How a Savvy Service Provider can Survive and Grow – Part III August 23, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: business communications, business growth, business telecoms, Business Verticals, Cavell, Cavell Group, Cloud Communications, Consulting, CRM integration, customer service, European VoIP Summit, events, Future of Voice, horizontal solutions, Hosted VoIP, Innovation, Instant Messaging, integrations, internet, IP telephony, IT, market opportunities, market reports, market research, market update, marketing Cloud services, Matt townend, mobile, network, Productivity, reports, Research, Service Provider, Service Providers, SME, technology, Telco, telecoms, UK Market, UK solutions, UK Telecoms, UK telecoms market, UK VoIP, USP, verticalisation, Voice, voice over IP, voice services, voicemail, voip, VoIP Consulting, VoIP Market, VOIP Market research, VoIP Providers, VoIP research
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Creating Bundles of Success
We have frequently heard that selling telephony services on features is simply emulating the old PBX sales approach and that hosted services benefits for a solution-based sale. Now we have figures to prove it. Cavell figures for 2016-17 confirm that where Service Providers in the channel are seeing success is in the SME where Service Providers are bundling a tight solution and with a very defined set of capabilities. The advantage of bundling is that it creates a solution-based proposition with a vertical or horizontal approach where the Channel understands their pricing, margin and the commercial and technical solution.
Vertical bundles are very strong, enabling the Service Provider to sell down a single vertical and targeting on features needed by that vertical. Cavell has seen a number of Service Providers target specific verticals by integrating into key business solutions that that vertical works with. It requires that the Service Provider understand the business processes of the customer and demonstrates this value to the customer.
Horizontal solutions can be equally strong with specialised CRM integration, or solutions with voicemail control options for road warrior use. Bundles can be commercial or technical, the secret is to tailor them to your target market and demonstrate an understanding of their requirements. A sound business approach for a Service Provider would be to start with commercial bundles and then develop into a technically integrated bundled solution as the customer requirements become clear. The approach for the Service Provider is to analyse your USPs, examine your customer base and products and then look at the rest of the market to determine your competition.
Bundling is more about how to do better with what you already have than about offering anything new.
Service Providers who embrace these opportunities and build solutions with specific value in mind are most likely to be the winners in the market.
If you wish to read more about how the market is changing, please get in touch for more information on Cavell’s market reports due to be released next week on Thursday, August 31st.
Preparing for GDPR? Everything you need to know at the upcoming European VoIP Summit. August 16, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: applications, AudioCodes, Broadsoft, Cavell, Cavell Group, Cisco, Cloud Communications, Collaboration, Communications Platform as a Service, conference, European VoIP, European VoIP Summit, events, EVS Amsterdam, GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation, Hosted, Hosted VoIP, hotel Arena, ICTRecht, internet, market research, market update, Matt townend, Michelle Wijnant, mobile, netherlands, network, Networking, Platform, Productivity, regulation, Research, security, Service Provider, service provider pass, Service Providers, technology, Telco, telecoms, Telecoms Market, Video, Voice, voip, VoIP Market, VoIP Providers
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As the General Data Protection Regulation is due to be implemented on May 25th 2018, businesses in the communications space need to plan and prepare accordingly.
In order to get you up to speed, we have organised a special session on Regulation Changes: GDPR at our upcoming European VoIP Summit on the 10th of October at the Hotel Arena in Amsterdam, presented by:
If you are a Service Provider and find yourself asking what you should do next to ensure your business complies with the new regulations, this session is for you.
Visit our website for the complete Agenda.
Have you seen our short European VoIP Summit highlights video?
We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam on the 10th of October!
There have been high levels of optimism about the German VoIP market at CeBIT this week; Deutsche Telekom launched their own BroadSoft solution and NFON have announced further expansion into new territories. March 22, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: Broadcloud, Broadsoft, Cavell, Cavell Group, cebit, Deutsche Telekom, german voip, germany, Hosted VoIP, italy, nfon, Platform, portugal, Research, SIP, SIP Trunk research, SIP trunking, Voice, voice over IP, voip, VoIP Consulting, VoIP Market, VoIP Providers
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Since launching our German report last October, Cavell have seen Germany as a key growth market for Hosted VoIP services. Resulting from this, Cavell have invested in growing our team, with Adam Kowalski joining to focus on the DACH region.
Cavell attended CeBIT this week to catch up with our Service Provider customers and expand our knowledge of the developing German market. While there were not as many major telecoms vendors at the event as at other global conferences, with major PBX providers like Mitel, Shoretel and Avaya not attending, German VoIP providers were in strong attendance.
The Service Providers we caught up with were really excited about the opportunities in the German market, and are all starting to see strong growth in Hosted VoIP services. Although numbers of international competitors entering the market are increasing, there doesn’t seem to be much concern amongst local providers. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see the how the increased number of competitors affects the dynamics of the German market.
Deutsche Telekom introduces DeutschlandLAN CloudPBX Native UC, Powered by BroadSoft
Several Service Providers have made some interesting announcements at CeBIT, especially by Deutsche Telekom, who launched their partnership with BroadSoft. Deutsche Telekom are also launched the first product that they both manage and own (they already offer Swyx and NFON solutions), which they see as “a significant game changer for businesses of all sizes in the German market.”
The service, named DeutschlandLAN CloudPBX, is based on a Broadworks platform and integrated with bMobile to be able to offer a fully integrated mobile and fixed solution to their entire customer base. By combining deep mobile network integration and fixed capabilities, Deutsche Telekom hope that this will be a key differentiator in the German market.
Deutsche Telekom are still planning on continuing sales of their Swyx and NFON solutions alongside the DeutschlandLAN CloudPBX service, but will it be interesting to see how the relationship evolves in the future. It is also interesting to note that Deutsche Telekom have taken a Broadworks platform instead of a BroadCloud solution, noting that ownership of the platform was important for them when making the platform choice.
Expansion, SIP Trunk & Wholesale: NFON
Other key announcements came from NFON, who launched their NFON SIP Trunk product at the event. This not only fills a gap in their portfolio, but will also enable them to take advantage of the All IP strategy in Germany, which is set to end the ISDN network by 2018. The SIP Trunking service also offers full access to the potential of carrier management in 12 European countries and telephone number management, as well as meeting regulatory requirements. This may disrupt the international SIP Trunking market.
NFON continued their expansion into two new European countries with NFON Iberia covering Portugal (launching in May) and expansion into the Italian market forecast for September. This will put them in 14 countries by the end of 2017, which will establish them as one of only a few Pan-European Service Providers.
NFON have also launched a wholesale model, partnering with ScanSource Communications in the UK and T-Systems in Germany, to target large SMEs and large enterprises. NFON will allow the services to be integrated by their wholesale partners into full products or sold alone as single services to their customers.
Read more (EN): http://www.lfchannel.com/expansion-sip-trunk-wholesale-nfon-news-at-cebit-2017/
#EVSLDN17: Who will run the Communications Platform of the future? January 31, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: applications, AudioCodes, belgium, Broadsoft, business telecoms, Cloud Communications, Collaboration, Communication Platform, Communications Platform as a Service, Consulting, Developers, dubber, European VoIP, European VoIP Summit, events, EVS London, france, germany, global telecoms, Hosted VoIP, IBM, Innovation, ipcortex, ISDN, IT, Launch, London, lumeon, market research, market update, metaswitch, mobile, mondago, netherlands, network, Networking, Platform, portugal, Providers, regulation, reports, Research, Service Provider, service provider pass, Service Providers, spain, System Integrators, technology, Telco, telecoms, Telecoms Cloud, Telecoms Market, UK, UK Telecoms, UK telecoms market, Unified Communications, Vendors, Voice, voice over IP, voip, voip events, VoIP Market, VoIP Providers, VoIP Summit, Voxygen, yealink
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The future is about providing a VoIP platform that people can integrate and develop on, to solve both specific and generic customer problems.
With an ever increasing number of Service Providers considering whether to buy or build their own platforms, there is a huge question of who will be running the Communications platform in the future. Service Providers, Vendors, System Integrators and Developers are all trying to work out what their role is going to be in this new world of communications and they may as well have to fight for their very future and relevance.
Find out more from the experts at the European VoIP Summit 2017
at the QEII Centre in London on 9th March:
- Dean Elwood – CEO, Voxygen
- Rob Pickering – MD, IPCortex
- James Slaney – Co-founder, Dubber
- Rob Cox – Commercial Director, Mondago
- Prof. Matthew Wilson – CEO, Telecoms Cloud
- Mike Wilkinson – VP Marketing & Product Management, Lumeon
These are just some of the experts who will be discussing the dynamics, providing input from all parts of the ecosystem and sharing their views on market opportunities for Service Providers.
With the Service Provider Pass you can bring your colleagues along to discover ideas on how to prepare for your future. It includes 3 tickets for £300+VAT offering you 20% off each ticket when bought together.
If you have any questions, please get in touch. We look forward to seeing you on the 9th of March!
The Fine Line of Trust in Customer Relationships #EVSLDN17 January 24, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: AudioCodes, Broadsoft, business telecoms, Communications Platform as a Service, Consulting, customer relationships, edgewater networks, European VoIP, European VoIP Summit, events, Genband, global telecoms, Hosted, Hosted UC, Hosted VoIP, IBM, London, market research, network, Networking, Panasonic Business, Platform, polycom, QEII Centre, QEII Conference Centre, regulation, Research, Service Provider, service provider pass, Service Providers, SIP, Siphon, technology, Telco, telecoms, Unified Communications, Vendors, Voice, voice over IP, voip, voip events, VoIP Market, VOIP Market research, VoIP Providers, VoIP research, VoIP Summit
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Cavell are proud to announce the European VoIP Summit 2017 Guest Speaker: IBM’s Global Communications Industry Leader Rob van den Dam.
In a highly competitive market, telcos often struggle to differentiate their services and in their ongoing race to bring out new features and solutions they can find themselves at risk of losing focus on what remains constantly important: customer experience.
Join us for the European VoIP Summit 2017 on March 9th at the QEII Conference Centre, in London to discover the key to mastering:
The Fine Line of Trust in Customer Relationships
For customers, their ideal customer experience is prompt and effective response to queries, outstanding service and fair resolution to complaints, said van den Dam. But telcos are falling way short of that ideal. They generally rate average to good – but that’s not good enough. You really have to excel at customer experience if you’re going to be competitive.
Rob van den Dam’s Keynote Presentation touches on:
- Findings from IBM’s global telecom consumer survey
- Personal data to reshape customer experiences
- Digital trust as the key factor in relationships between customers and providers
- Telcos’ unique position in the personal data opportunity
Tickets are selling fast: register here today and be sure not to miss out on this unique opportunity!
About Rob van den Dam
Rob van den Dam leads strategic thought leadership in telecommunications and media & entertainment, developing future agendas, industry outlooks and business value realization studies.
He has over 25 years experience in the communications industry. Rob periodically presents at major industry conferences, such as ITU World, GSMA Mobile Asia, TMForum, CommunicAsia, Digiworld, Total Telecom and IBC.
He has published multiple articles in, amongst others, the Annual Review of Communications, Jnl of Telecommunications Management, European Communications, Total Telecom Magazine, Broadcast Engineering, Telecom Asia and Mobile Europe.
Broadsoft keen to highlight its market position at Connection last week November 24, 2016
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: Broadcloud, Broadsoft, Broadsoft Connections, Cavell Group, Hosted, Hosted UC, Hosted VoIP, Platform, Voice, VoIP Market, VoIP Providers
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Cavell were in San Antonio last week for Broadsoft Connections, their annual customer event. The event was 20% larger than last year with over 1000 attendees from Service Providers around the world gathering to hear from the Broadsoft team about their new products and meet other Broadsoft providers from other markets.
Broadsoft are very keen to highlight their market leadership position and credentials, announcing at the conference that their installed base of customer had reached 15m deployed seats, up from 12m in 2015, a growth of 25%. This announcement comes hot on the heels of other Service Providers and platforms all keen to reinforce their cloud credentials. Clearly this figure encompasses all of Broadsoft service providers end customers, whether they are sitting on Broadsoft’s own BroadCloud environment or end customers of Service providers using Broadsoft Broadworks software, which still makes up the large majority.
Broadsoft was also keen to highlight the success off its own cloud solution “BroadCloud” highlighting new customers including; Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone Germany, Deutsche Telekom, Nexteria-One, Rogers and Digicell. It would be fair to say although these are encouraging signs, BroadCloud has yet to gain large momentum amongst existing customers in Europe.
Building on its growing market presence and position Broadsoft also launched it’s ‘Powered by Broadsoft’ brand into the market at Connections. Broadsoft will allow Service Providers using Broadsoft platforms to include the ‘Powered by Broadsoft’ logo alongside their solution. In return, Broadsoft will offer their Service Providers a range of Go To Market support; including digital marketing, product information and data sheets, white papers (themes including mobile/fixed strategy, PBX replacement, UC advantages) and tailored go to market strategies. It appears initially there will be a mixed reaction from Service Providers, with some who spoke to Cavell believing that their own brand was in fact stronger then the Broadsoft brand and seeing little value, whilst other potentially smaller providers saw some clear benefits. Broadsoft believe that IT managers want to know the platform behind the solution and that the ‘Powered by Broadsoft’ brand will assure them that the solution is market leading.
For most market insiders the size and scale of Broadsoft is well known, but with lots of new competition and existing PBX providers moving into the cloud space it is clear that Broadsoft wish to highlight their position more clearly to its Service Provider and stakeholder audiences.
Join us for the 4th edition of the European VoIP Summit November 18, 2016
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: Acquisition, applications, AudioCodes, Broadsoft, Cavell, Cavell Group, Cloud Communications, Communication Solutions, Communications Platform as a Service, conference, Developers, digital tranformation, edgewater networks, European VoIP, European VoIP Summit, events, EVS London, Gamma, global telecoms, Hosted VoIP, Kcom, Launch, London, market opportunities, market research, marketing Cloud services, Matt townend, Microsoft, mobile, Networking, nfon, Partners, Platform, Presence, Productivity, Providers, Q Advisors, QAdvisors, QEII Centre, QEII Conference Centre, regulation, Research, Service Provider, Service Providers, SIP, Siphon, siphon networks, technology, Telco, telecoms, Telecoms Cloud, Telecoms Market, UK, Vendors, Voice, voip, VoIP Acquisitions, Voxygen, Voztelecom, yealink
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We are pleased to announce that the 4th edition of the European VoIP Summit will be held on the 9th of March 2017 at the QEII Centre in London.
The European VoIP Summit has become the leading industry event where Service Providers meet to discuss the key issues in the market, so this time we have expanded to accommodate 300 delegates for a series of insightful panel discussions and presentations as well as Industry Keynotes from Cavell’s analysts Matt Townend & Dominic Black.
Knowledgeable, experienced thought-leaders will share their experiences and practices, and enlighten us with their controversial views. Key industry players such as Gamma, Kcom, Broadsoft, AudioCodes, Voxygen, NFON, Voztelecom, Telecoms Cloud, and QAdvisors, as well as the experienced CMO Lisa Hutt, and Mike Wilkinson, one of the most respected senior marketing figures in the Technology market, have already been confirmed as speakers. Click here to see the complete Agenda.
The day also includes ample time for you to connect with your peers, and lunch and networking drinks are all included in the ticket price.
Also, we are proud to announce that Audiocodes, Broadsoft and Yealink have committed as our Gold Sponsors for the event, with Edgewater Networks and SIPHON joining as exhibition sponsors.
We have sold out all of our previous events, with over 220 attendees registered from 60 different Service Providers in London in March 2016 and we expect to do the same next year, so sign up now to secure your seat and avoid disappointment.
Also, this year we have introduced the Service Provider Pass, offering 3 tickets for £300+VAT which provides 20% off each ticket when bought together, so don’t miss out on this opportunity and bring your colleagues along.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We look forward to seeing you on the 9th of March!
Telepacific acquisition signifies continued consolidation of US market September 21, 2016
Posted by Matthew Townend in Uncategorized.Tags: Cavell Group, DSCI, Hosted VoIP, Matt townend, QAdvisors, telepacific, voip
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On September 19th Telepacfic announced the acquisition of DCSI, this demonstrates the continued consolidation of the Cloud Comms and managed service market in the US. It is a very significant deal in the US market and Cavells strategic partner Q Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Telepacific in this deal.
It also raises the question of when we will see increased consolidation in the European Market, we saw Arkadin complete the acquisition of UK Microsoft expert Applicable in July but still we have a relatively fragmented marketplace. Cavell and Qadvisors have seen increased interest from both potential acquirers and sellers although deal volume is still relatively low.
Q Advisors Partner Michael Quinn will be presenting at Cavells European VoIP summit in Amsterdam on October 11th, and will also be at our March event in London. Their are a few tickets still available for the Amsterdam event available at:
http://www.cavellgroup.com/index.php/events/2016-05-24-15-31-41/benelux-voip-summit-agenda-2016
For more details on the DSCI acquisition links are below:
http://www.dscicorp.com/about-us/news-events/news-item/telepacific-completes-dsci-acquisition/
The concept of selling UC is dying! Service Providers offer industry/sector specific propositions to meet customer demand September 13, 2016
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: Business Verticals, Cavell, Cavell Group, Contextual Communications, Hosted VoIP, illume Research, Market figures, Matt townend, Research, Service Providers, SIP trunking, telecoms, Telecoms Market, UC, UK Market, UK Telecoms, UK telecoms market, UK VoIP, Unified Communications, verticalisation, voice over IP, voip, VoIP Figures, VoIP Market, VOIP Market research, VoIP research
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For well over a decade, the industry has been talking about Unified Communications, with vendors trying to push the idea that end users want to unify all their communications through one interface (normally vendor specific), and that they need to utilise a number of new communications mediums through this interface (including: Video, Presence, Collaboration, etc.).
When we look at the players who have been successful in selling hosted communications both in the UK and Europe, we see that very few are selling a concept of UC at all. What they have done well is they have segmented their customer base and they have produced bundled solutions that understand the “Context” within which the customer is operating and have offered solutions accordingly. Yes, there are some customers who want an all-singing, all-dancing UC experience, like you see in most vendors videos, but this appears to be a minority.
Our recent research on the Hosted Comms market shows that most service providers have developed their segmentation further, and they are now offering solutions that are designed to suit their customers’ needs in relation to the Vertical industry segment they operate in.
Figures have shown that 41% of the service providers tracked by Cavell, offer a selection of vertical solutions, 66% of which offer a public sector proposition, some providers selling solutions specifically tailored for one of the following public sector segments: local government, central government, education, healthcare, housing, public administration, justice, and emergency services.
The main commercial segments have been Financial (41%), Retail (38%) and Hospitality (23%). Other prevalent business categories vertically targeted by service providers are construction, media, travel & transport, and organisations operating in the legal sector. Cavell has also witnessed signs of verticalisation in technology, automotive, recruitment, logistics, manufacturing, third sector and professional services.
Matthew Townend, Director of Research & Consulting at Cavell stated: “The increased verticalisation shows an increasing requirement for Service Providers to offer solutions that recognise the context that their customers work and communicate in, rather than attempting to offer a broad based UC solution that attempts to dictate how they should communicate”.
Cavell Group have launched their latest UK Hosted VoIP and SIP Trunking market reports on the 2nd of September. For more information, please read our previous blog post.
Cavell Research Shows Customers Leapfrogging SIP to a Hosted VoIP Solution September 2, 2016
Posted by Matthew Townend in VoIP Numbers.Tags: Cavell, Cavell Group, Cloud Communications, European VoIP Summit, Hosted VoIP, SIP trunking, Sip trunking research, voip, VoIP research
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Cavell Group’s latest IP Voice market reports show unexpected market dynamics, with the SIP Trunking market performing slower than expected and the Hosted VoIP market continuing to grow strongly.
Cavell has seen strong growth across all segments of the Hosted VoIP market in the last six months. The market has shown 11% growth reaching a total of 2,423,123 Business Hosted VoIP seats, while the SIP Trunking market has only grown 9.94% in the last six months to a total of 2,113,528 SIP trunks. This is a slowdown in the migration from ISDN to SIP Trunking and may show that customers are leapfrogging SIP to move directly to a hosted solution.
In the previous six months (June to December 2015) the SIP Trunking market had grown by 13.73%, hence during these six months the market has suffered a slowdown, which Cavell believe is due to a few key factors, such as BT’s announcement of 2025 as the End-of-Life of the ISDN Network having yet to stimulate customers and providers to make immediate migrations. Also, the market for SIP is becoming increasingly competitive from a price perspective, leading service providers to drive customers toward more lucrative Hosted VoIP solutions, and lastly, easy-to-migrate customers have already moved, meaning the remaining customers may need specific technical or commercial considerations.
Matthew Townend, Director of Research & Consulting at Cavell stated:
“There is probably not one Call Centre in the land that has not migrated from ISDN to SIP, but the remaining approximately 50% of the market set to migrate, is going to need more compelling commercial and technical reasons to move.”
“If providers do not build a migration plan for their ISDN customers, they are likely to see the Hosted VoIP providers move them to their services before they react”, he added.
If you are interested in finding out more about the UK Hosted VoIP and SIP Trunking markets, the reports have been released for purchase today and are available on our website: www.cavellgroup.com/uk-research-reports. or contact Francisca Dinga francisca.dinga@cavellgroup.com
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