from many providers, and currently, no matter what they promise, this is still the case.

The next issue with VoIP is cost. If you use home grade ADSL it is cheap, true, but you still need to rent an analogue line to deliver it on, as well as the ADSL cost, so its not as cheap as you think. If you address the quality issues by renting Business Grade ADSL, it is much more costly. To guarantee quality calls via ADSL, you really need to rent Leased Line circuits - which really are costly!

The third issue is downtime. Virtually all ADSL connections in the UK are delivered via Copper Wire connections that are ultimately provided by BT. BT will only contract to address a line fault within 2 days - so if the line is faulty your business calls may be lost for 2 whole days!

So why on earth would you use Voice over Internet Protocol for business calls?

UK Telecoms Industry and Resellers - Selecting a good one!

Ok, so this is where you learn to swim with sharks ........ :-)

First Lesson

There's probably half a dozen Major Manufacturers of Telecoms Systems selling into the UK and maybe 30 Minor Manufacturers. For very large Customers some Manufacturers have Direct Sales operations, but nearly all UK Businesses have to buy via a Reseller.

Each Manufacturer has their own Resellers - usually small Regional Companies that sell the Manufacturers products and support the local Customers. Some Resellers have their own engineering teams, sometimes they employ self employed Telecoms Engineers, sometimes they Resell the Manufacturers own Engineering services.

You will pay a minimum of £250 per day for a capable Telecoms Engineer, and this goes up depending what Systems they are working on and what skills they have up to perhaps £1000 per day for a top notch Telecoms Software Developer.

Whats the difference? Engineers install and configure Telecoms Systems, Developers also build software to bridge between your own in-house Customer Relationship Management or other software and your new Telecoms System.

How do you select a Good Reseller? Talk to other businesses in your area first, find out who they use and would recommend. Build a short list this way, then contact the Resellers directly and talk to them.

Some key questions to ask:

Firstly do they have their own engineers, or do they hire them in? How many engineers do they directly employ?

Why? Engineers are in demand and under time pressure. If you are lucky enough to find an engineer who listens to you, does a good job and leaves you happy with your new system, make sure you get his name and contact details! If he works for a local Reseller you have a better chance of getting him back next time you need him, whereas if they work for a Telecoms Manufacturer the chances of getting the same engineer twice are minimal.

Secondly do they sell several different Telecoms Systems? How long have they sold that particular Brand?

Why? Well, good or bad points here. Good - If they sell several Telecoms Systems they can point you towards the most suitable solution for your needs - but, as an ex Telecoms Sales person believe me, usually they will sell you what they think you will buy at the best profit margin for them! Bad - If their Engineers have to work with several Telecoms Systems they are unlikely to know them in as much depth as if they only sell one. Good - If they only sell one Brand and have sold it for several years they should know the product well.

Thirdly how many systems of the type they recommend have they installed, and how many do they still maintain?

This is a good indicator of how successful they are.

Check their Websites out - of course a Website can make a small company look big, but generally if the website is competent its a good sign.

More to come later...

A Powerful Telecoms and Data solution for Technically Able Small Business

For more technically capable Small Businesses wanting to buy and install their own systems there are several one box solutions on the market that offer Telecoms and Data capabilities.

Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and its fair to say I dont yet know of one which meets the complete needs of the purchaser. They all have limitations and some have serious flaws - for example IP Office products can be unstable and unreliable and Xcelerator has poor quality Analogue Trunks.

The trouble is that Telecoms Resellers know how best to deal with the limitations and weaknesses of the specific systems they work with, and how to overcome them whereas an end customer buying and setting up their own system only discovers the limitations once they have bought it.

I am looking at a fairly new entry to the marketplace currently and, if it is as good as it appears initially, then I'll update this blog to recommend it later. Currently all I can say is if you buy a system for a bargain price expect it to have limitations and bottom end capabilities. Buyer beware as they say....