What does it take to successfully sell VoIP to small businesses on a large scale? Providers have been asking that question for years, and while some have succeeded in becoming profitable by offering VoIP, it’s probably fair to say that the industry hasn't seen the kind of massive adoption of this technology that many were hoping for.
RingCentral, which offers a hosted business phone service using IP telephony technology, thinks it has cracked the code. Later this month at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West 2008 in L.A., the company’s vice president of business development, Jay Blazensky, will share with attendees what RingCentral (News - Alert) has learned about selling VoIP to small businesses, during the “Making the Business Case for VoIP in the SMB” session on Sept. 18 from 1:00-1:45 p.m.
This session — co-presented by Carl Ford (moderator) from VoIPSME.com, Jeff Szczepanski from Allworx (News - Alert), and Huw Rees from 8x8 — broadly focuses on how small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) make the decision to switch to VoIP; how they make the business case for adopting this technology. Blazensky told TMCnet that his contribution to the session will be approaching the topic of selling VoIP not from a cost savings standpoint, which he said is typically not very effective, but rather demonstrating how the capabilities of Internet telephony can help SMBs succeed.
“RingCentral has a very fresh approach for massively deploying business class VoIP services in a profitable model,” Blazensky told TMCnet.
To learn more details about how RingCentral developed its winning strategy, and how it actually works in the real world, you’ll need to attend the ITEXPO session. But, Blazensky hinted that it has to do with addressing the challenges faced by SMBs first, and easing them into considering VoIP by demonstrating how this technology can solve real business needs.
RingCentral’s customers are very small businesses — those with 1-20 employees. For these very small SMBs, Blazensky said, survival does not depend on how much is being paid for phones and phone service. Instead, what keeps these companies in business are things like the ability to sound and look professional, and to appear bigger than they are.
RingCentral designed its hosted business phone service on the premise that it is possible for an SMB to be more competitive by using an Internet telephony system that doesn’t require any customer premises equipment (CPE) changes but which nonetheless greatly enhances the SMB’s ability to impress its customers.
The hosted business phone service from RingCentral includes a variety of useful features like toll-free number, auto attendant, music on hold and online fax that very small businesses can use immediately to be more competitive. Free incoming call answering using a softphone is thrown into the mix to demonstrate how the SMB might further enhance its operation by purchasing an outbound VoIP service plan.
“Solving a small business' most critical problems first, and then upselling that business to long distance savings and the value of VoIP phones, is a very different approach,” Blazensky said.
For more information about Internet telephony for SMBs, please visit the Fax channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by RingCentral.
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Mark your calendars for INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO — the biggest and most comprehensive IP communications event of the year. ITEXPO (News - Alert) will take place in Los Angeles, California, September 16-18, 2008, featuring three valuable days of exhibits, conferences, and networking opportunities you can’t afford to miss. Register now!
Mae Kowalke is senior editor for TMCnet, covering VoIP, CRM, call center and wireless technologies. To read more of Mae's articles, please visit her columnist page. She also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Mae Kowalke