Future of small local phone system installer businesses? 18

[safenestvmem]

I was interested in what everyones thoughts and experiences are and have been on the future of the small/medium size local telephone system & even local IT business installers, the mom and pop family owned companies including the future of the Avaya product line?

Thank you. I look forward to your replies.

 

[AACon]

There is no fate but what you make.
That being said, I see alot of small businesses doing the local jobs for large business partners (at least that is how it is where I work).

-Austin
I used to be an ACE. Now I'm just an Arse.

 

[rojade]

The company I work for prefer selling hosted phone systems over the Avaya IP Office. Only when a customer knows the IP Office and asks specifically for it, then we sell them an IP Office. It is sad because the hosted system we sell and support doesn't give us the engineers all the tools to support the customers. We sell the Reinvent/Metaswitch hosted service.

Believe me, I prefer an IP Office, but many small offices are going with the hosted services because they can grow with them. They pay per sit and it is somehow really cheap. The IP Office is a lot better for companies that are willing to invest in a phone system thousands of dollars, and that's not the case of many mom and pop's companies out there.

 

[PrimeABTech]

Sadly Avaya will cancel the IPO. Too much faith that ACO will pay the bills. Clearly they didn't follow Microsoft and Nortel's merger in the early 2000s to create OCS.

 

[ipohead]

Vendors are keen to push hosted as it is a continuous revenue stream.

Most hosted services charge for the phones in the lobby, meeting rooms etc so you need to do your sums over at least 5 years.

I can see things moving to all IP but whether that will work for everyone is another question.

 

[Z-man]

I would concur. why sell the house when you can rent it for 5 times more? Everything, sadly, is going to eventually be hosted and there is not going to be a large market for a local phone vendor. We have even begun to look at hosted solutions so we aren't being left behind. Covid is probably one of the biggest reasons. You have seen a dynamic shift in the way people live and work, which lends to more benefits of hosted that you didn't have before.

 

[IamaSherpa]

Leaving apart the hosted model I think that not so many know exactly what does it mean ACO in terms of revenues for the business partner. The reseller just have royalties for sold licenses BUT (!!!) the owerniship of the contract is Ring Central. A part the ACOs features (compared with the IPO ecosystem), where is the real advantage in selling ACO for the Business Partner, how many thousands of licenses should sell to survive? And which is the value added of the reseller if no implementation, no config, no maintenance ?

 

[derfloh]

Sadly Avaya will cancel the IPO.

I've seen such "information" during the last five years or perhaps more... But what I see is that Avaya continues to enhance Aura and some time later IPO gets the same or at least similar features.

So I - personally - don't see that Avaya will cancel IPO in the near feature.

IP Office remote service
IP Office certificate check
CLI based call blocking
SCN fallback over PSTN

 

[budbyrd]

Most of IPO customers are in the 50+ seat range. The mom and pop 20 and under usually go with hosted. We use local small shops for our hands on work for our national accounts. Hopefully all the small vendors don't fold.

Dermis and feline can be divorced by manifold methods.*
*(Disclaimer for all advise given)--'Version Dependent'

 

[tac84]

I can't see why there wouldn't still be a demand for the local installer/maintainer. Think of all of the IPO systems out there and other brands of course. The cloud solution can add up very quickly and isn't for everyone. All the advertising you see online is for cloud but once clients do the numbers and add up the costs per seat, makes much more sense to go for the traditional IPO and expand when you need it by way of licenses. Most telcos have unlimited call plans with their services too and SIP trunks are dirt cheap.

Don't get me wrong I don't mind Avaya Cloud Office but it makes no sense for home offset setup where I'm running 5-6 extensions, already own the hardware and use SIP trunks. I can upgrade my IP Handsets when I want. If I was on ACO, I would have a monthly fee for every handset. Even If I only had a couple of handsets before you know it you've paid for the hardware several times over by way of the monthly fee per seat. Just my opinion.

Thanks, Tim
Adelaide, Australia

 

[solo tech]

thanks for info i am a installer/maintainer,designer,i tend to agree in that it seems like they dont think someone is going to do the math,,why rent when can charge 5x for rent then there those that buy vs.rent right!or someone on the clients side to do the math or advise accordingly

 

[teletechman]

Sadly if you look at Avaya's website there is no mention of the IPO you cannot find any lit on it or any thing about it, kind of telling what Avaya thinks about it. You can't keep a product that you don't market! I just need it to make it another 10-15 years before I retire, hope this happens but not holding my breath.
Mike

 

[ipohead]

Thanks Teletechman.

I found devices but it only shows

Choose Compatibility

Avaya Cloud Office

Avaya OneCloud UCaaS

Avaya Spaces

 

[random192]

I'm glad to see a lot of the big fish like Avaya and Mitel push hard towards cloud while depreciating their premise-based offerings. I still run into plenty of customers that crunch the numbers and realize prem still works out cheaper. I've also started hearing people talking about how the "honeymoon" with cloud is over now that a lot of customers have had a chance to dip their toes in for a few years and see how the cost start adding up. Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard some statistics in the last month that showed and a substantial jump nationwide in local municaplities reversing course and leaving the cloud for more traditional options. I delight at peeling away savvy folks by offering solutions tailored to what's best for the client vs what's best for the provider.

 

[random192]

There are also now solutions where you can have the best of both worlds. You can just purchase PBX software setup to run in AWS instances for a one-time cost and spin your system up in the cloud without paying per seat per month.

 

[AvayaRed]

You also have to look at it at this point of view, Avaya as a vendor does not want to sell one time perpetual licenses and chase upgrades. They want to get recurring revenue so customers don't go 5+ years without an upgrade and only get maintenance (some customers don't even pay maintenance). IP Office is a very strong PBX and has great features but in the long term Avaya does not want that to be the future of the company and that is why you always hear "Avaya is now a cloud company with ACO, CPaaS and CCaaS". Customers and Partners may want "On-Prem" PBX's but if the vendors don't sell/support it anymore (look at Cisco, Ring, Mitel, Microsoft as they are all focusing on cloud just like Avaya), it really does not matter. From a customer stand point, it does cost more money in the long term for cloud but Avaya does not want another Nortel situation where the Norstar and CS1000s do not break and customers don't upgrade for 20+ years. If you have an IP Office with a good Tech, that thing can last you 20 years without an upgrade easily but in that situation, Avaya gets revenue on the licenses and hardware one time and they don't see a dime for the next 20 years (if the customer does not pay maintenance).

 

[ipohead]

It looks as though the latest policy on upgrading pricing isn't going to help.

 

[budbyrd]

@ipohead We sell them IPOSS and wait a month or so and then upgrade when they don't charge you a second time for your licenses.

Dermis and feline can be divorced by manifold methods.*
*(Disclaimer for all advise given)--'Version Dependent'

 

[safenestvmem]

Budbyrd could you explain what an IPOSS is and what your post meant about the second license charges please?

 

[crumthwacket]

It’s disingenuous to think that Nortel and Avaya products are so well designed and built that the manufacturer will go bankrupt because customers won’t buy more from them.

The real problem is the subscription model the financial wizards have decided is best.