Don't Forget Voice When Drafting Business-Continuity Services

By Zane Conkle

Zane Conkle

There’s a strong and growing opportunity for MSPs when it comes to selling voice over IP (VoIP) services. While this market was previously dominated by telcos, the need for managed IP-based voice services makes this technology a potentially lucrative new line of business for MSPs, too.

According to Persistence Market Research, the global market for VoIP services will exceed $190 billion by 2024, driven by continued enterprise expansion, increased availability of high-speed internet and adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) policies at many companies.

For MSPs new to the space, however, it can be challenging to tie the VoIP opportunity into their existing services portfolio. For clients with traditional PBX (private branch exchange) or POTS (plain old telephone service) systems, they may have security and business continuity concerns with VoIP. For example, they’ll ask, “If we’re using a VoIP solution, what happens to our voice communication capabilities when the internet goes down?”

It’s a valid question. So, what’s the answer? Phone communication remains a critical part of most enterprise operations, both external and internal. Any disruption to voice communications can be just as catastrophic to many businesses as a network or server outage, which is why all businesses need voice-continuity services.

Don’t Leave Voice Out of the DR/BC Conversation

As an MSP, you already protect your clients’ data and applications with backup and disaster recovery (BDR) services and tools. But what about voice infrastructure? The fact is, voice is often left out of the business-continuity conversation, and that’s a mistake too many MSPs are making.

With a voice-continuity offering, you can bridge client conversations about VoIP and BDR, providing a package of protection that covers both voice and data.

Voice continuity is an extension of business continuity; customers who are familiar with that concept will see the value. VoIP solutions and new voice-continuity services have advanced in such a way that MSPs can now offer clients the same level of protection for their voice network they already have with their data, applications and IT infrastructures.

Get Clear Insights into Your Customer’s Voice Network

A powerful voice-continuity solution will include an active intelligence-monitoring service, giving MSPs clear insights into their customers’ voice network performance. The solution will also address the full scope of VoIP-related customer concerns, including quality of service (QoS), low latency and automated failover.

MSPs need to be able to deliver voice with confidence, and having intelligence (e.g., deep analytics to identify and track call quality issues sooner) combined with voice continuity enables effective business communication.

Voice continuity provides an easily understandable entry point for client conversations around VoIP services, and it permits voice and data-protection services to be packaged in a way that ensures complete business continuity. While there is certainly revenue to capture in the VoIP space, a robust voice offering also helps MSPs capture more of their clients’ business. Voice continuity makes it easier to combine the data and voice conversation — all while providing additional protection.

Zane Conkle is an accomplished SaaS leader with broad marketing and technical expertise for developing successful, service-oriented brands. He is co-founder and CEO of Cytracom. Follow him on LinkedIn or @zaneconkle or @cytracom on Twitter.