September 18, 2008
Texas Instruments' Zimmerman Speaks to IP Phone DevelopersBy Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director Texas Instruments’ (News - Alert) Director for CPE VoIP Products, Fred Zimmerman, spoke yesterday to an audience of Communications Developer Conference attendees as he presented his keynote address, “A Call to IP Phone and VoIP Device Vendors… Achieving Success in the SMB VoIP Market.”
He began by telling the developer crowd that collectively, we need to adjust the focus of the industry in order to penetrate this market.
TI is trying to address the challenges that they are seeing in the SMB market space.
While the market is growing, there are still challenges that must be overcome in order to be successful in the SMB space.
Zimmerman shared market statistics that show a greater amount of IP phones are now shipping into the enterprise that legacy analog and digital phones.
The residential market is also enjoying a large measure of success with simple phones and simple applications such as caller ID, call waiting, and other services that comprise a typical consumer feature set.
And the market opportunity is huge.
The current total spend relative to the SMB market is forecast to grow resulting in a $440 billion market opportunity, Zimmerman said.
With over 35 million SMBs globally and roughly 500,000 new SMBs per year, the addressable market is large.
However, the SMB market is different from that traditional enterprise market. It’s a diverse environment, with less structure. Whereas a larger enterprise might look to leverage a relatively similar feature set and communications experience for its employees, SMBs are a diverse lot, with diverse needs.
The opportunity for VoIP is a good one, Zimmerman said. VoIP offers benefits such as:
— advanced applications to make the SMB sound like enterprise
— improved professionalism and image
— increased sense of stability
— enhanced productivity
— the ability to offer better customer service
— cost savings
— the ability to expand geographic footprint
But the benefits of VoIP must be translated into a unique value proposition for each SMB customer. The cookie cutter approach won’t cut it, Zimmerman said.
In order to successfully service this market, there exists a need for collaboration across the entire industry to facilitate growth. Technology providers, equipment makers, third parties, system integrators… all must work together. QoS is a must as are specific features and functions designed for the SMB market.
Zimmerman shared a case study of ADP IP Networked Services and how they were able to successfully launch a hosted VoIP service in 2007, a service that has become the fastest selling product in ADP history.
Zimmerman pointed out several features that are coming down the pike that he believes will make an impact on the ability to serve the SMB. HDVoice, enhanced graphics and user interfaces driving a broad range of electronics are helping to move the market from mobile and consumer devices into desktop IP phones.
In his closing comments Zimmerman told the audience of developers that in order to successfully tap into the market potential for VoIP, they need to create unique solutions for SMBs. He underscored the need for quality, enhanced functionality, saying that those elements are critical for VoIP adoption. Collaboration is key.
In the end, Zimmerman said, “Technological advancements are furthering efforts toward a world where every connection is voice enabled.”
Texas Instruments is a Platinum sponsor of Communications Developer Conference, the first and only IP Communications Developer event, collocated with INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO — the biggest and most comprehensive IP communications event of the year. Communications Developer and ITEXPO (News - Alert) takes place this week (September 16-18) in Los Angeles, California, featuring three valuable days of exhibits, conferences and networking opportunities you can’t afford to miss.
Greg Galitzine is editorial director for TMC’s (News - Alert) IP Communications suite of products, including TMCnet.com. To read more of Greg’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here. Edited by Mae Kowalke |