VP of sales & marketing for IP-Telephony vendor Swyx Communications, Ralf Ebbinghaus, offers advice to resellers who would like to reap the dividends from Voice over IP, through the sale of IP or soft PBXs as a replacement for traditional voice telecommunications equipment.

The whole area of Voice over IP or IP-Telephony has enjoyed incredible media hype over the last few years and it is only now that the technology is beginning to live up to industry expectations. A recent comment from an Analysys spokesperson reinforces the commercial potential "By 2003, over 25% of international call minutes are forecast to be carried over IP-Networks, by which time the IP telephony market will be worth at least $7billion."

However, like many new developments, it takes a little more than statistics for the consumer to take the risk with something that they either do not understand or can not quantify. Of course, evangelising the benefits of IP telephony should fall at the feet of the vendors, but the Channels need help in identifying how they can best deliver Voice over IP as goods and services to the customer. There are many questions that are being posed by voice and data resellers……What is IP Telephony? Do I have enough experience in this area? What type of customer is it suitable for? What are the convincing sales arguments? How do I counter negative publicity? and so on.

If we start with the most fundamental stumbling block. What exactly is the sales proposition relating to IP Telephony? In this case, we are not looking at the opportunities of resellling low telephone charges such as the likes of CallServe, but are concentrating on the hardware and software that enables companies (large and small) to use their existing PC network for both data and voice integration. This means that organisations can take advantage of running their voice traffic over the conventional LAN/WAN, rather than through the traditional key system PABX. We will return to the individual benefits later, but the crux of the sale comprises; central communications software that can be installed on Windows 2000 central server, hardware for the communications gateway (based on ISDN) and software for the client PCs distributed across the network. In addition, IP telephones can replace conventional handsets, although a PC could be used on its own, as long as it has microphone, soundcard etc.

As you can see, this territory will already be familiar with resellers from a networking background - and we believe that dealers from this environment can effectively 'side-step' into the telecommunications arena, with little adjustments in terms of training.
Likewise, traditional telecomms resellers should see voice over IP as an opportunity to enter what will become the dominant medium for voice in the future.

Having established the types of resellers that are capable of handling these types of installations, you then have to consider who are the most appropriate companies to target. The scope and implications of the technology are so diverse, that streamlining a core customer list can be awkward.

If we return to the key benefits of IP telephony, it helps to build up a picture of a typical customer. In Swyx's case, we are concentrating primarily on the SME market. This is for two reasons. The first is that there is little competition here, with the likes of Cisco, 3Com et al being out of the reach of the financial budgets of a typical sub 200 staff company. The second reason is the sheer scale of the opportunity that this represents - with over 95% of UK businesses falling into this category.

The quota of companies that would benefit from an IP PBX is obviously still huge, so resellers need to anticipate the future needs of current and future customers. So who would represent the archetypal customer? The following characteristics would indicate that a company could be a likely target. The most obvious would be a start-up company that does not already have a traditional PBX system, so can start from scratch with a converged voice and data network. However, the majority of potential customers will already have a traditional PBX installed, so you will need to identify other factors that make them more receptive to considering an IP PBX.

In order to establish the candidates, you need to analyse the likely business scenarios and the respective business benefits that will result. Here are just a few situations that would make a company more conducive:-

Upgrading current phone system

Interested in Unified Messaging

Interested in CTI Capability

Commitment to CRM

Linking Remote or mobile Staff

Expanding Number of Telephone Lines

Economising on IT & telecommunications costs (inc. costs of support)

VPN Installed

If we quickly look at the above in turn, you will see how an IP PBX can help a customer achieve these goals. A company which is looking to upgrade or overhaul their existing telephone system is a prime candidate. With an IP PBX you can offer a more competitive package with a typical 'all-in' price per port of less than £100. Although they may be reluctant to change to an IP based system, you can offer them a migration path that can run the two systems in tandem in the first instance. Once the hybrid solution has proved itself, (often run as a pilot within a selected part of the organisation), the company can dispose of its PBX altogether. There are many options that an IP PBX offers, over and above the humble PBX. Unified messaging, whereby all communications is fed into a single system is also possible using an IP PBX. Therefore all messages, regardless of the source can be accessed from a single program. For instance phone messages left on mobile phones can be re-directed to a user's e-mail system and can even been accessed as a WAV file! Resellers can also focus on companies looking for CTI capability. An IP PBX can provide IVR (interactive voice response), ACD (automatic call distribution) etc, yet is a far more economical route, than looking to install a telecommunications based system that not only costs more, but presents double the running costs for an average user.

An IP PBX will also be attractive to customers investing in CRM, as the choice of communications (e.g. telephone, mobile, e-mail, fax etc.) available, means that response times should rise. Companies can even use an IP PBX to manage queries from their Internet site, re-directing the message to an available and relevant member of staff.

The ability to support remote or mobile staff is another avenue for resellers to promote the benefits of an IP PBX. Because inbound and outbound calls are routed through the central network, you can provide remote workers with exactly the same benefits of office based staff. The potential for this is enormous, particularly within the Contact or Call Centre market, where rising overheads and demands for more flexible working has led to an increase into nomadic or remotely based employees.

A further clue that will narrow down the potential customer base is the presence or plans for a VPN. These companies are already making use of private networks, so will see the cost benefits of IP telephony most acutely, due to the fact that they are making a larger number of 'e-calls'.

Assuming that Voice over IP is simple to install, then what role can the reseller play?
The advantage of certain IP PBXs is the fact that they are non-proprietary. This means that customised integration can play a large part in the overall sale. For instance Swyx's software has its own 'skin' technology that enables the reseller to re-brand the product and configure call management according to an individual company's needs. What's more, resellers also have the opportunity to sell a plethora of accessories for voice over IP such as IP phones, headsets and handsets.

If Voice over IP is something you are currently mulling over - then don't. The objectives of this technology are clear. The Quality of Service issues are continually improved and as broadband Internet becomes a reality, it will soon be conceivable that all businesses will cross over to IP based communications. However the window of opportunity is limited. By enlisting the early adopters for this technology, you will be in an advantageous position to capitalise on the surge in demand for Voice over IP that is expected over the next 12 months.

Top 10 Arguments for Buying an IP PBX

- Lower cost per port
- Easy and inexpensive to upgrade
- Quality of Service is now acceptable
- Less hardware required
- More features such as CTI, IVR
- Reduced maintenance & support costs
- Less user training required
- Greater Productivity
- Improved CRM
- Simplicity - A single network for both voice & data

Case Study

Citec AG is an example of a SME company founded last year who decided to go for a Voice over IP network in favour of classical telephone lines. The company was looking for CTI functionality and found that to upgrade their current Lucent it would cost more than £15,000 to upgrade. After installing the Swyx solution, Thomas Beisler, Head of the IT, commented, "In contrast to normal telephone lines, with Voice over IP, it is simple and cheaper to activate new extensions as we grow." The company estimates that the Swyx solution has cost them a fifth of what they would usually pay for the level of services that they are benefiting from. The company now runs all calls through their PCs.

About Swyx Communications AG
Established in 1999 Swyx is headquartered in Dortmund, Germany. The company's stated goal is to complement or completely replace traditional PBXs with a software based IP telephony solution. Swyx's end-to-end telephony solution SwyxWare consists of four components: SwyxServer, SwyxGate, SwyxIt! and SwyxPhone. SwyxWare offers all features - such as voice mail, Least Cost Routing and extensive journal functions - previously available only through large and expensive PBXs. Additional features such as Call Routing Manager, personalised user interface (skin) and CTI go far beyond the call handling capabilities of traditional PBXs. Swyx products are marketed solely through a network of authorised dealers. The Swyx partnership concept currently embraces 120 companies at home and abroad.

Swyx launched its SwyxWare range of products into the UK at the end of June, and is currently looking for resellers to take their product to market.