Understanding the need for cloud voice
Mark Sher, VP of Intermedia’s cloud voice solutions, shares his insight on the growing need for cloud voice in the unified communications market and his thoughts about why your company should start selling voice.
Our data-focused channel partners have built significant businesses helping companies through their digital transformation. In the past, the barriers to getting into selling voice were massive. The “phone guys” had to have their own network, their own specialized hardware, tools, etc. – it was a time consuming, costly commitment. Thankfully, those barriers have come down for businesses that have a true teammate who will come alongside them to help them sell.
However, prevalent and persistent myths are holding many of these data partners back from taking advantage of a giant opportunity.
What are the big myths holding data-focused associates back? Here are some common reasons I’ve heard:
- Voice is difficult to understand
- Selling is tough and sales support is limited at best
- Installation is complex and expensive
- Support and billing will eat up my profits
- Cloud voice doesn’t have the quality and reliability
- You can’t add value to someone else's solution
- I can’t own the customer relationship
In addition to the above, the most commonly communicated deterrents we hear revolve around taxes, general understanding of phone systems, and questions about internal resources.
Everything about Intermedia’s cloud-based voice offering, down to even handling the taxation for partners, is designed to eliminate these headaches and make selling voice easy. We help remove these things that were once obstacles with features like sales support and online sales training, an automated marketing platform where integrated campaigns can be branded in the partner’s own name, online quoting, free onboarding support, and proactive network testing tools.
There is an expanding market for services that quickly helps clients, further business goals, and provide an efficient user experience. That’s where voice comes in and helps fill that gap.
According to Frost and Sullivan Research, the size of the North America Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) market in 2017 is $12 billion and there is a huge market opportunity ahead for those in the voice game. In fact, with the market forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17% through 2022, this field is expected to reach an amazing $31 billion in 2022.
The question partners need to ask themselves then is – if selling voice is easy and profitable, what’s stopping you from getting in the game? And, if you don’t get in the voice game, the more pressing question to ask yourself is – what will be stopping competitors from selling voice to your customers along with the other services that you offer?
Making sure you have the right solution to your problem is just as important as realizing you have a problem that needs to be fixed. So, for those already in the cloud voice game, are you confident that you are with the right partner? The market for voice is continuing to grow and that’s why it’s time to take a closer look at how it can benefit you and your company’s future.