By Paul Waadevig
Senior Consultant, Unified Communications
Frost & Sullivan
September 2009
Increasingly, medium and small companies need a full suite of conferencing services to compete in a decentralized competitive environment. I'm sure that any SMB company that markets in the B2B or high-end B2C space recognizes that a professional corporate web site is essential to project an image of legitimacy and substance. However, a number of business owners and managers have overlooked the fact that a professional suite of conferencing services can be just as important in projecting the correct image. In these times where small businesses are going out of business, the last thing a small or medium business wants it to be perceived as is less than rock solid.
For most companies with less than 1000 employees, audio conferencing services would be the best option over on premises bridging. The initial capital equipment expense and ongoing management looks rather unattractive compared to a service where the cost can be incurred over time as an operational expense. Also, integration of web services is seamless with a conferencing service provider (CSP). Increasingly, web conferencing is becoming a critical component for the overall communications suite. The total global 2008 SMB web/audio conferencing market was $446 million and is expected to grow to $1.1 billion by 2014. Of that growth, web conferencing is expected to significantly outpace audio.
But, not all CSPs are created equal and the service providers that target the SMB market come to the conferencing and collaboration market from very different backgrounds and bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the table.
Using the Right Provider for the Right Communication
The chart below indicates features ranked by SMB users on a scale of one to 10 broken out by what type of CSP is used by the respondent. The vast difference in preferences shows how the three types of providers fill a different niche in the market. For example, toll free access - where a "1-800" number is used to call into the bridge - is very important for users of full service and web focused CSPs but not to those that use free or low cost audio providers.
With vast differences in functionality and price, putting together a suite of services from different types of CSPs may be a viable solution for many companies. Unlike enterprises, small and medium businesses rarely have the conferencing volume to garner discounts from the CSPs, so there's little or no downside to having multiple providers for different needs. Generally, there are three different decision criteria that should be examined for each call and web session:
1. Is the session exclusively internal to the company or external facing?
2. Is the success of the session critical to the business?
3. How many individual participants will be on the call? A call of 20 participants or less is generally "small" with more than 50 participants "large."
With these criteria in mind, an appropriate service can be chosen for each call/web session. Following is an example of a cost savings strategy that will still provide top level conferencing services to those sessions that require it:
Ultimately, a balance of cost, service and functionality for different types of calls will provide a small or medium business with the optimum ROI on their overall conferencing suite. However, if your company is growing at a fast pace and you don't want to deal with different CSPs, default to a full service CSP, such as ACT as a sole provider. Only the full service CSP will be able to cover all types of needs and will provide you with one customer service avenue should special needs or problems arise.