Is "No Impact" Telecom No More?

During a discussion today about the amazing capabilities of our new Televate product, I reflected back on my career in telecom sales. One of the main things we used to tout when talking to a prospective customer is that when the switch from his current provider was completed there would be “no impact”:

• Your phone number won’t change – no impact.
• The way your employees use the new service won’t change – no impact.
• The experience your customers have when they call your business won’t change – no impact.
• The new service won’t provide any new tools or information for your business – no impact.

The only real impact from switching providers was to be a lower monthly bill. And we treated “no impact” as a major selling point!

Believe it or not, most telecom companies and their salespeople still tout the “benefit” of no impact when switching service providers.

Well, Televate is much different. Your phone number won’t change and your bill will likely go down but aside from that the impact is considerable:

• The way your employees communicate and collaborate will change radically and immediately – huge impact.
• Your employees’ ability to be reachable and productive outside the office will change drastically – huge impact.
• The experience your customers will have when they call your business will be transformed – huge impact.
• The tools and information your business will have to manage customers and maximize business performance will be elevated – huge impact.

At InPhonex we see a fast-approaching end to “no impact telecom”. Businesses large and small are demanding more. Televate makes it easy to bring major impact to your business – and isn’t that the point of changing providers?

Press Release - InPhonex, Ringio Join Forces to Deliver Intelligent, Virtual PBX Functionality to SMB Market

October 5, 2010

InPhonex, Ringio Join Forces to Deliver Intelligent, Virtual PBX Functionality to SMB Market
Ringio On InPhonex (ROI) Reseller Offering Provides Advanced Telephony Features at Reduced Cost

MIAMI and HERNDON, Va., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A new partnership between InPhonex and Ringio is giving small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) access to PBX features and functionality previously only available for large enterprises. Both companies will introduce the new service at ITEXPO, which runs Oct. 4-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Ringio On InPhonex (ROI) incorporates features from Ringio, a cloud-based Rich Calling Service, and InPhonex, a telephony platform service provider, to create a unique offering for SMBs, including:

• Server-free advanced call center functions designed for SMB users, including personalized greetings; the ability to intelligently route and forward calls based on the caller's history; a learning knowledge base about callers and other advanced collaboration features, such as presence, notes and contact sharing.
• A fully featured mobile application.
• Intelligent screen-pop capability, which presents CRM data in the context of calls.
• The ability to use existing soft phones and VoIP phones with Ringio.
• Local number portability (LNP) in 15 countries.
• Integrating all PBX and telephony services from one provider, eliminating the need for multiple vendors and lowering costs.
• Designing customized managed calling plans, including bulk calling, worldwide calling and personalized calling plans.
• A global telecommunications footprint that includes 75 countries.

"Unlike most hosted PBX providers, which take existing on-premise PBX platforms and move them to the cloud, Ringio was developed from the beginning as an intelligent, cloud-based PBX to address the unique needs of SMBs," said Ringio Co-Founder and Chairman Michael Zirngibl. "Ringio On InPhonex builds upon that goal by giving SMB customers a single provider for their telephony, call center and PBX needs."

InPhonex is recruiting and selling ROI through channel partners, which can white-label the service and resell it to SMBs, while Ringio is selling the service directly to SMB customers.

"ROI is an attractive addition to the offerings we provide our thousands of value-added reseller partners," said InPhonex Chief Marketing Officer Matt Bramson. "Not only does ROI enrich resellers' opportunity to target SMBs – the largest segment of the enterprise market – but it also gives them a set of features unlike any other in the market."

Ringio On InPhonex has an average cost per user of about $40 per month for unlimited calling and an end-to-end solution.

Now in beta release, Ringio On InPhonex is expected to become generally available by the end of 2010. For more about becoming a channel partner for Ringio On InPhonex, visit www.inphonex.com/ROI.

About InPhonex

InPhonex is a global meta-carrier providing a comprehensive range of high-quality, feature-rich telephony services in more than 150 countries. Leveraging its flexible, high-capacity telephony platform, Miami-based InPhonex serves communications service providers, businesses of all sizes, value-added resellers (VARs) and consumers, under its own and other brands.

Offerings include multiple applications, services and utilities, such as VolP, hosted PBX, SIP trunking, product creation and provisioning. Easy to implement, InPhonex solutions help businesses round out their portfolios to attract more customers, manage more efficiently and generate more revenue per customer. For more information, please visit www.inphonex.com.

About Ringio

Located in Herndon, Va., Ringio is the first cloud-based Rich Calling Service to intelligently route calls to any phone in the world along with relevant information about the caller – making conversations more meaningful and productive. Integrating intelligent call routing and CRM data, Ringio provides capabilities previously available only through call centers and proprietary customizations – bringing Rich Calling Services down market to small and medium-size businesses for the first time. By enhancing conversations with context about the caller, Ringio enables companies to significantly improve their interaction and service with the people that matter to their business. For more information, please visit www.ringio.com.

Thoughts from IT Expo West

Today was a busy one at IT EXPO. I had the opportunity to address a group of potential resellers and participated on two panels. In addition I was interviewed for a podcast (http://www.telecomreseller.com/category/podcasts/).

As I reflect on the day, three thoughts stand out:

1. I am excited about the relationship with Ringio we announced today (press release). We are calling the joint offering ROI: Ringio On InPhonex. The opportunity to offer a uniquely powerful hosted business application – one that combines a PBX, IVR, and CRM – to distributors as a white-label product is receiving an enthusiastic response.
2. There is tremendous energy in the next-generation telecom space right now. The IT EXPO show is well-attended; all the sessions I was in were full; and the exhibit floor was busy this evening.
3. Cloud-based telephony services represent an opportunity that is without precedent in the recent history of telecom: widespread profitability. Never before has it been possible to launch a telecommunications service offering and deploy it to tens of thousands of customers without spending millions of dollars on infrastructure. In the past the huge upfront debt crushed most start-up service providers. Many that survived had to go through bankruptcy restructuring in order to do so.

The downside of lower barriers to entry is a crowded marketplace (hence a busy trade show). The key to success – as it nearly always is – remains execution. The companies that can market and sell their service and retain their customers will have the opportunity for rapid, profitable growth.

It seems to me that execution is about creativity and hard work (also known as “inspiration and perspiration”). The creativity I am focused on right now is thinking about the all the companies that have the right resources and relationships to sell ROI but aren’t currently selling telecom services at all. More to come on this thought . . .