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The cost of maintaining a telephony system can get quite expensive regardless of what option a company takes.
Even the so-called free options like open source are limited in their capacity and will often cost a fortune to scale up if your clients want to grow their business.
While something that would be ideal for us, these same businesses will be less inclined to make the switch unless the cost is justified.
The main point then would be to show them how good of an ROI investing into a PBX system is and how they can save in the long term.
The first thing that one needs to realize is who their target audience is.
The average lifespan of a PBX solution tends to be somewhere around 5-8 years, after which the client usually scales it up, or replaces the deployment option.
Currently, a lot of companies that want to facilitate remote work aim to do so by replacing their existing on-site deployment to a cloud-based one.
However, if a company is in the early stages of their current PBX solution, chances are low that they would want to switch over to another one simply because it is a financially unsound decision despite the long term benefits.
After all, they need to get their money’s worth from their current solution before they would even consider an alternative.
Thus, your target clientele would be startups or companies that are in the closing stages of their PBX solution’s lifespan and are looking to upgrade.
“We are growing by leaps and bounds since starting with Bicom Systems.”
Ronald Rondeau, Manager of TelSynergy
Read TelSynergy’s full story with Bicom Systems HERE.
We have already gone about the topic of the different benefits of cloud vs on-premise deployments prior and how each of them can have beneficial monetary gains in their own way.
The gist of it mostly came down to personal preference being the deciding factor.
However, as far as the monetary aspects went, the cloud based deployment option offered more short term benefits due to there being no up-front material costs and low prices per additional user.
This allowed for infinite scalability at a fraction of the cost compared to an on-site deployment.
It fitted a growing company better since they would not be losing out on a lot of invested capital as opposed to a more seasoned company with plenty of money invested into an existing solution.
Plus, it allowed for the option of remote-work which is what adds some extra benefits on its own which we will cover a little bit later on.
That said, an on-premise solution should not be overlooked either in case you encounter a more well-established company that has a team of people dedicated to maintaining and customizing it.
It is a bigger initial investment, but it sees more returns in the long term.
That one is quite simple. Office space tends to cost a lot, and remote workers do not really need an office building to do their jobs.
They will either work from home or act as digital nomads and travel the globe.
Either way, the company will no longer be limited by the amount of employees that can fit in an office, but by the amount of PBX users that their network can manage.
And, if it is a UCaaS solution, that amounts to quite a large number where adding a new user takes a few clicks and barely costs anything whereas procuring extra physical space and an office no less can be a lot harder and pricier in comparison.
“NTS is able to save our customers money while providing a feature-rich phone system utilizing Bicom.”
Jim Strong, Network Technology Solutions
Read Network Technology Solutions’ full story with Bicom Systems HERE.
Now, while we have cleared the air on why a new UC solution is still cost effective you may wonder what is it that makes PBXware the right choice as your chosen brand to resell?
The answers to that are simple.
The first thing to note is the pricing. It is competitive compared to the rest of the market which will immediately be more appealing to your clients.
The second is professional support staff that is available around the clock to assist with any issue that the client may have.
However, that is not everything that it has going for it as it is also a flexible and easy to integrate UC solution into any existing company infrastructure, something a good number of competitors fail to offer.
PBXware’s ability to seamlessly integrate itself into most existing systems is what makes it so affordable in the first place, offering businesses of all sizes a more cost-efficient option without losing out on the many core aspects of a PBX system.
This can even be a pivotal point of contention that could win some of the more adamant clients over if it turns out that PBXware would end up generating a bigger ROI than their current plan.
“PBXware doesn’t break, doesn’t glitch, and is easy to maintain which helps make us Profitable!”
SCTC
Read STCH’s full story with Bicom Systems HERE.
We have had many satisfied partners over the years who were full of praise for our products and are still along for the ride.
That number still keeps on growing. If you would like to become one yourself, feel free to Contact Us.
Providing UC services over the cloud has been one of the greatest recent innovations in communication.
However, with new things come new challenges, the main ones revolving around making sure this new technology is secure for all users and that it complies to the specific standards of the industry.
After all, data privacy is one of the biggest priorities not just in communication, but every aspect of the world at large with how public access to information has been getting.
Which is why, as UCaaS providers, you need to make sure your service keeps up to date with every stride made in such a field.
Here are some of the most important aspects you need to look into.
Communication is not as simple as picking up a phone on one side and getting instantly connected to the other, nor is it done over voice alone anymore.
New methods of communication leave the system open to new vulnerabilities and exploits which is where the need for data encryption arose initially.
Sensitive documents and other files businesses want to prevent from leaking and to keep secret need such encryption in particular so someone cannot just hijack them during transfer.
That is why every high class UCaaS provider should utilize the best encryption they can manage, turning what would be an easily readable file into a mess of meaningless data without the right decryption tool to decode it.
This helps prevent potential theft and damage to the business in question.
Another good way of limiting access to sensitive information and increasing security is by having user-specific permissions, establishing a set of access controls that are managed within the company on a per-user basis.
Access should be given based on required data use and position within the company, with those who are more closely tied to handling sensitive data being allowed to actually access it.
A specifically established hierarchy will greatly limit access to sensitive information by unauthorized personnel, adding another layer to the data protection wall.
While the cloud is remotely accessible, it is still hosted on a physical location, one that is prone to breaches if said location is known.
That is why most UCaaS providers host their services in data centers in remote and unknown locations to minimize the risk of a potential data breach.
On top of all that, these data centers should utilize multi-factor authentication to severely reduce the risk of getting compromised and should have failover systems in case of malfunctions so the data isn’t lost to a natural disaster, a glitch, or a power outage.
Another inclusion to the layers of data protection most UCaaS providers offer is monitoring all activity that occurs on their provided service.
All activity is actively checked for any abnormalities or malicious entry, after which the appropriate measures are taken if detected.
The most common examples of this are phone or email phishing scams.
Seeing as remote work is becoming more popular worldwide, your clients need to be able to provide their remote workers with safe and secure access to company systems without compromising it.
This is usually done through specific VPNs, allowing certain IP address ranges to gain access to the system, often provided by the UCaaS provider.
Doing it this way helps prevent any unauthorized access to the company servers if a remote worker is accessing it from a public wi-fi location or something similarly unprotected.
Depending on where your target market is, it is of utmost importance that your UCaaS services comply with their designated regulations on data privacy and protection, be it the GDPR in Europe, the CCPA in the US or otherwise.
One of the more important recent additions were the STIR/SHAKEN sets of protocols which provided added protection from caller ID spoofing.
Of course, specific company regulations may also come into play, but that’s on a per-company basis.
However, some aspects are mandatory, and it is important that your services are kept up to date to help boost your reputation and maintain good partner relations.
Data security and compliance is of paramount importance for UCaaS providers as the service’s level of security can make or break it.
Bicom Systems’ own solution to that matter, PBXware, covers all the data encryption and security needs that your clients may have while complying with the rules of almost every country worldwide.
Our cloud-hosted servers are well protected and offer excellent failover systems with several backups depending on your client’s chosen edition together with top-of-the-line data encryption.
The system is actively monitored for any faults and will react in time to prevent any loss or theft of data.
On top of all that, the respective blacklists and whitelists are actively updated but are still customizable on the client’s end and can be exported or imported from one system to another for quick and easy setup.
If you are interested to see a glimpse of its full capabilities, feel free to Contact Us or to Request a Demo.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.
ZTE has partnered with Thailand’s AIS (Advanced Info Service) on the world’s first dynamic RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface) trial in an mmWave network at the AZ centre in Bangkok.
This collaboration explores new possibilities in the field of millimetre-wave communication, offering a low-cost, low-carbon solution for deploying millimetre-wave networks at scale.
RIS is an innovative multi-antenna technology that utilises electromagnetic metamaterials. RIS enables the extension of base station coverage by intelligently reflecting or transmitting base station signals, resulting in improved coverage at a low cost and with low carbon emissions. By incorporating dynamic functionality, ZTE’s RIS technology achieves beam sweeping and user tracking, effectively enhancing the coverage range of base stations and ensuring an optimal user experience even when the user is on the move.
During the trial, ZTE adopted the dynamic RIS product in the AIS millimetre-wave network with a 400MHz bandwidth. This implementation led to a substantial enhancement in millimetre-wave signal coverage. Users were able to consistently maintain a peak downlink rate of over 1.6Gbps and an uplink peak rate of over 260Mbps while moving within an office room larger than 400 square metres. This performance was more than three times that achieved without RIS under obstructed circumstances.
Millimetre-wave, as a crucial frequency range in 5G networks, offers the advantages of large bandwidth and capacity. However, due to its transmission characteristics it encounters significant challenges in terms of long-distance transmission and penetration through obstacles. Through the collaboration between ZTE and AIS, dynamic RIS technology has been successfully implemented in millimetre-wave networks. This technology effectively overcomes propagation obstacles and enhances coverage range and transmission speed.
This collaboration represents an important milestone in the field of millimetre-wave communication, signifying a significant stride in the commercialisation of dynamic RIS technology. The implementation of this groundbreaking technology will usher in revolutionary changes to the global communication industry, establishing a stronger network foundation for the development of future smart cities, industrial IoT, and other domains.
Wasit Wattanasap, Head of Nationwide Operations and Support Business Unit of AIS, stated, “As Thailand’s leading mobile network operator, we are committed to advancing communication technology and popularising 5G networks. Our collaboration with ZTE has provided us with the opportunity to explore the application of RIS technology in mmWave communications. We believe that this technology will accelerate the arrival of the 5G-A era and deliver unprecedented communication experiences to users.”
This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Ashley Stephenson, CTO of Corero Network Security
Nature often provides insightful parallels to our complex digital world. For instance, one might think of a business network connected to the internet as a dynamic beehive where each bee symbolizes a unique IP address of the customer, all tirelessly working to ensure the entire colony remains connected. Much like bees in a hive, these IP addresses constantly relay information in order to communicate vital signals or potential threats. You could think of a … [visit site to read more]
Lumen is bringing on some more talent, and by talent I mean AI. They have teamed up with Microsoft to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot to empower its 30K employee base in a beta test under Microsoft’s Early Access Program.. … [visit site to read more]
Latin American markets also saw smartphone shipments fall as the region experienced a 14% year-on-year drop to 27.9 million units in Q2, but is showing signs of recovery according to analyst company Canalys.
“Subdued consumer demand has led to an increase in vendors’ smartphone inventories. This has led to companies adopting a more cautious approach, targeting specific market segments that could bring them better returns,” said Canalys senior consultant Miguel Perez.
LATAM’s top-selling vendors Samsung, Motorola and Xiaomi were hit by double-digit year-on-year declines, noted Perez, adding vendors had to be conservative to avoid overstocking and increase profitability.
Samsung shifted its focus away from devices in the sub-US$200 bracket, while Motorola and Xiaomi pushed efforts towards their low to mid-tier devices.
The Korean smartphone giant remained the top shipping vendor with 9.4 million units and 34% market share, however, this was a decline from 11.6 million units and 36% market share.
Motorola took 21% of the market with 5.7 million units, a drop from 22% and 7 million units. Chinese vendor Xiaomi saw 4.6 million shipped for 17% market share, a loss from 5.3 million units and 17% year-on-year.
Transsion, the owner of smartphone brands Tecno, Itel, and Infinix, ranked fourth as it saw growth with 2.1 million units up from 1.3 million, and growing market share from 4% to 7%. Perez noted this was due to its wide portfolio of entry-level devices and popularity in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Apple was ranked fifth maintaining its 5% market share with 1.4 million units, down from 1.5 million.
Canalys noted despite varied socio-political landscapes, LATAM’s economic stability is fostering a favourable climate for the smartphone market. Inflation is largely in control and region economic leaders Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are seeing growth.
The analyst company is expecting a 2% decline in full year 2023 but 6% growth in 2024, and further growth up to 2027.
