On Rad's Radar Archives - Page 47 of 376

Services Partners Should Take a Look at

Been reading a bunch of press releases about feature announcements. Yawn! So I decided to poke around and see what services that are interesting for partners. I know you don’t have time to look at everything, so here are a few.

If you read this blog last month, then you know first up will be SD-WAN. This technology is going to change things for carriers and customers. This tech will allow customers to have monitoring, analytics, failover and a view into their WAN. It won’t matter what pipe – 4G, 5G, fixed wireless, copper, fiber, cable modem – the customer will have a layer of monitoring and transparency that wasn’t available before.

SD-WAN is going to allow even small offices to have disaster recovery with a choice of broadband – DSL, cable or 4G. Packet shaping, load balancing and more.

We looked at TelePacific, Velocloud, Escessa and Aryaka last month. EarthLink rolled it out (Mettel did too) with talk about one box (one appliance on the customer premise) will be the router, firewall, switch, et al. Simplifying the borders with SD-WAN. It all goes back to the SDN control panel at the carrier. If it all rolls out as planned, this will be the next Integrated T1 for CLECs.

Monitoring circuits is in. A couple of master agencies have bought in. AireSpring offers AireNMS (monitoring) for its circuits. SD-WAN will provide that built-in.

CenturyLink launched something that looks like SD-WAN (and they talk about an orchestration layer which is SDN talk). They launched “Runner, a configuration management and orchestration service that works across hybrid-IT architectures and diverse cloud environments.” [CPonline]

SMS will come up often – in Push-to-talk technology as well as on landlines. This will extend the usefulness of copper for the ILECs. SMS will also be a part of the contact center platform. Companies will want customer service reps to be able to handle SMS/text as well as social media communications. We just saw this with MITEL’s features PR. Vonage buying Nexmo (and twilio set to IPO) suggest that SMS via API is growing.

Take text and add AI (artificial intelligence) for businesses to automate answering frequently asked questions, like hours, directions, parking, daily specials, events, etc. There are a few companies in this including Thomas Howe’s KISST and a former ITEXPO exhibitor, Biztexter.

Not many folks jumped on the MDM (mobile device management_ wagon. Well, after MDM leader, AirWatch, was acquired by VMware some were skeptical. In 2014, there were signs that it would change desktop management for laptops and iPads (see here). Next a consulting firm, CapGemini, looked at what they had to help them design this product called Workspace One . It takes the BYOD mess and adds some security and organization to it by delivering and managing any app on any device via enterprise mobility management. Think about the way you can sign-in across Android devices to see the same apps. Kind of like that mixed with desktop-as-a-service type thinking. CapGemini white labels it (see pdf). I wonder who else will?

Congress just got hit with Ransonware. Cyber-security and data backup will become critical for businesses. XO took a step towards this with its XO Site Securitythat integrates firewall and threat intelligence technology from Fortinet and managed security services from BAE Systems. (No idea why XO is NOW rolling out new products. They will be Verizon this time next year!)

BitTitan knows that Microsoft will own a good chunk of the business market with Azure, Skype for Business, Office365 and more (There are a number of Platinum and Gold Microsoft partners beefing up their Office365 practice now.). They added an Upsell engine! Plus are rolling out OneDrive for Off365. Microsoft just announced that they will revamp Sharepoint to compete with Slack and Dropbox.

SLACK. (That is all.)

Tags: agents, byod, channel partners, landline, MDM, microsoft, SDN, security, sms, WAN, xo
Related tags: monitoring circuits, monitoring, management, technology, microsoft, partners

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On the Channel Hamster Wheel with PlumUC – Jan 11, 2016

News Tidbits Part 2920 – Oct 15, 2015

An SDN-WAN Primer for Channel Partners – Sep 01, 2015

A Chat with IPR’s Channel Chief – Sep 22, 2014

Channel Programs Have Changed – Nov 29, 2013

The Alternate to Cloud – Aug 15, 2012

What Else Are You Going to Sell? – Mar 04, 2012

Are VAR’s the New Agent? – May 27, 2011

Super Charging the SIP Trunk – Mar 17, 2011

A Brief Talk with XO’s Tom Gorey – Dec 27, 2010

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Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

May 10, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Startup Advice for Non-Starups

The topic of Startups is a favorite of mine. Over the years, I have worked with a number of startups. I have been a Mentor at Startup Surge, StartupCamp and other events. Co-founded BarCamp Tampa Bay where startups begin their journey in this area. Yet find that some of the advice that startups get is missed by companies in growth mode or who have been around a while because they think that it is only for startups.

Companies hire me to visit, talk to their employees, listen, poke, prod and report back what I am seeing. This gives the business owners an extra set of eyes without the filter of the familiar (you see it everyday so you may not recognize it, like paint on the wall).

Here are some pieces of advice for non-startups (or companies that want to re-energize or act like startups):

Present clear mission and vision statements. Why? Exactly. As Simon Sinek says, Start with Why. People want to work with purpose, for more than just the dollar. You give them a Why with a clear vision and mission.

“No matter the state of the current fundraising environment, presenting a strong business plan can be the difference-maker that convinces someone to take a chance on your business.” I often hear mentors say that a business plan is a waste of time. Huh? You need one to take to the bank. The whole underlying purpose of business planning is to be strategic, get clear and think through the idea. That is never a waste of time.

Zeroing in on customer needs. This is the tough one. We just saw a fiber company go BK because there just wasn’t enough customer demand. You have to sell something that people will buy from you. In Hosted PBX, it took almost ten years to get traction.

Mentoring helps. Coaches, mentors and master mind groups are all designed to help you grow. “Wealth is a team sport,” says Loral Langmeier. You can’t do it alone.

Now this may be aimed at startups, but it is solid business advice: “Barring a broader economic slowdown, we don’t expect a secular decline in venture capital markets. That being said, we would encourage every tech startup CEO and decision-maker to tread carefully in the months ahead. To succeed long term, the name of the game will be financial prudence, careful growth and a customer-focused approach to innovation,” from Jaidev Shergill, Managing Partner, Capital One Growth Ventures.

Ben Evans writes, “There are very strong deterministic forces that drive the industry forward – Moore’s Law, network effects, economies of scale, migration of value up the stack and so on. But there’s also a strong element of chance and luck. Great talent and execution and great ideas are part of the mix, but sometimes you’re also in the right place at the right time.”
Timing is just as important !!!!

Looking at the failures at RIM and Nokia, Evans says that the failure was a decision made 5 years earlier as they mapped out what the company would do / become. That decision is what missed the boat. Interesting because he mentions AOL and Yahoo! falling asleep for 10 years. And I look at the ILECs to see how they made a pivot to cellular not realizing cable was going to eat their lunch. Bell Labs was gone. They were busy consolidating, not watching their ass or planning for the future.

Good luck!

Tags: advice, startup, strategy
Related tags: startups companies, advice startups, startups, business, years, advice

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The Start-up Money Mentality – Dec 19, 2013

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May 5, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Replaced by a Robot

There is a constant theme in some media about workers being replaced by robots. Many people think it won’t happen to them. Well, it kind of already is.

You know all those comparison quoting sites? Like GetVoIP and Expert Market? People can get quotes from 3 or more vendors for HPBX or VoIP? That is replacing YOU!

If you just present some quotes without some discovery questions, a website will do just as well. (Your only advantage is they can call you.)

If you don’t deliver solutions that produce business outcomes, you will be replaced by GeoQuote*.

* btw, Patrick Osborn congratulations on the two patents!

A side note: I read that we call everything Robots until we don’t. Like a garage door opener is a robot. Drones are robots. Websites, personal assistants (like Siri, Alexa, Cortana) can be robots. Food for thought.

One last note: Amazon is selling Comcast services and VoIP installation. You will need to step up your game a little.

Tags: agents, hosted pbx, sales, sellecom, selling, voip, web 2.0, web apps
Related tags: robots, replaced

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Cloud Comms On the Rise – Dec 28, 2015

Where is the VoIP Market is Going? – May 11, 2015

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May 5, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Follow the Money

Where is the investment money going?

Did you see that Apple had a revenue problem? Not as many iPhones are selling. “Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) says the mobile wave, which is split between mobile phones (voice/SMS) and smartphones, is coming to an end, and the next obvious market for growth is cars.” Ben’s blog is here and the slide deck is here.

The Autonomous car has big investment from everyone from GM to Apple to Google to Tesla to hundreds of other companies. It is where we are heading. (It is just another robot!)

Robotics. Global investment in robotics doubled from 2014 to 2015 to almost $600M, according to Financial Times. Robotics is going to replace a ton of workers.

Life Science (or biotech) is still healthy. From cancer treatments to testing, investment in this sector is still good, largely because R&D spending at Big Pharma has shrunk in total dollars due to consolidation. Also, Big Pharma drug pipelines are lean; they tend to buy new drugs, treatments and tests these days.

The ancillary to this is the IoT Healthcare sector which saw a rise of 20% in 2015 investment, according to CB Insights. One problem being faced is clinical efficiency, which is tracking treatments to boost the effectiveness of healthcare providers as well as to improve the delivery of healthcare in hospitals and clinics via connected devices/objects. That takes us into wearables, ingestables, brain sensors, home monitoring and more. A lot of cool stuff in this space, especially happening here in Tampa Bay.

In Colorado and California, cannabis startups are the rage. Legal marijuana sales are tracking at 3x Coke’s bottle water sales.

Education technology is also seeing investment, but our education system sucks, so I am ignoring it for now.

CHATBOTS, PERSONAL ASSISTANT and Other forms of AI

Matt Swanson, Paula Bernier and others think that “chatbots will cause a near-term disruption in how businesses interact with consumers, and a long-term paradigm shift in how people interact with machines.” See Matt’s article on VB.

Paula writes about Facebook, chatbots and customer service here. Thomas Howe wrote, “As alternatives to websites and to mobile apps, Chat bots, digital assistants and intelligent agents are the quick and efficient way to connect your employees and customers to your business.” Companies like BizTexter and KISST are already shipping services (and they did it before Facebook!)

Financial Technology is looking good. When there is a best of list of conferences for a sector, you know there is money there. The Fintech startup scene, according to CB Insights, has been healthy for a while. Pretty much the way Craigslist sucked a lot of revenue out of newspapers, banking startups will suck some profitable lines of business from Wells Fargo and other large banks. Hopefully.

BTW, Payments startups saw a shift in the last two quarters. Digital wallets like Apple Pay are here. Investments will slow as winners start to emerge (like in the ride sharing space).

SIDE NOTE:

Latency Arbitrage is why latency matters to anyone in financial. Listen to why.

Tags: customer service, healthcare, IOT, robotics, technology, trends, vc
Related tags: investment, chatbots, mobile, treatments, startups, money

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May 4, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Follow the Money

Where is the investment money going?

The Autonomous car has big investment from everyone from GM to Apple to Google to Tesla to hundreds of other companies. It is where we are heading. (It is just another robot!)

Robotics. Global investment in robotics doubled from 2014 to 2015 to almost $600M, according to Financial Times. Robotics is going to replace a ton of workers.

In Colorado and California, cannabis startups are the rage. Legal marijuana sales are tracking at 3x Coke’s bottle water sales.

Education technology is also seeing investment, but our education system sucks, so I am ignoring it for now.

CHATBOTS, PERSONAL ASSISTANT and Other forms of AI

BTW, Payments startups saw a shift in the last two quarters. Digital wallets like Apple Pay are here. Investments will slow as winners start to emerge (like in the ride sharing space).

SIDE NOTE:

Latency Arbitrage is why latency matters to anyone in financial. Listen to why.

Tags: customer service, healthcare, IOT, robotics, technology, trends, vc
Related tags: investment, chatbots, mobile, treatments, startups, money