From The Editor
How Reliable Is VoIP?
May 24, 2009
You might have read the Business Solutions Best (and Worst) Channel Vendors issue (read the report here). As editors of the magazine, it was a very interesting issue for us to put together. We always hear stories of how one vendor is great, or another is horrible, but those stories are often very biased. To take a look at actual data regarding what vendors do well, and not so well, lends a whole new viewpoint. When reading the issue, did you pick up on any trends regarding what the best vendors in the VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) category are doing right? I noticed a common high-scoring characteristic that was a little surprising to me — the majority of the best VoIP vendors on the list scored high in product reliability.
What surprised me about product reliability scoring high on the list was the obvious disconnect between what the data showed and the perception of many end users unconvinced of VoIP’s reliability. Many VARs face varying objections from their customers, from ‘the technology is too new’ to ‘I’ve heard too many horror stories about VoIP implementations gone wrong to trust it.’ However, the data of the survey suggests that many VoIP products, from various vendors, are very reliable. This suggests that product reliability or the technology being ‘too new’ isn’t the problem at all, rather, the stories your customers have heard and their misconceptions about the technology are really the barriers you have to overcome to gain more VoIP sales.
How should you go about improving VoIP’s reputation? Well, of course, feel free to share the Best (and Worst) Channel Vendors survey results with your customers! Seriously, though, educate your customers on the fact that there is reliable VoIP technology out there, and on how it can positively impact their business’ efficiency and decrease costs. Beyond that, be sure that you are doing your part to make sure the VoIP implementations you’re completing aren’t the kind that result in horror stories — take the time to understand your customer’s needs and what they want to accomplish with their technology investment, then be sure to offer them the support they’ll need if they aren’t familiar with VoIP.
What surprised me about product reliability scoring high on the list was the obvious disconnect between what the data showed and the perception of many end users unconvinced of VoIP’s reliability. Many VARs face varying objections from their customers, from ‘the technology is too new’ to ‘I’ve heard too many horror stories about VoIP implementations gone wrong to trust it.’ However, the data of the survey suggests that many VoIP products, from various vendors, are very reliable. This suggests that product reliability or the technology being ‘too new’ isn’t the problem at all, rather, the stories your customers have heard and their misconceptions about the technology are really the barriers you have to overcome to gain more VoIP sales.
How should you go about improving VoIP’s reputation? Well, of course, feel free to share the Best (and Worst) Channel Vendors survey results with your customers! Seriously, though, educate your customers on the fact that there is reliable VoIP technology out there, and on how it can positively impact their business’ efficiency and decrease costs. Beyond that, be sure that you are doing your part to make sure the VoIP implementations you’re completing aren’t the kind that result in horror stories — take the time to understand your customer’s needs and what they want to accomplish with their technology investment, then be sure to offer them the support they’ll need if they aren’t familiar with VoIP.
