My VoIP and UC blogs on IT Toolbox

Resellers have been around for years, acting as the "feet on the street" for companies targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for vendors in the voice world. Today, that support includes Voice over IP (VoIP) and unified messaging, as well.

Mark Essayian, founder and chief executive of KME Systems, has been a top reseller of Voice over IP (VoIP) business phone systems, unified communications (UC), networking, and end-to-end IT solutions for 15 years. Based in Orange County, California, Mark is a visionary for emerging technology-based IT solutions.

The need for a new phone system arises out of a few possible scenarios. Is your former phone system provider now defunct? Is the maintenance cost of your older system more expensive than an entire new system? Have you outgrown your former system? Do you require more current features as your company has evolved?

Bob Inpyn is the chief executive officer of Team One Networking, a long-time successful reseller in Sacramento, California. He is also a former Navy SEAL and one of the hardest working, toughest competitors I have ever worked with. Here Bob provides a real-time snapshot of the competitive market in his region today.

Are you considering an on-premises Voice over IP (VoIP) private branch exchange (PBX) system? Are you upgrading from an existing system and adding additional capabilities? There are many considerations when upgrading to a new system.

This is the second part of an interview with Bob Inpyn, the chief executive officer of Team One Networking, a long-time successful reseller in Sacramento, California. Bob provides a real-time view of his day-to-day work in the trenches competing with the largest vendors.

Are you considering Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)? Does it seem like the next logical step to improve your firm? The market growth for UCaaS is projected to be $4.7 billion by 2017, up from $1.3 billion in 2013 (Wainhouse Research, 2013 report). So if you are thinking about UCaaS, you are not alone.

Congratulations! After proper research and planning, you have selected a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solution for your firm. Now, everything you installed and planned for will work perfectly forever, right? It's in the cloud. Well, no. UCaaS is a technology solution that needs care like any other deployed technology.

The cloud has earned exceptional respect as a solution for businesses of all sizes as early adopters have accepted hosted solutions. As market acceptance grows, more businesses are now implementing Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), and more and more Voice over IP (VoIP) and UCaaS service providers are appearing on the scene, making user choice extremely challenging.

The cloud. Software as a Service. Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS). Hosted. Call it what you like, it translates to joining the mainstream movement from on-premises systems to the cloud for your mission-critical business applications. The debate with yourself, your firm, and your colleagues swirls around: I'm used to having complete control of my applications, especially my phone system.

Much has been written about WebRTC in the past year. The topic trends almost daily on social channels, and still many people don’t even know ...

Don Gulling, founder and president of Verteks Consulting, has been a top reseller of Voice over IP (VoIP) business phone systems, unified communications (UC), networking, and end-to-end IT solutions for 17 years-the most recent 8 years exclusively selling ShoreTel solutions. Customers were demanding better integration with Microsoft Outlook, so ShoreTel became his platform of choice.

You deployed hosted Voice over IP (VoIP) or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). It was supposed to be the best thing ever, but it's just not working as expected, and now your employees and clients have had enough. Calls are being dropped, and voice quality is poor.

Purchasing any new product or service for personal or business use is an individual decision process. Take, for example, getting a new smartphone. Most people's process is to look at four basic elements before making a purchase: (1) the phone delivers all the basics you have experienced and still require, (2) the look and feel of the screen plus ease of use, (3) new features desired, and (4) the emotional connection.

Mobile phones are the bomb: ask anyone under 30, and they will wonder how anyone older lived without one. Mobile phones for more experienced enterprise business leaders, however, are also considered "the bomb"-in the traditional disruptive and explosive manner.

Unified communications (UC) is one of those all-encompassing ideas that people claim they know they should be doing more with, will get to it soon, it might benefit them, and so on. In reality, these people are losing a serious competitive edge, because UC is an important way for businesses, employees, and customers to collaborate and communicate in real time.

We have experienced broad acceptance of mobile devices in the solutions world of voice over IP (VoIP) and unified communications (UC). Call it consumerization of IT, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), or simply smartphones and tablets used as end points, but the emergence and acceptance of mobile devices for our businesses are here and only getting bigger.

The world of collaboration and communications is experiencing a makeover across businesses of all sizes. Regardless of the size of your company, this makeover will change how you select and purchase products and services and more than likely how you communicate both internally and externally to achieve your business goals.

This is a debatable and impactful topic to many IP phone suppliers, resellers, and users. At ITEXPO this week in Miami, Florida, I interviewed many subject matter experts and got many points of view. For those who have seen my previous blog posts, I predicted the demise of IP handsets.

You have had it! Your Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) cloud provider has raised too many questions among your staff about lackluster tech support, inconsistent voice quality, and frequent outages. Far too many unplanned upgrades combined with a poor attitude from your previously trusted advisor (reseller) have caused you to rethink your decision.

You know the cliché, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Well, it does apply in some ways to voice over IP (VoIP) in 2015. Every year, features are advanced to offer users more unified communications (UC) capability, mostly delivering software applications that solve business problems. Mobile apps, communications-enabled business process apps, and continued movement to cloud-based apps are the most obvious enhancements as hosted VoIP experiences double-digit growth.

Why is it that every day, new apps appear on your firm's network? Some are downloaded onto employee desktops; others are on their mobile devices. Have you ever wondered why every day at 2 p.m. your browser windows paint the screen slowly or the network feels slow?

The cloud is upon us. The battle of on-premises versus cloud for applications is over. The cloud is a new source of revenue and a deployment option for your trusted advisors and service providers.

One of my favorite topics, this will be the first of a two-part series exploring whether it's time to ditch your desk phone. With that handled, I'll address why you might keep your desk phone. A lot has been written on this topic by friends, former colleagues, and subject matter experts, with clear applications and opinions from each.

Welcome to the second in a two-part series exploring when you should keep your desk phone. Part 1 addressed when to ditch your desk phone; now, this installment looks at the counterpoint. Traditional business phone systems and many cloud-based phone systems still consider desktop phones a staple.