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noted Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC and
IMS at Infonetics Research.
Hosted VoIP services in particular have hit their stride,
experiencing broad adoption among small, medium and
large enterprises.
That said, the competitive landscape for business services is
highly fragmented, with an increasing number of PBX and uni-
fied communications vendors, enterprise agents, system inte-
grators and resellers expanding into the market along with tra-
ditional service providers. The biggest challenges for businesses
evaluating hosted solutions are the wide variety of options avail-
able and inconsistent billing structures across the industry.
For those channel partners looking to tap the small busi-
ness market effectively, it pays to understand what’s driving
interest – and purchasing decisions – in this segment.
Communications Needs Diverse
Small business VoIP is one significant growth area, with
thousands of organizations looking for the right voice or
unified communications service that can converge audio and
data. According to a recent survey from Software Advice,
more small business buyers already use VoIP service (36
percent of the sample) than any other type of voice service
(POTS usage is at 24 percent, and PRI usage is at 11 per-
cent) – with many, many others evaluating the purchase of a
replacement product.
The study also shows that small business priorities
are varied.
For instance, buyers view call forwarding as the most criti-
cal PBX functionality. Indeed, more request call forwarding (29
percent) than even voicemail (25 percent) – a staple of small-
business communications – making it the most requested func-
tionality in the report. Most of the buyers who request call for-
warding say they want to send calls to mobile devices. Another
21 percent seek PBX systems with mobile compatibility.
Some businesses also value call reporting (7 percent)
and monitoring (6 percent) functionality, which are com-
monly used by call centers. Increasingly, call centers want
the information logged on call reports about inbound and
outbound calls, including phone numbers and call length,
served up in real time, along with the ability to monitor
calls without agents’ knowledge. Many of those buyers
that already use cloud-based phone systems, in particular,
request call reporting in the form of visual displays known
as dashboards.
Other businesses are interested in integrating VoIP soft-
ware with other kinds of business software (6 percent). Of
these buyers, three-quarters specifically want integrations
with customer relationship management (CRM) systems,
which help businesses store, organize and analyze data relat-
ed to customer interactions. For instance, call centers often
integrate phone systems with CRM systems so agents can
instantly view customer data during a call.
Another interesting trend is the need for a centralized
phone-system setup (cited by 7 percent). Some of these buy-
ers work at organizations with multiple locations that each
have their own PBX system. These multi-vendor setups can
Technology Adoption
Lags for Small
Business
Small business owners are facing significant headwinds when it
comes to adopting new technologies, network security and staying
connected with their customers in today’s highly competitive market.
According to Time Warner Cable Business Class’ second annual small
business technology survey, security remains a major area of focus
and continued education is needed to help small business owners
understand the offerings and benefits of outsourced security solutions.
A full 27 percent of survey respondents said that securing their network
from external threats is their biggest technology challenge today.
About a third – 33 percent – of small business owners manage their
own network security solutions, while 40 percent use a managed security
network solution from a third party. Unfortunately though, 27 percent of
small business owners do not have a security solution in place.
Other technology challenges facing small business owners
today include the fact that 32 percent find that keeping up with
the latest technology and upgrade trends is the greatest challenge.
Slow Internet was identified by 27 percent of respondents as a key
challenge, and 26 percent of small business owners have a tough
time dealing with securely backing up their data.
“Leveraging new technologies by small businesses is critical for
their ultimate success,” said Maureen Link, group vice president for
small business at Time Warner Cable Business Class. “Small business
owners are being stretched and challenged to meet the growing
demands of today’s consumer. Modern technology deployments
and services allow them to provide a memorable experience while
maintaining the trust and business of customers. Our latest survey
has also shown that small business owners are focused on keeping
their doors open and growing their business, not technology. We need
to continue to engage with our customers on the solutions out there
that will help enable them to exceed their business goals.”
Further data points have to do with growth areas. Social media
continues to be a growth opportunity for small business owners when
it comes to connecting with customers and prospective customers.
Facebook is the social platform of choice for small business owners,
with 60 percent of respondents using it regularly to promote their
business and connect with customers. LinkedIn is the second most,
used platform at 28 percent.
They’re making some progress here: 60 percent of small business
owners use social media to attract new customers to their business.
But 63 percent of small business owners do not use social media in
order to have a better understanding of their customers.
The survey also showed that Wi-Fi for customers can provide higher
rates of customer satisfaction when offered by small businesses: 74
percent of the small businesses that do offer Wi-Fi see business benefits
from a higher rate of customer satisfaction, repeat business and more
time and revenue spent within their business.Yet, most small businesses
(68 percent) do not provide free Wi-Fi to their customers today.
“As the world and consumers become more connected, businesses
need to continue to understand and implement technology that
makes their business more secure, efficient and attractive to
customers,” said Brian Allen, GVP and chief security officer for legal
and security at Time Warner Cable Business Class. “The stats from
our latest survey show that small business owners are focused on
their core business, while we need to continue to educate and engage
them on cost-effective ways to protect their business from the growing
threat of security attacks and technology disruptions.”
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Channel
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May - June 2015