MARKET REPORT Hosted Telephony
“Over the next 12-24 months we will see more mature offerings from Microsoft and other Vendors which will mean
this Direct Routing integration is needed less and less.” Alex Grant, Director at 24 Seven Cloud Communications
New opportunities in hosted
The hosted telephony market has seen a huge uplift in adoption over the last fi ve years and COVID-19 has only
served to increase demand. This market report seeks to answer what kinds of opportunities are presenting
themselves as a result of the global pandemic
Has the pandemic
opened up a new surge
of demand for hosted
telephony products? We
all witnessed the crazy period in
March and April as businesses
scrambled to go to remote
working, but as we near the
end of July the landscape still
remains uncertain.
How many of us will make
it back to the o ce? Will there
be a second wave of the virus?
ere are a lot of questions we
don’t know the answer to right
now. A recent Comms Business
poll indicated that 38 per cent
of readers believe the prospect
of a second wave is driving
demand right now. Does this
mean businesses are nally
viewing hosted telephony as an
enabler rather than a cost?
Justin Hamilton-Martin,
Director of Centile commented,
“ e way businesses think
about telephony has changed
radically in recent months.
ey now realise that hosted
and cloud-based telephony
is a way to keep their sta
productive and to drive remote
collaboration. Cost matters, but
it is taking a back seat to other
priorities.”
Dave Reynolds, UK MD of
Xelion said, “Every business
evaluates the cost/bene t of
investing in technology. But the
cost bene ts of hosted telephony
are compelling in terms of
increased sta exibility,
e ciency and productivity. For
start-up businesses the bene ts
are overwhelming. Unlike a
PBX, there is no large upfront
capital expenditure and as a
service cost, hosted telephony
is a completely tax allowable
business expense unlike capex.
Start-ups are likely to move
premises frequently in the early
years and with a hosted service
it’s just a matter of plugging the
phones in at a new location.”
Julien Parven, Director of
Indirect Partners at Daisy
Communications, added
“Before COVID-19 I think
hosted telephony would have
been perceived as a cost,
but I think that’s changed
dramatically. Hosted telephony
is arguably even more pertinent
given that now an entire city or
localised area can be placed into
a second lockdown. is should
urge business leaders to make
the change to hosted telephony
now because, should the second
wave happen or they’re placed
into local lockdown, then they
could nd themselves at a
serious disadvantage if they’re
unequipped and unable to
trade. erefore, I think that
now hosted telephony shouldn’t
be viewed as a cost or as an
enabler but rather as an essential
business service.”
Ian Rowan, Senior Channel
Manger at Wildix said
“Business owners are becoming
more educated on cloud and
“as a service” o erings with
many actually asking for these
types of services rather than
traditional on-prem solutions.
e total cost of ownership
where these cloud services
o er more than just voice is
vastly reduced but if it’s just a
phone deployed from a hosting
provider then there is very little
bene t, this is why there are
still some business owners that
want to avoid cloud telephony.
Also wrapping people up into
long term contracts, forcing
them down a connectivity
route and then giving them
subsidised hardware if they
also commit to long term
contracts has a very negative
e ect on the market, how does
this commit to connectivity
work when people are not
based in the o ce, the idea of
cloud and hosting is that its
accessible anywhere, as long
as we still have these types of
contract being pushed then it
will mean that many end-user
will still have these negative
perceptions.”
Julien Parven, Director of
Indirect Partners at Daisy
Communications
Short term plans
Although uncertainty looms
the Channel has thrived on
its ability to adapt and meet
the needs of its customers. In
the short term there are many
opportunities where businesses
needed help, as the landscape
progresses is there a longer-term
need for technical expertise?
Paul Gibbs, Sales Director
at MyPhones commented “ e
short term gains are of course
the move to enable remote
working. I think the long term
gains are going to come from
the now heightened drive to get
o of ISDN and ensure the long
term ability to move with the
times. Also I feel end users will
be reviewing their fragmented
applications and look enhance
the UC applications that they
use the most such as MS Teams.
As Teams only enhances their
video ability I think giving the
opportunity to have true PBX
functionality out of Teams will
enable resellers to set themselves
Justin Hamilton-Martin,
Director of Centile
30 | Comms Business Magazine | August 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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