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.
How a Savvy Service Provider can Survive and Grow – Part II August 17, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: applications, Broadsoft, Cavell Group, Collaboration, collaboration software, Consulting, customer service, differentiators, European VoIP Summit, events, future of work, google, IM services, Innovation, Instant Messaging, internet, Launch, market research, Matt townend, Microsoft, mobile, network, Networking, Platform, Productivity, reports, Research, RingCentral, sales transformation, salesforce, Service Provider, service provider pass, Service Providers, Slack, SMS, team collaboration, team messaging, team software, technology, Telco, UC, UK, Voice, voice over IP, voice services, voip
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Delivering Tools to Increase Efficiency
Last week we touched on the value of Call Recording and Analytics – Another way to improve businesses competitiveness is to increase staff efficiency. Team Collaboration is a hot topic in the Service Provider space at the moment and directly addresses this need. Team software can build efficiencies into the way the business is communicating. Cavell report that the investments they are seeing in tools to help people to communicate better are huge. The starting point for team Collaboration was Internal messaging using IM services on a VoIP server. Early products were not very clever, or able to do much. The next step was to make it work better and allow teams to work more closely included SMS services with drag and drop capabilities and the ability to create workgroups providing the opportunity for integration of team solutions into the services offered by providers. Products such as Hipchat were free to download and initially were primarily used by developers, and they were provided as a standalone service. Slack today is still free to download but it has created the first company valued at over a billion dollars in under a year, and they have 1.5 million paid users as well as a free service with over 5m users.
Today, team Collaboration is becoming a ‘must have’ service offering and it is no longer just chatting on your own network, it is about integration into key business tools such as Salesforce and Google drive. Users of team software are able to automatically call files up or pull up salesforce details when talking. It is about linking products and making communications better, and as a result the number of integrated products has become a key differentiator between service offerings.
Team Collaboration is a product that sounds like it is a good fit for the large enterprise, but Cavell report that it is increasingly being used by small and medium businesses with remote workers. Launches from RingCentral, Broadsoft and Microsoft in the last few years as well as the standalone offers has invigorated the market and given Service Providers lots of choice of who to partner with to deliver these services to their customers. When launching new products, they are integrating messaging and Team Collaboration into their voice services with value adds such as click to dial. The approach is to create free, easy to use, communications solutions and offer links to call on the phone.
Many Collaboration software users are still not paying for their software, and Cavell speculate that Team Collaboration may become a competitive requirement for Service Providers in the future as companies look to enable their employees to communicate better. The issue that it may provide for Service Providers is can be consumed free but Service Providers will need to work on the sales challenge to learn to present and expand from selling lines and minutes to selling Collaboration – different sales techniques and a more consultative approach are needed as well as an understanding of how their customers work. But it’s not all bad news – integrated into services may not make any money per-se but it creates a stickiness that has a huge value to the Service Provider, since the more integrated the solution the less likely the customer is to change provider.
Stay tuned for our third post in the series where we will be touching on how smart bundles can be a game-changing differentiator.
If you wish to learn more about the industry, join us at the upcoming European VoIP Summit in Amsterdam on the 10th of October for an unmissable networking opportunity.
Cavell’s market reports offer in-depth analysis of the key market trends and are due to be released on August 31st. Please get in touch for more details.
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!
How a Savvy Service Provider can Survive and Grow – Part I August 11, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: 8x8, Analytics, Analytics Solutions, BREXIT, business communications, business growth, business telecoms, call centre, Call recording, Contact Center, contact centre, cost saving opportunities, customer service, events, Innovation, Market Data, market opportunities, market reports, market research, market update, marketing Cloud services, messaging, Productivity, reports, Research, Service Provider, Service Providers, technology, Telco, telecoms, Telecoms Market, UK, UK Market, UK solutions, UK Telecoms, UK telecoms market, UK VoIP, Voice, voice over IP, voip, VoIP Market, VOIP Market research, webinar
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Many businesses in the UK, small, medium and large are suffering. Pressures created by fears of what BREXIT may bring, austerity reducing the flow of money and challenging economic conditions, mean they are searching for efficiencies and cost saving opportunities to maintain and grow. These are requirements that the savvy Service Provider can meet to grow their own business. Services have become increasingly competitive and the number of Service Providers in the UK now exceeds 95, so business customers have choice, and this creates the need for Service Providers to increase the attractiveness of their offerings creating stickiness to maintain their current clients and to introduce new value-added services to increase their client base.
Value Added Services that Improve Customer Service
Good customer service is key to business success in every sector and the market research firm Cavell are reporting an increasing demand for call centre features for business telephone users beyond the contact centre. They surmise that this is a direct result of the drive to improve customer services. The business goal is to collect data from communications that will provide information to help the business to make customer communications better and enable multiple communication channels to be utilised beyond voice, including social media and instant messaging. Call Recording and Analytics are the two key basic call centre offering in demand and large platform providers are increasingly developing these capabilities, or collaborating to be able to offer these services to SME and large enterprise businesses.
Call recording has been available for a while and is a mature product. The key applications have been MIFID II for financial Service tracking and PCI compliant call recording for where credit card details are collected over the phone. The recent change, is that there is an increasing use of Call Recording to provide the business with the data to target areas for improvement through staff training and to secure details of customer interactions for future reference and to improve customer service.
Analytics is the second growing offering. Businesses are increasingly using Analytics on every customer inbound channel to gather information to help them to sell better and to understand what media their customers are using to communicate with them. This data helps them to understand how their customer is interacting. Demand for these analytic products is very high. Service Providers such 8×8 have invested in building their own analytics solutions and others are collaborating with providers like Akixi, Dubber and Tollring to be able to offer analytics solutions. The data provided helps the business to understand how to manage calls effectively and to identify future possibilities for new products.
Stay tuned for our upcoming posts where we will be covering what else we have seen makes Service Providers successful in this ever-changing and highly-competitive market.
Also, if you wish to contribute to our market research (due to be released on August 31st), please follow the links below. All participants will receive one ticket at our upcoming European VoIP Summit and have the opportunity to join our webinar on September 7th where we will be communicating our top-level results and some of the main trends we have seen in the UK Hosted VoIP and SIP Trunking market in the last six months.
The inaugural Channel Leaders Conference: a great success! April 27, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: Business Verticals, Cavell, Cavell Group, Comms Business, Communication Solutions, digital disruption, digital tranformation, Disruptors, events, Genband, Instant Messaging, internet, IT, Knight Corporate Finance, Launch, London, market research, Microsoft, mobile, network, Networking, Productivity, reports, Research, Strategic Imperatives, suppliers, technology, Telco, Telcoswitch, UC Solution, UK, UK solutions, Unified Communications, verticalisation, Voice, voice over IP, voip
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Monday was an exciting day; the London Channel Leaders Conference (#CLeaders17) successfully launched in collaboration with Comms Business Magazine. Delegates enjoyed a day of panel talks on highly relevant topics such as ‘How Can You Guide Your Customers Through the Digital Age?’ and ‘Building Compelling Solutions (Verticalisation & Integration),’ networking opportunities and keynote presentations by Matt Townend, Director of the Cavell Group, and Kristine Olson-Chapman, Managing Director of TalkTalk Business. Digital Disruption, the UK Telecoms Market (find out more in our reports here), the Internet of Things (IoT) and the changing role of the Channel were also among the key topics of discussion.
Of these several recurring themes, the most prominent were falling traditional market revenues and rapidly changing customer requirements. The first panel discussion of the day was ‘How Can You Guide Your Customers Through the Digital Age?’.
Chaired by David Dungay, Deputy Editor of Comms Business, Ralph Page (Director of Global Strategic Solutions at Genband), Mike Wilkinson (VP Marketing & Product Management at Lumeon), and Dan Cunliffe (Managing Director of Pangea) tackled points on identifying when a customer is struggling to adopt a digital strategy. This lead to an interesting anecdote on smart water drains on the Isle of Wight by Dan Cunliffe, prompting further discussion on the IoT. Another hotly discussed point on the panel was where Channels can find immediate success in a rapidly changing industry, be it focussing on CPaaS, M2M or elsewhere.
The liveliest panel discussion however, was represented by ‘Suppliers and Vendor Selection: Which Horse Should I Back in the Future?’ between Steve Harris (MD of Siphon/EVP UC Nuvias), Richard Bligh (COO of Gamma), Mark Timmermans (Director of Portfolio Development at BT Wholesale), Gary Gould (MD EMEA at ShoreTel) and Russell Lux (CEO of TelcoSwitch).
The variety of vendor and service provider businesses present, passionate panellists and importance of the topic created some great discussion on the fragmentation of the traditional vendor and service provider markets, as well as what products/verticalisations/service areas the channel should embrace. This was particularly relevant with the recent news on companies like Avaya. Discussion also touched on competing with the services provided by the likes of Twilio, Microsoft and Amazon and how cloud services can transform industries like distribution and logistics.
We would like to thank our Gold (Knight Corporate Finance, Strategic Imperatives, and TelcoSwitch) and Silver Sponsors for their contributions to making Channel Leaders a success, and also, Blabbermouth, whose drinks sponsorship fuelled a great networking opportunity at the end of the day.
If you did not manage to attend Channel Leaders 17 but are interested in the topics discussed, want to meet industry leaders and gain valuable insight into the European Telecoms industry, click here for our upcoming event in Amsterdam (10th October 2017), or use the email addresses below for more information regarding our next event in London (8th March 2018).
You can also contact francisca.dinga@cavellgroup.com or dominic.black@cavellgroup.com for further questions and sponsorship opportunities for both events.
For research into the European VoIP markets, click here for our website, or contact adam.kowalski@cavellgroup.com or dominic.black@cavellgroup.com
#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.
Update your Diary for the 9th of March! January 16, 2017
Posted by Dominic Black in Uncategorized.Tags: applications, AudioCodes, Broadsoft, Cavell, Cavell Group, Communications Platform as a Service, Developers, European VoIP, European VoIP Summit, events, EVS London, Future of Voice, Future Voice, London, market research, market update, Matt townend, Microsoft, mobile, Networking, Panasonic Business, Platform, PSTN, QEII Conference Centre, regulation, Research, Service Provider, service provider pass, Service Providers, technology, Vendors, Voice, voice over IP, voip, voip events, VOIP Market research, VoIP research, yealink
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European VoIP Summit 2017 – QEII Centre, London
The Service Providers event of the year is coming soon and tickets are selling fast! Here are 5 reasons you should book today and avoid disappointment:
1. Insightful Panel Discussions
Key Topics to be Explored:
- Who will be the winners and losers following the ISDN/PSTN Switch Off?
- Who will run the Communications Platform of the future?
- What role do developers play in the future of communication?
- Regulation: What is changing and how does this impact you?
2. Unmissable Presentations
Meet the Industry Leaders:
3. Industry Keynotes on the State of the Market
- How to compete in the new communications landscape
- Trends in the European VoIP Markets
- What does the future of communications hold?
4. Excellent Networking & Opportunity to Share Experiences and Practices
5. Special Offer
Bring your colleagues along! The Service Provider Pass 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!
Many thanks to our Sponsors!
Gold Sponsors:
Exhibition Sponsors:
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!
Telcos missing out on Digital Disruption opportunity whilst CPaaS providers act October 27, 2016
Posted by Matthew Townend in Uncategorized.Tags: AIRBNB, applications, business telecoms, Business Verticals, Cloud Communications, Communications Platform as a Service, CPaaS, Developers, digital disruption, digital tranformation, events, global telecoms, Innovation, Launch, market opportunities, market reports, market research, market update, Matt townend, Nexmo, Platform, reports, Research, Service Provider, Service Providers, technology, Telco, telecoms, Telecoms Market, Twilio, Uber, UC, Voice, VoIP Market, VoIP Providers, WhatsApp, Wholesale Voice
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You cannot help but read about how digital disruption is helping revolutionise existing businesses and enable new businesses to establish and disrupt complex industries. I think most people would also agree that at the heart of most business models are communications of different types.
So why is it that we find that Traditional model and fixed Telecoms companies are in general leaving this market opportunity to the CPaaS and development market to address?
Today, Cavell launches a report co-authored by Matthew Townend, Research and Consulting Director at Cavell, and Mike Wilkinson, one of the most respected senior marketing figures in the Technology market, former VP Product Marketing at Broadsoft and a pioneer in the whole UC and VoIP marketplaces.
In the report “The Communications Platform as a Service Market – Market Opportunities for Service Providers”, Cavell are exploring why companies like UBER, AIRBNB & WhatsApp all have chosen CPaaS providers like Twilio to power the transformation we are witnessing.
The paper addresses why the longstanding traditional Service Providers have not been able to embrace this opportunity, and what they might have to do in the future to be relevant both to these large scale global players, but also to their traditional national Enterprise customers who seek to establish new business processes and value propositions.
Matthew Townend, commented:
“As we move into a period of Digital transformation, we want to have real-time communications embedded into all sorts of business and consumer applications, and users want communication delivered in the context of their business and personal lives, however, not in the way vendors and communications providers prescribe it. Communications providers are going to have to deliver CPaaS platforms and capabilities that enable this change. “
“We are already seeing Business customers who demand their communications be imbedded in their vertical applications, as in their business they spend their life in say a hospitality business process tool. They do not want to receive it in the PBX or Cloud vendors UC all singing all dancing portal.”
For more details on the report please click here.
Cavell are Co-Hosting an industry dinner with the Internet Telephony Service Provider Association (ITSPA) in London, where we will be exploring these issues with a group of different service providers whilst also enjoying a great dinner and networking opportunity. Matt and Mike will both be at the dinner. For more details and how to book tickets please visit our website.
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