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ISPhone, Linksys Tries Educating SMEs |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Friday, 23 March 2007 |
Business
VoIP services provider, ISPhone, has announced it will take its stroy
to the SME market via educational breakfast briefings in an attempt to
combat the 60 per cent of the SME that do not yet understand why VoIP
might be a good idea.
According to Gavin
McDougal, Managing Director for ISPhone, the company realised it needed
to education SMEs on the value of VoIP after a survey conducted by
ISPhone at the end of 2006 showed that a lack of understanding was a major barrier to SMEs' take up of VoIP.
"Over 60% of respondents said that they just didn't understand why VoIP is useful for them," claims McDougal.
"SMEs
are the lifeblood of the Australian economy and VoIP can be a very
smart, low cost business tool that enhances their productivity and
bottom line beyond simply cost savings. The aim of the forums is to
explain VoIP in business, not technology, terms. SME managers want to
know what VoIP will do for their business, and the risks and realities
of implementation, so they can make an informed decision about a
deployment. At the moment they are bombarded by tech-speak which is
often a turn-off."
"There
are so many pieces to VoIP - the phones, software, network
infrastructure, internet connectivity and more - that need to be
understood and implemented properly. This can be a daunting proposition
for an SME; many of the smaller companies don't have an in-house
technology specialist to put everything together," said McDougal. "By
educating our Channel Partners and resellers they in turn will be able
to properly advise and best serve SMEs on business grade VoIP solutions.
Graeme Reardon, Regional Director ANZ, Linksys, says "There's
no doubt that VoIP is confusing for the SME community. This forum is
designed to demonstrate that a VoIP deployment doesn't have to be
complex. By taking the tech-speak out of the technology we can show
how coupling our SME VoIP equipment with ISPhone's dedicated secure
network doesn't have to be a headache - and will ultimately lead to
significant business benefits."
The
forum will include live demonstrations of VoIP solutions designed
specifically for SMEs and showcase local user stories to show that VoIP
really can reduce telephony costs and boost business productivity.
While the first of the forums will be co-hosted by ISPhone's partner,
Linksys, there seems no detail or commitment to further forums.
The first forum will be held on Tuesday, March 27 at the Cisco
building (Level 10, 80 Pacific Highway, North Sydney) from 8:00am until
10:00am (breakfast included). Regsiter at www.isphone.com.au.
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