Frank, or anyone? This is a great story in the fact that defining a CTI/Desktop line because of standards and government interventions is a difficult one.
But down through the story, the paragraph below posed a very good question>
*One challenge new CTI players often face is how to handle the frequently tough negotiations with telephone companies, as well as regulatory tangles that can occur-issues that do not usually affect the software business, Infinet's McCaskill said.*
Do you think that part of what he said, "negotiations with telco companies", could have anything to do with CIT restrictions imposed by local Bells, or the phone companies offering local service to these corporations?
In other words, is it possible that come ILECs/LDs are now writing letters to corporations, instructing them that in order for any "form of telco service, i.e. CTI/others should be approved by their local carrier?
My initial thoughts are that when applying CTI to the Desktop, and possibly IP to co-locations or branch offices, why would telco-negotiations be involved in the first place? Maybe I'm off base here, anyone?
VARs weigh in on CTI -- New Rules For Resellers Accustomed To Data World
December 1, 1998
COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS As some
corporate software resellers contemplate
entering the computer-telephony integration
(CTI) market, existing CTI VARs warn
potential new entrants that the rules of
software reselling do not necessarily apply
when telephone lines come into the
technology picture.
In fact, melding the two worlds can be
chock-full of contentious issues, veteran
executives warned potential upstarts.
"I would recommend anybody jumping into
this business take a long, hard look at it or
they're going to find themselves wallowing
around trying to figure out what they are in
the CT world," said Leon McCaskill, president
of CTI reseller Infinet Inc., Addison, Texas
(see accompanying story).
The CTI space recently has been fraught
with battles over standards and government
intervention, and the result has been a soft
market with few hot-selling products, CTI
VARs said. But some resellers outside this
expanding space said they continue to see
potential in the once-ballyhooed combination
of telephony and desktop PCs.
For its part, Softmart Inc. is considering
making a move into the CTI space, said Elliot
Levine, president of the Downington,
Pa.-based software reseller.
"We're moving in that direction," Levine said.
"The technology seems to be merging."
However, CTI resellers and developers
indicate that just the opposite may be
happening.
Ongoing battles over technology standards
and misdirected sales pitches have jumbled
the market to the point that it has become
hard to define, making it a treacherous
venture for resellers not already experienced
in CTI, said Jeff Holtmeier, president of
Q.sys, a Cincinnati-based software developer
and systems integrator.
"It's been way too complicated," Holtmeier
said. "No one has done a good job [defining
CTI]."
One challenge new CTI players often face is
how to handle the frequently tough
negotiations with telephone companies, as
well as regulatory tangles that can
occur-issues that do not usually affect the
software business, Infinet's McCaskill said.
In fact, those resellers accustomed to
building innovative systems in the "data
world" will be surprised by the restraints of
regulation in the telephony space, he said.
"In the data world, we can do anything with
technology," McCaskill said. "In the telephone
world, technology doesn't mean squat.
Government intervention is the whole story."
In addition to the spectre of government
hassles, telephone carriers also can throw up
roadblocks, giving traditional resellers
another headache they would not find
outside the CTI space, he said.
McCaskill's advice to resellers considering
entering this complex market: Conduct deep
research into CTI products, opportunities and
issues, and understand the market's
limitations before diving in.
"[Resellers] need to have the personnel to
understand it and know how to do it,"
McCaskill said. "Dealing with Ma Bell is a
whole lot different than dealing with Novell
[Inc., Provo, Utah] or Microsoft [Corp.,
Redmond, Wash. Telephone carriers] have no
interest in helping you whatsoever. "
Beyond those problems, industry players
have, in the past, focused too much on
individual technologies and too little on full,
useful solutions for the enterprise, said
Q.sys' Holtmeier. As a result, customers have
become fed up with what they perceive as
the overhyping of a concept that could, in
reality, hold great promise for resellers and
CTI developers alike, he said.
"Nobody has figured out that people don't
buy technology," Holtmeier said. "They buy a
solution. Computer telephony would have
been a much more successful industry [by
now] had it been designed for the people
who use it. "
But debates over technology have led to
rival "data" and " telephony" camps that are
split as to what applications are most
important, he said.
And in a corporate environment where
internal telecommunications buyers and
computer telephony organizations frequently
are separately responsible for purchasing
products and services, a reseller's task can
become even more time-consuming and
complicated, said industry observers.
Many resellers have struggled in their
computer telephony efforts because they
failed to merge the two technological
aspects that make up CTI technology,
Holtmeier said. In fact, the key to a reseller's
success in this space is the ability to bridge
the gap between voice and data and merge
the two fields, he added. "Everybody needs
to realize that this stuff is all blurring
together," he said.
"As a reseller, you have to have the
technical discipline to understand it's really
just a single network out there. If you're a
reseller out there and you're not doing both,
start packing your bags," Holtmeier said.
Despite the problems CTI faces, not all
forecasts are for gloom and doom. Although
McCaskill said he has no hot-selling CTI
products today, that could change with the
next release of Microsoft's Windows NT
operating system, which should bring
active-directory features that CTI resellers
need, he said.
For its part, CTI might have been overhyped
at its outset, but it will recover to become a
profitable business, said Levine.
"When you look at any new technology that
gets introduced, people always predict its
success a year or two early," he said.
---
5 Things VARs Need To Know
-Potential entrants should research the
market before diving in.
-Market features standards battles.
-Government sometimes intervenes.
-Resellers should know who to
address for sales of products, services.
-Sell a solution, not the technology.
Copyright c 1998 CMP Media Inc.
By Lee Pender
<<COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS -- 11-30-98,
p. PG125>>
[Copyright 1998, CMP Publications] |
