8 steps to becoming a UC expert

Step 2: Choose a communications platform

What communications platform will best suit your business? Different vendors have their own sets of requirements and approaches. Some will be more compatible with your organisation than others.
Instead of learning everything from scratch, look for a vendor that complements products you already work with.

If you are strong in Microsoft products then look at a voice vendor with strong Microsoft voice integration, Friend says. This doesn’t automatically mean choosing Microsoft, however, which Friend says can be very complicated to install.

One temptation is to select your current networking vendor for its VoIP range. Advantages include familiarity with the vendor’s other products, its culture and the way its channel operates. Selling more of one vendor’s range often means better pricing across the board, rebates or other benefits.

But Friend says resellers should consider carefully whether to put all their eggs in the one basket. “While it is good doing a lot with one vendor, if your customer decides not to go with that vendor for whatever reason you’re going to find it very hard to keep that engagement with them.”

Offering a greater choice by supporting two VoIP vendors will make the customer feel like you’re interested in helping identify the best solution rather than just clocking up another sale.
However, the complexity of unified communications means there is often a lot of overhead in certifications and training or extra staff hires to sell solutions.

These costs need to be balanced against the benefits of offering two vendors.

“If you go with two you’ve potentially got to spend twice as much training up. It’s not necessarily the right decision,” Friend says.

A VoIP vendor with a track record of working with your networking vendor is likely to have a complementary range. Don’t expect they will recognise each other’s certifications, though.
Make sure the product you want to sell is capable of delivering a high quality of service, says NEC solution strategist Steve Woff.

“It’s all about quality when it comes to voice. It has to be flawless, it can’t suffer from delays.”
A product should fit your customers’ intended usage, Woff says. Multiple sites need to survive in a disaster; if the WAN goes down the customer will still expect to make a phone call. The same goes for blackouts.

Security is another area to consider. Encrypted calls and messages, lockdown passwords and PIN codes on systems to avoid phishing attacks are all useful features, Woff says.