What Does Cloud VoIP–UC Consolidation Mean to Your Phone System?

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Regardless of whether you’re an end user or a reseller, you may be affected by the continuous

consolidation taking place in the voice over IP (VoIP) and unified communications (UC) market.

Industry experts say that consolidation is growing at a rapid pace, from approximately $35

billion in 2015 to approximately $95 billion by 2023. To achieve these lofty projections, there

will be a significant change in the landscape. This shift in the market may affect your VoIP/UC

system—and your business—in several ways:

• Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. On-premises private branch exchange (PBX), UC, and VoIP

companies will wither without rich cloud-based solutions. They need great, integrated

cloud solutions to grow, driving the market shift.

• The larger VoIP and UC companies will continue to acquire smaller cloud and UC

companies to grow their customer base, expand their technology portfolio, and add

innovation.

• The choices for smaller VoIP and UC companies will be to remain boutique, be swallowed

by a larger company, or simply go away.

• Changes in the vendor landscape will emerge. For example, Microsoft’s VoIP/UC features

are becoming more complete this year and, coupled with Microsoft Office 365, will

become a major solution across all market segments. This shift threatens all PBX and UC

manufacturers that don’t stay on top of their cloud game.

• Smaller, more agile and innovative companies will include easier-to-use application

programming interfaces and software development kits to help resellers and businesses

to integrate third-party applications, making existing mobile, messaging, back-end

business application software; software-defined everything; and Session Initiation Protocol

(SIP) trunking even more pervasive and valuable.

Impact on ResellersResellers will probably be challenged more than end users when their vendor VoIP or UC

partner is acquired. They lose time and focus while the acquirer rationalizes the merged and

overlapping product and service offerings. Both parties are distracted during this process. The

ultimate goal is to support the vendor business, expand its offerings, and win more business.

Resellers can gain significant and broader product and service offerings if this process is done

well. Channel support may improve (or not), and products and services may actually be more

complete and stable (or not).

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In addition, during this time of distraction competitors often target resellers with new offers

and special promotions to get the reseller to switch rather than wait. It’s a good time for the

vendor to explore while these competitors are offering more to attempt to steal them from the

company that acquired it. Each situation is unique, so resellers must open their eyes and minds

to new choices and work the new relationships to be successful and keep the firm’s business

intact.

Vendors should consider the following suggestions:

• Prepare for change.

• Evaluate options.

• Ask for new road map of products and services from the acquiring company.

• Ask the company questions about everything—channel management, changes in discount

structures, support, business reviews, coop programs, etc.

• If you’re a member of a peer group, talk to others and discuss options.

• Identify risks, pitfalls, and upsides, and develop a plan for each.

• List concerns and discuss them all with the new company. Possible issues include toll-free

services, SIP trunking, billing, operations, commissions, reporting, types of phones, mobile

apps, local number portability procedures, and support.

Impact on End UsersA large enterprise PBX provider acquired your VoIP/UC provider. Your colleagues and industry

peers warn you that the winds will change following the acquisition. You panic: “Holy Cow, how

much time do I have?”

You call your reseller—the trusted advisor from whom you purchased your VoIP/UC system—

and learn that they are in high gear themselves, anticipating how the acquisition will affect

their business. They are already exploring alternatives to better serve their customer base and

remove potential panic or even lose you to another solution. You discuss options with each

other about what to do next.

End users are mostly buffered from these acquisition challenges, but some end users are

affected more than others. Possible impactful items include direct service models from the

acquired vendor, long-term contracts, service disruptions, and special commitments between

your company and the acquired vendor.

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When the acquiring company completes its product and service rationalization, your VoIP/UC

implementation may be affected by being discontinued, commitments made by the vendor may

no longer be delivered, and you may be forced to upgrade or swap out systems or services.

Keep in mind, however, that this could be a great opportunity to enhance your implementation.

You could land an improved system with advanced capabilities and better support. In the spirit

of customer retention, the acquiring company may even offer you special incentives to upgrade

rather than move to another supplier.

End users should consider the following suggestions:

• Be patient: Don’t panic.

• Prepare for change.

• Ask your reseller or trusted advisor about everything related to your business and the

VoIP/UC system.

• Evaluate your options, talking to colleagues, your reseller, and industry peers.

• Identify any potential new hidden costs, such as increased service or upgrade costs.

• Identify resources available to you.

• Determine whether support or maintenance will change in any way.

SummaryWith market consolidation happening at record rates across the globe, such a change can

happen to anyone. Each situation will be different, but use this whitepaper as a guideline for

developing your own plan regardless of whether you’re a reseller or an end user.

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