MARKET REPORT Hosted Telephony
“Resellers aiming to stay in the game long-term would be wise not to align too directly with the Mega Cloud
players, as their value in the change will inevitably be squeezed.”
Distie Viewpoint
CBM: Are all Direct Routing/Integration propositions born
equal?
Darren Garland, MD of ProVu: “No, Direct Routing can be a service
proposition from another supplier or can be something you do
yourself with a Microsoft approved Session Border Controller (SBC).
Now this is where Direct Routing can be different. You will need
offi ce 365 licences, the Phone System add-on license and also the
Audio Conferencing add-on license (if you wish to allow external
parties to call into your audio conferences which most people will).
Offi ce 365 E5 license and above which has Phone System and
Audio Conferencing bundled in tends to be more favourable from
a cost perspective and can also provide a simpler solution with a
lower number of potential failure points.
As you can see from above there are still feature-sets that
differentiate direct routing just around licences. But there can be
more if you decide not to do it yourself the supplier will be able to
offer other additional benefi ts from additional security through to
faster service speeds etc. You also can get access to traditional
call features and they may even throw in improved commercials for
number forwarding, again dependant on the supplier you may use.
Essentially no, they are not equal but what is in this life. Choose
your options, and then choose your supplier.”
Alex Grant, Director at 24 Seven
Cloud Communications
VanillaIP commented “It
means that the sale starts with
meeting and collaboration and
moves both back through the
traditional telephony needs and
forward through the portfolio
of other productivity and
customer experience tools. It
is a bene t led sale, not a cost
reduction exercise. Resellers
need to be careful how they
use the MS Teams wave; it
is inviting and powerful but
likely as not to crash on their
head mid ride. I am not sure
Microsoft are not really focused
on the channels long-term
success.
ere will always be
di erences and resellers’
salespeople will have to work
hard to control the narrative.
For us, integrating best in class
products, on 30-day agreements
represents both the most
productive return for customers
and the freedom to move with a
marketplace that changes with
an increasing pace. Resellers
aiming to stay in the game
long-term would be wise not to
align too directly with the Mega
Cloud players, as their value in
the change will inevitably be
squeezed.”
Alex Grant, Director at 24
Seven Cloud Communications,
said “We see Direct Routing
and integration as a sticking
plaster trying to bridge two
(or more) disparate systems.
Over the next 12-24 months we
will see more mature o erings
from Microsoft and other
Iain Sinnott, Sales & Marketing Director at VanillaIP
Vendors which will mean this
direct routing integration is
needed less and less. e recent
acquisition of Metaswitch by
Microsoft will only accelerate
this process.”
Russell Lux, CEO of
Telcoswitch, commented
“Teams has introduced a
host of opportunities for
our channel partners. With
Windows and O ce, Microsoft
is everywhere, and enjoying
monthly billing relationships
with their customers, so their
strong position could be
viewed as a risk. However,
migrating to calling in Teams is
complicated when you factor in
number porting, geographical
availability, con guration, call
ows, to name but a few, and
it’s expensive.
For solutions like ours, there’s
an opportunity for channel
partners to deliver a compelling
o ering that both adds value
and reduces cost for the end
customer, while protecting
revenues for the partner.
Ultimately success or failure
comes down whether you can
o er the partner a powerful
proposition both technically
and commercially, and support
that partner in delivering it to
their customers.”
Lux continued, “Where the
end customer is using direct
routing into Teams it’s easy
to assume parity across all
solutions. But we know that’s
not the case, and partners have
fed back a host of di erent
experiences across vendors.
Naturally, there’s a commercial
element as to what the vendor
is charging and the breadth of
inclusive minute bundles. But
assuming all direct routing
options are cheaper than
Microsoft’s calling plans, it
really comes down to what
additional features the vendor
o ers, where we’ve done a
lot of work with our call
recording and analytics engine
for those operating under
>
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32 | Comms Business Magazine | August 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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