Creating new lines of business to replace lost legacy revenues is a key problem for all communications service providers. The good news is that the small and medium business market seems to welcome “one stop shop” suppliers rather than doing all the extra work a “best of breed” approach requires.
That has clear implications for providers of communication services to SMBs. “If you can get the offer right, you’ll win business,” said John Macario, Edgewater Networks VP.
That likely means bundling the most-wanted features, with simple and fair pricing, and being a service provider the customer trusts to provide support.
You might argue those are no-brainer issues, but the tough adoption curve over the past 15 years or so suggests suppliers haven’t gotten everything right, so far.
And, to be fair, it isn’t clear the value proposition has been so clear, either.
The key point is that the market opportunities in the SMB IP communications business are not limited to unified communications or IP voice.
Even in the most-difficult scenarios--small organizations with four or fewer employees--no less than 20 percent of respondents are willing to purchase additional managed services from their “telecom” provider.
In the more-than-20 employee market segments 40 percent to 47 percent of respondents are willing to buy additional managed services from their telecom providers.
And there is strong preference in all segments to buy from a single vendor, whenever possible, instead of using a “best in breed” approach.
That means service providers should look for logical additional managed services to provide. Storage and backup seems clearly the next service with the highest demand.
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