The Technology works, But…
A Pioneer’s Tale

Telecommunications continues to be one of the most exciting industries in the world. In living memory, we’ve moved from cord-boards manned by real Operators, through step-by-step mechanical switches, on to digital switching, and now to IP-based telephony. We now live in a world where grandmothers in the “old country” can visit daily with their grand children thousands of miles away, using web cams and instant messaging, all for the monthly rate of broadband access.

Thanks to IP Centrex, we can have four-digit dialing to team members anywhere in the world with zero long distance charges and we can take our extensions with us to the beach, skiing or home, without anyone realizing we’re not actually in the office. With the looming convergence of wireless, cellular and wireline services, it is possible to see that IP will enable an “always on” capability that will keep us connected wherever we are.

Yet, for many people “VoIP” conjures up images of questionable quality, dropped calls, security problems, and 911 concerns. The technology clearly does work – much better than cellular networks to be sure. We all still grumble about service quality on cellular networks: we can often be heard to say things like “I’m heading into a black hole just now, if the call drops, I’ll call you back in ten minutes.” Or the infamous “can you hear me?” to which the answer in my experience is usually “no!” No one suggests that cellular is not “ready for prime time,” so why do we hear continuing concerns about VoIP? We have reached the point where IP technology is okay, so something else must be wrong. I suggest that the continuing uncertainly about VoIP, IP telephony and IP Centrex is fueled by the problems with the service providers’ business processes, procedures and policies – not the underlying technologies.

This is almost certainly due, in my opinion, to the immaturity of the business methods under which IP telephony services are offered. In my company, we are early adopters by choice, so we’ve seen this several times before. We’ve had service provided by a variety of CLECs for more than eight years. We’ve been IP Centrex users for more than three years. At home, I was one of first few hundred customers to sign up for Vonage. In each case, we’ve seen the evolution from customer service that initially was more “miss” than “hit” to a reliable, good quality service experience. Along the way, I know we’ve been guinea pigs for the design, and re-design, of several business processes including New Installation, Trouble Management, and Service Outage Credits.

From this vantage point, we’ll take a closer look at what’s really happening with IP Centrex, a technology that we believe will have the next significant impact on the incumbents and will be a platform that enables hundreds of “VNOs” (or resellers) to offer services tailored to specific needs and interests of small and medium businesses.

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