Track: VoIP for SMB (SMB)
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Navigating the Technology Wave: An SMB Tutorial
(SMB-01)
Friday - 01/25/08, 9:00-9:45am
It’s that time again. It comes around every five to seven years. The budget is approved and now IT and business operations managers enjoy the task of selecting a new telecommunications platform, along with the questions that entails:
• What are the most important business drivers that I should include in developing an RFP?
• How can I leverage today’s technology advances to keep costs in line?
• How can I use voice-enabled applications to improve business processes?
• How do I collaborate with my IT counterparts to ensure we select the right product and to make sure the install goes smoothly?
• How can I make this decision without feeling overwhelmed by the range of technologies, products and vendors?
Employees within small to medium size businesses (SMBs) organizations attending this session will learn how to cope with the procurement process and make the right decision for their company, and more importantly, remain employed after its all done! Learn the challenges and best practices to purchasing a new IP communications system.
Presented by:
 | Richard Shockey (Moderator)
Chairman
SIP Forum |  | Michael Howard
President
TelNet of Virginia | | Walter Kenrich
Vice President of Product Management
Vertical Communications |
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Addressing the IT Needs of SMB Through Managed Services
(SMB-02)
Friday - 01/25/08, 10:00-10:45am
The maturity of VoIP technology means that every small and medium business can get a fully-functional IP-PBX with business altering functionality — like unified messaging, remote user capabilities, and dozens of other features — while also reducing their monthly phone bills. It is a true win-win proposition for SMBs, and even more so for the service providers who support them.
But how do service providers gain the attention of these small businesses — who have neither a dedicated IT staff, nor the time for detailed IT evaluations? The answer is the Managed Service Model — which provides a one stop shop of networking, VoIP, mobile, and QoS capabilities, all on a monthly bill that not only reduces telecom expenses, but fixed them over a multi year horizon – bringing predictability to the SMB owner.
In this session, we’ll examine the IT issues that SMBs face; we’ll help service providers effectively qualify SMBs; and we will present a series of managed service models that simplify matters for small and medium businesses, build 24/7 customer and technical support, and provide tailored VoIP solutions that can immediately demonstrate cost savings of 25 percent or more.
Presented by:
| Jeff Szczepanski
CTO
Allworx |
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Selecting VoIP for the SMB
(SMB-03)
Friday - 01/25/08, 12:30-1:15pm
As small and medium businesses grow, they need integrated communications functionality to help employees connect with customers, each other and the information they need. With hosted VoIP and data solutions, SMBs are able to give employees voice and data functionality, advanced messaging technology and integration of voice/data, Web and e-mail communications without the complexity of hosting those solutions. For companies with premise-based equipment in place, integrated IP-based solutions are able to combine voice and data traffic, prioritize bandwidth usage over a single connection and simplify communications. In either scenario, the trend toward more “unified” communications is proliferating, and smaller companies are able to increase productivity and performance while reducing overall costs.
Attendees to this session will learn the key questions that small and medium companies may want to ask themselves about VoIP as the technology continues to mature and the features advance.
Presented by:
| Thuy Ha
Director of Product Management
Qwest Communications | | Khris Kendrick
Senior Business Development Directory
Grandstream Networks | | Jason Talley
Founder & CEO
Nuvio |  | Tom Keating (Moderator)
VP of TMC/CTO/Executive Technology Editor
TMC |
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Technology is Converging and So Should Your Suppliers
(SMB-04)
Friday - 01/25/08, 1:30-2:15pm
Over the past few years we have started to hear the term “technology convergence” and its impacts on the way businesses will leverage technology now and in the future. In parallel to this, we have seen the proliferation of Software-as-a-Service and managed services as a better means to consume technology in a subscription-based manner. More recently, we have heard about virtualization technology, whereby hardware, operating systems and software can be consolidated, replicated and centralized as a utility.
The convergence of technology ultimately provides businesses with an increasing ability to consolidate (or converge) their suppliers. The traditional model is about businesses paying a service provider or technician to put them back where they were yesterday. This new approach focuses on providing businesses with the ability to stabilize operations and budget while improving predictability and utilization - any new investments in technology are geared toward expanding revenues and streamlining business processes and costs.
Technology convergence will propel a new type of single-source provider, which will improve the adoption and utilization of new technologies such as unified communications, hosted services and virtualization of infrastructure and applications. Attend this session to learn more.
Presented by:
 | Mark Scott
CEO/Founder
TUC Brands |
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