Smart IP keeps up with ubiquitous industry changes
September 21, 2017 SmartIP
The landscape of business communications is, yet again, experiencing rapid, significant changes. From sales models to voice networks, the industry continues to overhaul the old systems in favour of newer, technologically-advanced platforms and applications that benefit both the companies and their clients. One company in particular continues to exemplify how best to embrace these changes: that company is Smart IP Inc., headquartered in Brampton, Ontario.The changing landscapeThe first of many current major changes in the industry is the sales model. Fifteen years ago, the standard process in “telecommunications” sales entailed selling central processing units from a customer’s website or office: an on-premise solution. Today’s model, however, is characterized by the customer’s ability to expand their capacity by buying more licenses for the product instead of the outright purchase of ever more hardware.At the same time, managed services and cloud services are coming to the forefront of the business. Managed service refers to a service in which the customer pays a monthly fee and the service provider affords the services, on site or via third party, similar to a cell phone contract but without the up-front purchase requirement. Managed services are easy for businesses to implement and can be used immediately after implementation. These services can be more preferable to some clients because it allows them to consume the products and services over a period of time, since there is no up-front minimum purchase required, and offers products that can adapt and update themselves: all included in a one price per month billing schedule.Cloud services, on the other hand, are services in which the customer owns nothing: it is essentially a pay as you go service. For a monthly fee, all services reside in the cloud (2nd or 3rd party data sites) and an outside party takes care of the data management. In cloud services, network and bandwidth are the primary concern since there are no in-house upgrades as in managed services. For the business, this equals a low start-up cost, but higher (yet manageable) service cost.Support requirements are also facing change. In the past, a customer could choose not to accept the standard support fees and instead manage the technology themselves. Now, however, manufacturer support is attached to licensing and is required for support eligibility, warranty and live replacements. Though this model has existed in the data world for years, voice networks is the newest industry to adopt the model for all but the smallest of systems.The final significant change in the business communications realm is the increasing importance of networks. Today the majority of businesses cannot survive without solid network services, even if they are only small; in fact, the affordability of technology allows small businesses to compete with big players, and the accessibility of technology allows both large and small businesses to offer effectively identical services and ease of communication. From a technological standpoint, small businesses can operate in the same ways as large businesses, with a significant bonus: that they continue to adopt the industry changes as they emerge, just like large companies, where as in earlier days, they would have to wait until affordability came to them.In the face of constant changes, customers will benefit from accepting these new services and embracing the direction of the industry’s future. These changes are more beneficial both financially and logistically for clients, as companies like Smart IP can attest to. However amidst the changing environment of voice networks, there will be less room for procrastination: those who do not adopt the new systems will most certainly suffer, while those that do will have a much greater opportunity to prosper.Smart IP: The face of changeSmart IP best exemplifies adaptation to these industry changes. Smart IP is one of Canada’s leading independent full-service voice and data services integrators, providing an alternative to traditional telco companies. Their expertise lies in IP communications and related applications for business customers, and they operate across Canada. Smart IP embraces and adapts to industry changes, but what sets the company apart from the rest?Primarily, the company is successful because they strive to be not just a service provider, but a trusted advisor. The company does not merely exist to sell the product, but rather maximize the benefits of the product for their clients. One way they achieve this is by maintaining an evolutionary training regime for their technical staff that is derived directly from the manufacturer’s technical expansion. The longest tenured technician within the company will reach his 30th employment anniversary in 2018: he has “forgotten more than some will ever know” as a result of the ever-changing technological landscape, and he is only one example of employee longevity. The company’s technicians know voice communications both old and new, are highly certified, and have “experienced everything”, yet despite their extensive experience, they are never done learning and welcome the constant training. This sets the company’s technicians apart from the rest.Secondly, the company’s strategy mirrors the successful manufacturer product strategy. Avaya, using one example, has the whole suite of products that run end to end, meaning they do it all: they have done a very good job to have an evolution of product families, where its certain components can be retained across product families, resulting in significant customer savings. Smart IP utilizes a similar approach, as they follow a self-declared ‘one throat to choke model’ for installation project management: they strive to ensure their clients need only call one number for all of their needs or issues whether it be training, change, clarification, or other communication. Additionally, Smart IP is soon expanding further into the cloud business; the industry will see the launch of IP into cloud services with the key difference being that it will be a part of their products suite, which will be most beneficial for a customer who wants access to products but is not sure of their end goal.In looking to their future goals, Smart IP remarks that “Our future in the next two to five years is that, we expect to get a lot deeper into the data elements and more the IT, [like] virtualization clients. Even though today we do 60% to 70% of our installs through a virtualized environment, a lot of customers are separating into a multi-vendor shop: [a one throat to choke model].”In summation, when choosing a voice networks service provider, price, timing, and access to productivity enhancements all factor into the decision making process. However the bottom line is that it’s not merely a matter of making a decision, and it’s not just the final bill that the clients are paying: what makes the difference is the people that deliver the service.
Hosted Solutions Explained – Basic Guide
April 10, 2017 SmartIP
Hosted Solutions Explained – Basic Guide
If you are a business owner, you will have seen the many changes over the years in terms of marketing, manufacturing, and nearly every other process. In the past couple of years, it has been ‘hosting’ that has taken the market by storm. For this reason, we have created a brief guide for you today explaining what the process involves and how the change is implemented.
What is Hosting?
Essentially, hosting can cover a number of topics and it depends on how deep you wish to go into the many services. For example, the term ‘hosting’ could describe your website being looked after by a different company. After choosing a hosting company, they will be in control of keeping your site online in the long-term.
Furthermore, some companies have all their files held on a completely different server on the other side of the city and this has some great benefits including protection from natural disasters. Finally, you can also have all of your communications hosted by a different company and this is called VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). In short, this means that everything from phone systems all the way to a wireless office can be supported by a third-party.
Benefits
In truth, there are numerous benefits that come with hosting but most companies go for these solutions because they are reliable and because they receive good customer support. Whether the company is hosting the website or all of your communications and files too, they are completely dedicated to the cause and protect your servers at all costs. Even when issues do arise, they are often fixed within a quick time because you will have professionals with years of experience and all sorts of qualifications in your corner.
After this, you will also benefit from improved design, control of your data and content, as well as improved communication through the whole business. As long as you choose the right company who meets your needs, you can have a long relationship where your servers remain in the best possible position without having to worry.
How to Prepare
If you are switching to a VoIP solution, there are some steps you can take to be prepared and avoid a big upheaval on the day itself. For example, you will want to document the so-called ‘call flow’ and this is something most companies will help with. Ultimately, this describes when calls are forwarded, what happens when someone dials your number, will it go to one phone or more, is there an answer phone, etc.
After this, you should look to notify all employees that there will be a change. Even though you are improving the phone service, change is often met with resistance so be sure to explain exactly what is happening and why they should be excited. Even before it arrives, you can sit them down and explain how it will work and how their jobs will be made easier than ever before.
Implementation
Ultimately, the installation process can be disruptive if not planned for properly, but the provider should make the whole process less stressful. With a good provider, you will know what is going to happen long before it does. You could even hire a freelance IT partner for the week so they can ensure that it all goes smoothly. As long as you make the right decision on the provider, the process will not disrupt your business too much and you should be able to continue with your day quite normally. With all employees notified, they should also be ready to help whenever necessary!
The Best Uses for Unified Communications
February 16, 2017 SmartIP
Unified Communications refers to much more than just the telephone system that your office uses.
Within UC falls many options, and more that has to do with office communications, encompassing a large range of devices spread over a multitude of connection formats. Because of this widespread functionality, unified communications can act as an all in one upgrade when your office is looking to improve its connectivity and devices. You may even be using many of the devices and software which unified communications seeks to integrate, which is why it’s unfair to call it a system upgrade. Instead, it enhances the existing processes in place, ‘unifying’ them as the name suggests. In fact, unified communications may hardly cost any more than your existing services, simply because it doesn’t look to introduce any new applications generally, other than a hub that is typically viewable over a range of devices.
Gauging the functionality of unified communications goes well beyond just looking at the numbers, because standard ROI metrics are not quite applicable to a non-hardware based service. Perhaps the best way in which to understand the benefits of unified communications is to view real office examples.
Employee Productivity
Your employees are most involved with communications, either when speaking to you, or speaking to customers, or even communicating amongst themselves. For this purpose, the platform of unified messaging may be the perfect choice for complete integration. It will allow your employees to communicate in one central messaging hub, eliminating the need for various mediums and devices (if the user desires). This hub is accessible though mobile device and desktop, meaning that not a single fax, email, text, or video call will be missed by them again.
Unified messaging helps your employees work effectively from any device and any location, greatly speeding up the rate at which your office operates without adding any new tasking or stress. This will increase productivity, and you’ll see your employees working more effectively and working faster, but with no increased load. Quite often, there is an increase in available time for them, and you, to be more productive, as typical communication time back and forth (turnaround time) decreases.
Team Productivity
Employees aren’t just a collection of workers; they’re part of a bigger team, and should be able to function as an effective team. But while one or two employees can easily meet for a discussion, it’s usually difficult to get the entire team to meet in person all at once. But by using unified communications technologies, you can easily eliminate this problem, by using something as simple as video conferencing services.
Obviously, nothing will beat an in person meeting. However, video conferencing can act as a suitable replacement, and will allow for easier planning of any necessary meetings. You can quickly sub in employees when they’re needed for meetings, or shoot off quick communications to find out information. Seeing everyone on video will also be a powerful substitute for in person meetings, and will reduce the need for bringing in employees into a physical location.
Unified communications will speed up your overall office operations, making impromptu meetings a cinch to engage.
Business Benefits
What’s good for your employees is good for your business, and so far, it’s looking like unified communications can do quite a bit for your business. Because unified communications is proven to increase productivity and enhance employee operations, it’s justifiable for management to implement it business-wide, as it will have a positive impact on the business’s ease of operation and return on investment.
The more flexible the business is, the easier the job of management, as more tasks can be fulfilled by employees, with less stress, with customer needs ultimately being better fulfilled. Unified communications resolves issues that any business management will have, through a natural and streamlined process.
IT Simplification
Ultimately, the IT department will have to deal with the repercussions from implementing unified communications, even if they don’t do the initial set up. Luckily, the singular environment in which unified communications operates makes doing so extremely simple, reducing the need for IT to continuously monitor network usage and employee processes.
Unified Communications is the all in one solution that your business has been yearning for, and that your employees will thank you for implementing and streamlining. When planned and implemented properly, by trained and qualified technicians, not only will you see business productivity increasing, but your employee performance will also improve, with greater workflow outcomes.
So make the decision that’s best for your employees, your team, and your business, and get set up with unified communications today!
Who’s Servicing your Phone System: Why Credentials Matter
February 10, 2017 SmartIP
Picking the right company to handle your telecommunications can be difficult and grueling, mainly because it’s so difficult to know what really matters in terms of experience and credentials. Many businesses end up spending thousands of wasted dollars dealing with companies that simply don’t know what they’re doing, and don’t have their best interests at heart.
So you’ve decided to go with an IP Telephony service. Let’s take a look at what that entails, and why Avaya is the best choice in IP office communications. IP is a means of connecting all your employees in a secure and reliable way, across all your branches and work environments. Gone are the days of miscommunication and lost call signals, because IP operates through Internet Protocol. This means that it transmits voice communications over the network, using open internet protocols with implemented standards. Not only can this reduce, and in some cases eliminate the high cost of public switched telephone network (PSTN) depending your particular configuration, but it also delivers a level of service and dependability that rivals and even exceeds that of traditional telephone networks.
Smart IP’s Unified Communications platform utilizes IP telephony to unify voice, video, data, and mobile into the toolbox of your office workplace. It does so specifically through Avaya IP Office. The leading small and mid-size business telephony solution has become Canada’s top leading voice and data services combination for many small to medium sized businesses, easily unifying office communications for thousands of businesses. This system allows you to quickly get in touch with both employees and customers, providing solutions for them when they need it most, and never losing another lead to your answering machine or service. But while this system can work wonders for your business, it does require occasional servicing and/or configuration based on your developing and changing needs, and the choice that you make here can be nearly as crucial as the IP system itself.
A multitude of companies on the market will advertise IP telephony system servicing, even for products that they don’t supply and aren’t credentialed for. But because they don’t supply these systems, and lack the experience working for them, you aren’t guaranteed that they’ll service it properly, or that they’ll be able to resolve any of your concerns. In fact, they may end up leaving your system in worse condition than when they started, wasting your valuable time and money. That’s why you should go with Smart IP for any of your IP system servicing needs. We’ve been in the business for 37 years, embracing new platforms as they come, and working to create value for our customers. By providing excellent service and advanced technologies, we’ve brought plenty of businesses into the modern age of telecommunications with all the tools they’ll need to remain competitive and integrated. We provide 24/7 support and national customer service, carefully listening to the needs of our customers and crafting solutions to their communication needs. That’s why so many leading businesses, companies, and even government agencies rely on Smart IP for installation, deployment, and maintenance.
Why are we so qualified?
Our team of professionals is well versed in telecommunications, VoIP, Data, IP networking, wireless telecommunications technologies, and even MPLS. This is because we invest in the education and training of our employees, providing the means for them to develop their professional abilities to best serve our customers. That’s why we stand behind our staffs’ expertise, and take pride in knowing that our Service and Support personnel will provide you with the maintenance that suits the exact needs of your business. Our team is fully certified on many platforms including these award winning Avaya products:
IP Office
Scopia
Contact Centre Select
Contact Centre Aura
Communication Manager
Session Manager
System Manager
Avaya Fabric Connect
This way we ensure that the products and systems we sell will continue to work into the far future, and that you’re never left with an IP telecommunications system that doesn’t perform to its full potential.
Read here to learn more about Avaya IP Office, and for further questions, feel free to get in touch with our friendly staff at Smart IP.
The Top Reasons Why You Should Upgrade your Phone System
February 8, 2017 SmartIP
For many businesses, traditional phone lines are still the primary means of communication, taking priority over fax machines, skype, and even computers. Speaking over a telephone can be the next best thing to meeting in person, other than a video call such as Scopia which we’ll get into in a later article. No one can ever deny that a simple phone call is easy and immediate. It’s often the primary method through which your clients keep in touch with you, and it makes you more immediately accessible than email or fax ever could for detailed discussions. That’s why your telephone system should be kept up to date and updated when necessary. After all, you change your computers once every few years. Why are you still using a telephone system that was considered average back in the 90’s?
The reason for upgrading your phone system is the same one as for upgrading your phone, your computer, and even your car. At a certain point, new technology emerges that allows for much greater functionality than what you currently have, and usually for the same or even a lower price. Five years ago, cell phones could barely hold 4 GB of storage, and did little more than call and text. Today they do more than come computers, and can have up to 2 TB of storage! And all that for almost the same price; why not upgrade?
Similarly, traditional desk phones are just too basic to be of much use nowadays if your customers need you to immediately engage in a video call, conferencing or switch over to Bluetooth on the run. Features such as call transfer, intercom, voicemail, and conferencing come standard with even the cheapest phone systems, and more advanced systems are already pushing forward to the bigger and better features mentioned above.
Today, VoIP and Hybrid Systems are what define high end telephone systems, along with cloud-hosted communication services. Integration with computer software, email integration, HD voice and video options, wireless handsets, and mobile phone connectivity are considered the latest technology when it comes to business telephone systems, and more and more businesses are embracing this enhanced functionality.
While some of these features may be compatible with your old telephone systems, most of them will require an upgrade to a new system. Although you may already be convinced of this, you may also be thinking that these are just high-tech terms which won’t add any real substance to your office environment. Well, much like those who rejected adopting the use of internet in the early 90’s, this belief is simply incorrect, as these technologies have come to define not just cutting-edge and innovative businesses, but many SMB firms.
Here’s why you need to think about upgrading now.
Current system: The main reason that anyone ever upgrades anything is because the current system or technology just doesn’t work the way it should, or it just ceases to function altogether (system down!). This could be because it was faulty or mis-programmed right from the start, or because it’s slowly deteriorated over time. Maybe you failed to fix an issue early on, and are now stuck with the eventual pile up. Regardless, your current system is not serving its use to you or your company. That makes it dead weight, and time for an immediate upgrade.
Outdated Equipment: Maybe your telephone system does work, but it’s absolutely outdated! The same way that it’s time for your dad to ditch his 1988 rusty minivan, it’s time for you to ditch the POTS and adopt a new system with some state of the art features. And maybe pick up your dad a 2017 ECO-SUV while you’re at it.
Company Growth: It often happens that a company outgrows its phone system, rather than it becoming outdated. Perhaps it even has some cutting edge features, but just not the ones that a company of your size needs. So upsize your phone system before it starts downsizing your company.
Unequipped for Business: At one point, your company stopped operating out of your basement and moved into a real office. But your basic consumer phone system came right with you, and is now the pillar of your office environment. It’s time to get a real business phone system, and something like Avaya IP Office could be the right choice for you.
So you decided that your phone system needs new functionality. But do you actually know what this functionality is? How do you decide what features are important to you, and which ones aren’t? Sure, maybe the salesman at “Jim’s Telco” is telling you that your business phone line should be able to play the Canadian anthem as its ringtone, but will this really benefit your business, and is he certified on the product to advise accordingly?
Speak to your employees (and to yourself), get expert consultation with a certified professional sales person (which we have), and ask these important questions.
What features are available?
What do you think you want your phone system to do?
Which features will improve your businesses efficiency?
Can any new technology help achieve your goals or do you need a certain platform?
With IP telephone systems being at the top of chain, do they fulfill these needs?
Do you think that integrating your computers, phones, and tablets with your telephone system will increase your productivity? (The answer to this question is often a resounding, “Yes”.)
Which feature do you care about most?
Figuring out the answers to these questions is the most important way in which you can prepare for getting a new phone system. When you go to buy a car, you usually ask yourself what matters in a vehicle before walking in to buy it. A telephone system is no different, once you’ve done a little research.
Don’t go through this important process alone. Call Smart IP to talk an expert, and get your new communication system up and running in no time!
Smart IP Inc. No Longer Selling ShoreTel
January 20, 2017 SmartIP
[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]As of January 20, 2017, Smart IP will no longer be selling or servicing ShoreTel products or systems. Instead, we have chosen to dedicate ourselves to our other core premier products and solutions which have proven themselves in our customer’s environments, for many years, and which meet the ever evolving, growing, and demanding needs of the many varied business environments our customers, big and small, operate in.
We invite you to explore our products and services, and the many solutions we have available for you. Our professional staff are always available to inform, educate and help you in any way to meet your service, solution and equipment needs.
Our premier products with Avaya, NEC, Aruba, Phybridge, Carehawk as just some of the capable solutions available to meet and exceed your requirements. Whether it is simple hardware based phone systems, IP based phone systems and solutions, Cloud systems, call center solutions, networking, peripheral gear such as Headsets and UPS units, cable work, system service, ongoing maintenance requirements, multi-site support and quoting, major infrastructure solutions and consulting, Smart IP has you covered. From major Educational institutions and School Boards, to cross Canadian Retail chains, law offices, and small shops, in whatever environment, we can inform you and help you get on the right path to productivity, and within your budget.
Contact Smart IP now or call 289-807-1558 and find out how we can help you be smarter with Smart IP.
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Part 3 of Our 3 Part Series “An Interview With Ken MacDonald”
Think about it this way. The Coles Note’s version is, Xentrax lives in the Enterprise space. They sell two product groups. They actually sell three, but two product families, call recording, workforce management. The critical difference in what they sell is, they’re enterprise-grade products. Fortune 100 companies. They don’t have any small players, because the products are so complex and expensive, that only enterprise-level companies can afford and have the need for that level of complexity. Drop down a notch, you’re in SmartIP, more of a suite of products, several more options, greater reach, greater depth, really known for service, because of the fact that it’s grown up in the space of dial tone and reliability. It doesn’t matter. Put it this way. You can operate a company without call recording. You can’t operate a company without a system, so the pressure is on 7/24 operation, trucks rolling every day, a different model. The space of the customers is as we describe is, the upper end of SMB. Get to Meteor Telecommunications, definitely the upper end of SMB, and considered Enterprise on the hospitality front. But the majority of their clients are smaller organizations. A lot of 20 to 30 to 40 user-type systems, focused on one product family, that doesn’t have the full product suite of an Avaya. NEC is the primary product for Meteor Tel, not as known in the marketplace. It is a different sell. They’re really looking at customers that want basic UC applications. They want them reliable and they want them at the right price, is the key.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
From a sales perspective, for Meteor Tel, we’re talking anywhere between $10,000 and a $100,000?
It really depends on what they’re buying, because they’re not buying as many applications, the deal size goes down. We sell systems in MeteorTel called the NEC 1100, which is $5000 or $6000. It’s satisfying 8 to 10 users, but the average sale is probably, what I would consider, anywhere from the $12 000 to $15 000, to the $30 000 to $35,000 range. That’s kind of their churn market. There is going to be highers and lowers than, but that’s majority of their churn.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
The company is going through a bit of a transition, and that’s not born by the fact that we want to, it’s what the market has changed. It’s placed the technology, the launch of IP and set base product lines have moved into Cloud services. Essentially its SmartIP is going to be in the Cloud business, we’re already in the Cloud business. But the key difference from SmartIP is that, it’s a part of our products suite. If it fits the customer and meets the customer need, it gives them the applications, to us it comes down to a financial decision. Do you have the money available now? It’s always cheaper to buy your products and take the hit early. But if a customer wants access to products, not sure of their direction and so on, the hosted and Cloud services are a lot better fit for a client like that, so what position either. Our future in the next two to five years is that, we expect to get a lot deeper into the data elements and more the IT like virtualization clients and so on. Even though today we do 50% to 60% of our installs through a virtualized environment, a lot of customers are separating into a multi-vendor shop. Our mantra is to go in there and say..[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusionslider name=”part-3-ken-macdonald” class=”” id=””][/fusionslider][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
Cloud basically does nothing on premise. The customer really owns nothing. It’s a pay-as-you-go service. Customers, what they see is telephones on their desk, and essentially all the services and applications are being driven from a data center. There’s many models in it, could be our data center, could be a manufacturer’s data center, so we do many flavors of that. The only other aspect of that is, what we consider managed services, where we go in and we sell a turnkey solution for the client. Sometimes they would rather buy it over a period of time and have things like not just break-fix items, but even moves-adds-changes to be included in a one price per month component. It’s a service that we offer in that space as well.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]
What we’re finding in these spaces that you’re seeing, that’s a lot for the analysts where a lot of the big manufacturers, whether they’re Cloud IT providers driving applications to the cloud, or guys like us that are more UC focused, essentially are showing these huge adoption rates, which we’re not seeing. We can clearly state that customers are looking at this option, but because it’s fairly new in the market place, they don’t understand the complexities associated to it. It’s just not a matter of making a single decision. The other thing that’s critical for them is, the fact that the true cost, savings when it comes to hosted is to remove the people that are involved in delivering those services internally today. It’s not just what bill they’re paying, it’s the people that deliver the service. The second is, what does the future look like, because when you go into a hosted type environment, you’re really giving the keys to somebody else. If your plan as a company is to grow through acquisitions, multiple offices, expand into new technology areas that you’re not touching today, like Wireless Voice, wireless data, all those things are elements that you have to be careful of. Because hosted is really giving them the keys to provide you that service to your desk, and essentially share all your network with that provider. A lot of it is, once we get in front of a client, they’ve already told us, we’re looking at two CP options, at least one hosted, to do at least a price comparison. But when we peel the onion back a couple of layers, it really focuses back on the financial model for them to do CPE. Smaller clients will go hosted, because they don’t have the internal IT brains to manage anything. We are seeing a change in the marketplace, but not as fast as what we’re yearning, as far as adoption rates go.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”0px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][one_full last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][tagline_box backgroundcolor=”description=” shadow=”yes” shadowopacity=”0.7″ border=”1px” bordercolor=”” highlightposition=”top” content_alignment=”left” link=”” linktarget=”_self” modal=”” button_size=”” button_shape=”” button_type=”” buttoncolor=”” button=”Learn More” title=”Ken MacDonald, General Manager” description=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””]Ken is responsible for all aspects of the customer experience at Smart IP, including system implementations, order fulfillment, customer service and technical support. Among his many attributes, Ken has a proven track record as a senior leader with extensive hands-on business management and technology experience.
We hope you enjoyed our 3 Part Series “An Interview with Ken MacDonald”
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Part 2 of Our 3 Part Series “An Interview With Ken MacDonald”
Exactly. Usually end of life products and so on, drive adoption for them. They’re more concerned about ”Is it going to work for me?” unlike ”What features can I use?” They are more concerned about just having dial tone, having it there for years of reliability. But they’re not worried about adopting the new technologies, cell phone usage, video, etc.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
Exactly. Our mantra is that technology, depending on the agent of that client staff, usually depicts how quickly they’ll adopt the technology. We give them the forewarning that we’re going to sell it to you, but you have to understand how you are going to adopt that within your community. We usually give them guidance, because we have some best-in-class methodologies that we use to do this change management philosophy. But the main thing is that, once you tell a client the benefits that it means to them, the productivity enhancements to them, they usually will grab that and start to run with it. But if it’s just saying ”I need you to use this”, success is very low.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
You mentioned that about a hundred users is the tipping point. Is that about the break point when they start to move on-premise?
We’re not seeing that as driver. That’s probably our most common client base. The one thing I didn’t build on, but let’s talk about the verticalization of our base. The two huge verticals that we work in, predominately is education and hospitality. Essentially the hundred users, it is what I considered a classic business size. When you get into the education space as an example, our biggest educational client is Toronto District School Board. Well over 500 schools, servicing thousands of endpoints. They’re in enterprise-grade conditions as far as the size and scope of the client, but their servicing is a very basic requirement. They just have telephones and dial tone and things to that nature. So no complexity to that client. Because of the fact that we play in that space, it’s really born on the fact that our service model is conducive to servicing larger clients. We have a large enough footprint. Those non-complex technologies, because we have a workforce that has a lot of experience, grew up with these product families. We’re not dealing with a lot of junior-type personnel.
In the hospitality space, it’s a little different play. They’re not as interested in the newer technologies. Hospitality has changed a lot. Most people don’t even use the phone in their room anymore. The cell phones have changed that. Essentially they’re looking for basic dial tone services. They’re looking at,… reliability is key. They’re looking about a way that their service can serve clients different to separate them from the other competitors, who are usually just down the street. In those spaces we have very large clients, thousands of rooms, etc. But they’re not our average. Really our average client is in around a hundred set range, but we do play into the bigger levels of enterprise, but it’s really based on the verticalization of that client.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusionslider name=”part-2-ken-macdonald” class=”” id=””][/fusionslider][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
Again we assumed the Avaya relationships through our original Nortel partnership. Essentially we’ve been really selling Nortel, now Avaya products for greater than 30 years. The one thing that separates us from the pack and the reason that we love Avaya is the fact that, it has a nice product family. It’s not specific to one application or one voice system, etc. It has many facets to it. If you look at the product road map that Avaya has, you’re talking about video technology, data infrastructure, your standard UC, and contact center applications and so on. That’s the sweet spot that we like to play in. It really leverages our one throat to choke approach, and the fact that we can go in with a full Avaya compliment and we’re doing everything, as I mentioned previously, except for the Desktop. They have one vendor to call and any issues there’s no more finger pointing between multiple vendors at that location. From our relationship with Avaya, we’re at a platinum level. We are at the highest level as partnership. It’s a space that we have to play in. A level of a status that we needed to achieve, so we can compete very strongly. When talking to clients, to get to platinum level, it’s not just about the amount of sales that we have with Avaya. But it’s the amount of products that we carry. The amount of certifications that we have internally with our staff. There is a big survey component to that, so how well our customers are feeling about, not only Avaya’s products, but how SmartIP is treating them, as we deliver those Avaya products. Those are all key elements. We fit the strategy very closely with Avaya strategy, and that’s why the relationship has done very well for both parties over the last many years.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
It’s a very good fit. Avaya provides, a suite that goes end to end with the exception maybe workforce management call reporting, or is that included as well?
They do it all. In the contact center space we’re currently cell 3, 3 other contact center products AECC, ACCS, and IP Office contact center. The way I’ve described them is really an enterprise level to small mom-and-pop shop. Essentially the bolt-on applications that go on to a contact center, workforce management, call recording, multimedia, etc. Experience portals and other product that would be in that family, those are all things that Avaya already has in the product suite.
You are satisfying a client no matter what the need is, and what the client size is, through Avaya, where in other manufacturers we sometimes have to walk away or retrench, because that product may be limited to either the amount of applications that it has, the size of the products, and comparing that to what the customer needs are.
It’s a very good fit. Avaya provides, a suite that goes end to end with the exception maybe workforce management call reporting, or is that included as well?
Definitely. The big thing is that, if you take the Avaya compliment, it’s an evolution of products versus other suppliers are really greenfield opportunities. Meaning if a customer is looking to replace it’s a rip and replace, where Avaya has done a very good job to have an evolution of product families, where its certain components can be retained, even going to the new, more prevalent applications and so on, sets as an example can be retained across product families. Certain applications can be retained across product families, because no customer has a big pocket full of money. What we do as a company is, be able to look at their current environment, make a recommendation based on what they think is the key criteria. Some of it is price, but it’s not always price. Some of it is timing, access to specific productivity enhancements that they would get out of the actual system or applications. What we do is, we take those myriad needs of a customer and we say…
We live in this industry every day. This is what we do for a living. We don’t try to do anything else, but we think we’re very good at this.
For someone to come in to this industry, that’s uneducated and doesn’t live in it and breathe in it every day, they don’t know the dynamics of what’s available for them. This is where we try to separate ourselves from the pack to say…
As your trusted adviser we have to provide you with the best solution based on your key criteria and the thing is, that we’re not here to sell you anything that would be considered throw away in your future, etc. It’s based on what you’re telling us is your plan over the next three to five, and sometimes seven to ten years, so these products will work for you for the period of time that you determine that they should.
I keep calling it the trusted advisor, because it’s the best description of what we do is that, we want the customer,… if Jose was here to give you an example to hear another way to describe it, is we sell comfort. Because once you start to do business with us is that, we take your issues as our own. We take those issues and say ”If we don’t do a good job with them, then we won’t have a happy client.” We go as far with our sales team as to say, we expect you to present something to a client that is so defined and meeting their key objectives, that they can socialize, take that single piece of paper or multiple pieces of paper, sending it to 10 people in the company and they’ll clearly understand what we wanted to accomplish, how we’re going to accomplish, the cost to accomplishment and the time frame it will be done in. That’s our job, so that’s where a trusted advisor says “We will make your job easier to do business with us”, and that would be a big separator compared to our competitors.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”0px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][one_full last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][tagline_box backgroundcolor=”description=” shadow=”yes” shadowopacity=”0.7″ border=”1px” bordercolor=”” highlightposition=”top” content_alignment=”left” link=”” linktarget=”_self” modal=”” button_size=”” button_shape=”” button_type=”” buttoncolor=”” button=”Learn More” title=”Ken MacDonald, General Manager” description=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””]Ken is responsible for all aspects of the customer experience at Smart IP, including system implementations, order fulfillment, customer service and technical support. Among his many attributes, Ken has a proven track record as a senior leader with extensive hands-on business management and technology experience.
I’ve been in the business for 25+ years prior to coming to SmartIP. Predominately in the Telco Space, I worked for Bell Canada. I grew up throughout the whole realm of Bell Canada, I guess that’s what was known for. I started in the mail room and finished as the director. There’s not many jobs I didn’t touch throughout my career. I started with the very basic functions and ended with the very complex, of course.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
SmartIP, probably the best way to describe it is, why I came here. Working for a large organisation for many years, I had a couple of goals that I wanted to achieve in my second career path, which was number 1 – work for a smaller firm, giving me more flexibility and more responsibility right down to the PNL. What I loved about SmartIP is that, even though it was a smaller firm, it’s a very historic firm. The main things that it’s known for is its 35+ years. Great survivor in this space, which is a very competitive environment. A lot of change that the company has had to adapt to, including a rebranding exercise that it went through in late 2007 to become SmartIP from its former name Lexis Networks. Second of all, the important piece for me was the fact that, it was historically known as the first Nortel reseller outside of Telco to be awarded a Nortel distribution contract. It’s got some very unique milestones throughout its life and it was something that hit home with me.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
How has IP telephony changed the telecommunication landscape?
From my point of view, I’ve been in the business so long that I’ve seen the birth of many technologies, IP being one of them. Essentially what IP has done for customers is similar to what the internet has done for customers, meaning that large enterprises always had an advantage in the investment and infrastructure and the complexities and the applications, that they were willing to purchase, that separated from their competitors. Now, most customers can buy enterprise-grade applications and technologies to compete with the big guys, and they can do it at a very low cost. IP has really changed the playing field, so people can be a lot more competitive. They can use a lot of these tools now to be a lot more productive. Of course, that would lead them for stronger growth models in the future.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusionslider name=”part-1-ken-macdonald” class=”” id=””][/fusionslider][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
SmartIP, I think the best way to describe the company is, because of our size is that we’re big enough to compete, we’re small enough to move fast. Decisions are made very quickly. Single owner who created the company through acquisitions, Jose Fernandez has managed the company through speed of execution and the ability to adapt to the changing environments of business and technologies. We don’t sit and fret about anything. We see curve balls either way from manufacturers or customers on a daily basis. Our ability to alter our business plan and take that curve ball and turn it into a fastball for our success, has really been the change in the company, that’s kept it moving in the right direction, which is growing every year. Maybe not always at the rates we wanted to, but it’s been a steady growth model, since the day I came here 8 years ago.
It’s not about trying to hammer on to somebody’s calendar. If it’s important for the business, it’s important for everyone in the company. We take that as our next priority.
For us the other thing that we were known for, for people that come and visit us, and our customers see is that, it is a family organization. We have more than Jose working here. There is internal relationships that make it a pleasant place to work, and the fact that as an example we have our own gym here. We try to enhance the employees’ lives through nutritional classes and so on, to make the customer experience less stressful, more what they’re used to and what they would like it to be, which is everything sold through a casual discussion.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
The sweet spot for SmartIP is the fact that everyone has a different philosophy on market. The two factors at our table is that SmartIP plays what I consider the mid-to-high end of SMB. Usually multi-site clients, usually a 100+ users in that organization. The reason that’s a sweet spot for us is that, essentially it gets them to a point where they’ve gone beyond the breadth of doing everything through an outsourced model. Essentially now they’re around where they have the higher internal IT staff, voice controllers, etc. to manage their business internally every day. That’s where SmartIP is a perfect fit for them. We go with the mantra that we want the ability to be the one throat that they have to choke to get the service complete. Essentially whether we are providing strictly voice services, or data infrastructure, video contact center, or our whole variety of products. It basically allows them to do everything through one vendor.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”10px” padding_bottom=”10px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text][dropcap color=”#5cb85c” boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]Q[/dropcap]
Do you also sell the maintenance plans and the support plans that go along with that?
When we talked about one throat to choke is, usually we’ll establish a relationship with a client. We’ll sell them their initial products. We will get those products in place.
The big thing about us is the other mantra that we state to our clients and we live with our clients, is that we want to be their trusted advisor. We’re not just selling you the products, we’re here to maximize the benefits of those products.
One of the things that we push at our clients is the whole change management philosophy. That is really built on what we call the 70-20-10 rule. Talking about the early adoption of technologies, our opening about IP is that we look at technology adoption as 10% of the early adopters. Not tough to sell them. They want the product. It’s like the people that will stand at every Apple Store, the day that they launch their next cell phone. There is that 10% in our base as well. The next chunk comes to the 70%. The 70% are clients that will come at their own pace. They’re interested in technology. They’d like somebody else to try it out, but essentially they know it’s part of their future. They’re more concerned about buying something and actually getting the right ROI on that product, over the life of the product overall. The 20% are the people that, it’s dial tone to them. They’re not real technology believers. It’s just a telephone. They don’t want it to be anything more than a telephone. It’s not something that’s going to change their business model, so we know that they are clients that we still have in our base, but essentially we let them just ride the curve as they see fit.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”0px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][one_full last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][tagline_box backgroundcolor=”description=” shadow=”yes” shadowopacity=”0.7″ border=”1px” bordercolor=”” highlightposition=”top” content_alignment=”left” link=”” linktarget=”_self” modal=”” button_size=”” button_shape=”” button_type=”” buttoncolor=”” button=”Learn More” title=”Ken MacDonald, General Manager” description=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””]Ken is responsible for all aspects of the customer experience at Smart IP, including system implementations, order fulfillment, customer service and technical support. Among his many attributes, Ken has a proven track record as a senior leader with extensive hands-on business management and technology experience.
Smart IP provides businesses with a Contact Center Solutions
August 3, 2016 SmartIP
Smart IP provides a strong Contact Centre portfolio to suite different needs. Contact Centre is a full suite of “call” handling and routing applications with powerful real-time and historical reporting. Through CTI (Computer Telephony Integration), Outbound and Multimedia applications, businesses can improve customer interactions and are better able to manage their resource pool.
Call Routing Management
Respond quickly and effectively to callers by delivering sophisticated call routing and management capabilities for inbound and outbound voice, multimedia (e-mail, text chat, video), and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI). Match the customer’s request with the most qualified agent for quicker “call” handling and customer resolution.
Real Time and Historical Reporting
Real time and historical reporting enable supervisors to optimize staff levels to accommodate fluctuating call volumes and to more efficiently manage the multimedia contact centre.
Monitoring
Smart IP quality monitoring and recording solutions will help ensure that your agents are delivering superior customer service.
Avaya Aura Contact Center 6.1 (AACC 6.1) is a context-sensitive, collaborative, voice and multi-media customer contact solution that allows enterprises to anticipate, automate and accelerate customer interactions. AACC 6.1 intelligently routes up to six simultaneous multimedia contacts to the most appropriate resource through a unified agent interface. By creating a complete view of the customer and the context of their interaction, AACC 6.1 allows enterprises and organizations to manage the customer experience in a way that consistently delivers a superior level of engagement. AACC 6.1 enables the ability to reach out to customers proactively, combines historic and real-time contextual information about a customer to improve the quality of interactions, optimizes agent utilization and productivity, and enhances supervisor performance to deliver superior customer experience and drive sustainable business growth.
CCE 5.0 adds new capabilities described within this solution brief including enhancements to email routing, agent chat greetings, and integration with Avaya Voice Portal, Call Recording, and Workforce Management. CCE provides multi channel contact center capabilities that translate into tangible business results.
Avaya NES Contact Center
Avaya NES Contact Center significantly expands functionality while greatly simplifying the tools used to implement, maintain, manage and use the system on a daily basis. Your business gains the flexibility to exceed customer expectations while maximizing operational effectiveness. As a modular, scalable, standards-based solution, Avaya NES Contact Center delivers the advantages of an all-in-one solution without the drawbacks: you can purchase just what you need, when you need it.
So whether you’re starting a new center, looking to manage multiple channels of communication or want to integrate outbound customer campaigns, Avaya NES Contact Center is the better and easier way to meet your objectives.
Nortel Networks Symposium Call Center Server helps you respond quickly and effectively to callers’ constantly changing priorities by delivering superior call management capabilities and utilizing the latest in communications technologies. It provides the solid foundation you need to help build profitable, long-term customer relationships.
Symposium Call Center Server delivers the solution your business needs to build customer loyalty and meet expectations in today’s highly competitive marketplace, setting a solid foundation for an extraordinary customer experience.
ShoreTel Enterprise Contact Center software provides advanced multimedia call center solutions for all organizations.
Sophisticated real-time management and reporting tools let organizations analyze their performance and measure the results.
The customer experience can be tailored to meet specific requirements with advanced routing, multiple service options, and tools that help deliver calls to the right agents and services at the right time.
Smart IP and Customer
Smart IP provides businesses with a Contact Center Solutions. Smart IP currently has Avaya, Nortel and ShoreTel Contact Center Solutions to provide to a clients. Smart IP is the dealer/distributor/provider/seller for Avaya, Nortel and ShoreTel Contact Center Solutions, we provide our services from several locations: Brampton (head office), Ottawa, Hamilton in Ontario, and many other locations all over the Canada. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at (905) 759-2660. We look forward to working with you and helping to decrease your communications costs.
