Small Business VoIP

Kicking off IT EXPO in a keynote speech entitled The Evolution of Internet Telephony and Avoiding “Back to the Future,” 8x8 Chairman and CEO Bryan Martin spoke of the need to develop future applications far away from the closed hard walls of the legacy wireline and wireless networks, and instead develop into the freedom of the IP cloud.

 

Martin started with a brief overview of his company’s history, how they started in the chip business and how they evolved into a phone company. 8x8 (News - Alert) is the parent company of the Packet8 VoIP service.

 

And the speed with which we as an industry have evolved has been exciting.

 

Prior to 10 years ago, Martin told the audience, there was no Internet, and new applications were built on the copper wireline network.

 

Then VoIP emerged, as always-on high-speed Internet connections became a viable market for IP communications.

 

After the dust from the telecom meltdown settled, the return of VoIP helped fuel the resurgence of the tech economy, with 8x8 adding more than 200 people to its payroll in the last 18 months alone.

 

Martin cited a Level 3 survey about customer satisfaction with VoIP services.

 

The result of that survey, perhaps surprising to some, is that the satisfaction rating of VoIP (86 percent) is higher than satisfaction with PSTN (74 percent) and wireless (66 percent).

 

The survey also pointed out that, once customers commit to a VoIP service, they are not likely to switch back to PSTN, nor are they likely to switch to a competing VoIP service provider.

 

It appears, then, that good service breeds loyalty and customer satisfaction.

 

 

With the growing success of the IP Communications industry, Martin underscored a more serious side of the growth. Carriers now have E911, CALEA, Federal and local taxation, universal service, carrier compensation reform, and so many other issues to contend with.

 

Congress is now involved on a regular basis, as evidenced by HR 5252—a Senate telecom bill released last week.

 

Carriers are heading into a difficult time as the very definition of VoIP service providers, what will be allowed and not be allowed, etc., is in flux. Perhaps this will not be resolved during an election year, but these “heavy” topics will be addressed in the coming year.

 

The central issue of Martin’s speech was the issue that “back to the future” is an impediment for innovation.

 

“Our industry must stop emulating the wireline past,” he said.

 

We do not want to go back to the days of industry stagnation featuring intelligent closed networks, where applications are built inside the network, and cell networks that are closed to new third-party application development.

 

The opportunity is now for developers and innovators.

 

So far, much of our development has been about emulating and interfacing with the old world. We can build new applications and services that use IP. Why not send SMS and MMS messages? Or documents? Or an invite to an ad hoc conference? Why not support video? Why limit the applications?

 

 

Nearing the end of his speech, Martin urged the audience to be creative. “We’ve copied the past and we’re selling it for less…. Now it’s time to create a new world of applications,” he said

 

“Consumers who embrace VoIP aren’t going back and it’s up to each of us to keep it that way,” Martin concluded.

 

For more about Bryan Martin’s keynote, see this blog post from Rich Tehrani.

 

 

 

 

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