What if we all reduced our spend by $40 per fax machine?

Would that save jobs in our economy?
September, 1 2010
Vol 1, Issue 9

Greetings:

I think saving and cutting senseless expense is certainly a corporate priority – and to some, even a civic responsibility.

According to the “Internet” and answers.google.com, worldwide there’s about 100 million fax machines in use. Additionally, the experts on the “Internet” estimate that 90% of businesses have (at a minimum) one fax machine plugged into a phone line.

What’s that factoid mean to us at EtherSpeak? Well, if EtherSpeak strives to cut $40 per month from everyone’s fax bill – we would be saving the world $4 Billion per month. Just doing our part! So, If everyone in the world would just sign up for our iEtherFax service, we’ll get started (please pass this email around to get us started if you don’t mind)!

Accordingly, I’d like to think if everyone would make it a priority to cut the senseless fax expense in their domain – it might be one “easy” way that we free-up that money for more sensible things.

On the lighter side, there is an excitement in the air for saving money, cutting back, squeezing a little tighter, and just doing more with less. It’s not what we like to do – it’s just what has to be done.
So, when would saving money be exciting? The answer is simple: When savings is found in unexpected places – it’s fun to find it!

Do you know how much you organization may be wasting on faxing each month? Some of our small to mid-size customers have savings approaching over $10,000 / month by streamlining their fax expense with the help of iEtherFax’s cloud based offerings.

iEtherFax is the most cost-effective, open-standards based solution for fax line replacement on the market today. Need a fax machine line replaced – just $12.95; Want to add a fax to email for your sales team today – only $12.95; Want to fax invoices from your accounting server – yep, still $12.95.
Savings is the key to the squeeze: Need to reduce your fax operating expense by 60% to 80% without spending thousands? Just call us at (866) Ether-IP today.

Is it difficult to implement? No. No consultant will visit. In fact, we may have you up and running as fast as it takes you to open the box, plug in the power, the fax machine cord and the Ethernet cable. That’s right, zero end-user configuration – when the green light comes on – you are ready to send and receive faxes over almost ANY Internet connection. Open-standards never worked so well together (SIP, T.38 & SSL)! We ABSOLUTELY guarantee your satisfaction with how this service performs – not happy, simply return it to us within 30-days for a full refund.

Wait, it get’s better, when you elect to leverage EtherSpeak’s Premier SIP voice bundle – we’ll throw the fax in – no more per page limits! The bundle provides combined voice and fax minutes billed in 6-second increments with local number availability throughout most of the USA, Canada and large portions of the United Kingdom! Bundles provide from 50 to 150 simultaneous call and fax paths and from 5,000 to 100,000 minute fax / voice minute bundles. Best part, they start at only $99 per month.

Now is the time to get the fax for savings – the iEtherFax!!
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Fax-Over-IP: Now Coming to a City Near You (Reliable, Secure and Cheap)

The next generation in fax technology is here. Introducing EtherSpeak’s newly enhanced iEtherFax, an industry first in reliable, secure and affordable fax technology.

iEtherFax provides an easy, effective and (some might say) dirt-cheap way to connect your team while almost eliminating your expense for fax. Imagine one solution for fax machines, fax-to-email; fax-to-server all in one secure, reliable and cost-effective communications-as-a-service offering from EtherSpeak, the industry leader in standards-based IP communications solutions.

Service is available in the USA, Canada and the UK. Call us today to check on the availability of service in your area, state or province. Want a quick overview of the most exciting fax cloud offering available?
Go to

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Why Combining SIP Voice and Fax Is Going to Save Customers BIG!

The promise of unified communications is value. Value through making process alignment easier; value through savings on your monthly expense; value through enhancing the customer experience, with combining the investment in your new unified communications technology and all the nifty features UC brings, in a seamless way.

Fortunately, fax-over-IP is still a key component of how we communicate with our customers and suppliers. If you have yet to discover how affordable, secure and reliable fax-over-IP can be for your organization – without regard for your old, or new UC / phone system – please sign-up for a no-obligation iEtherFax trial!
We guarantee you will be thrilled that you did. In fact, our fax machine integration maybe completed within 60 seconds from the time you open the box.

After all, signing up is the first-step to savings.

Click to Order a New iEtherFax No-obligation Trial

Call Us at
866-ETHER-IP

As you can tell, we are very excited about the value of SIP. I encourage you to find out what all the excitement is about. Call us, write us, come visit us at our next event, but learn where the savings are – just get the fax!

Sincerely,

Neil Darling
EtherSpeak
(866) Ether-IP / (866) 384-3747

Hostifying IP PBX? The Advantages and Challenges of Evolving to Recurring Revenue Solutions

Some of our most innovative EtherSpeak resellers have begun to leverage EtherSpeak SIP for enabling a new “recurring” revenue stream – IP PBX Hosting. Not sure if you thought about offering a hosted version of what you are authorized to sell – but if you decide to do it – a good communications-as-a-service provider can help you overcome some significant hurdles to get the new line of business running.

It typically goes like this: Customer is reluctant to buy the new phone system because they got killed in the past on some of the hidden costs like annual maintenance; network upgrades; monthly move-adds-change fees and possibly maintaining overhead for tech staff qualified to manage the new Unified Communications system.

So, the reseller says “OK, this time around, I won’t sell you our new (insert your brand here – ShoreTel, Cisco, Zultys, Vertical, NEC, etc.) system Mr. Customer – I will rent it to you.” Customer nods, “In return, you pay me a fixed or variable price per seat for a defined term – usually one to three years.” Customer likes it (he doesn’t have to buy nearly as much), and the reseller closes the deal, sells / rents the customer some IP handsets and other network gear necessary to run the solution properly – and everyone is happy! But wait, then the reseller considers a few things on the way home – he/she just took responsibility for the customer’s communications – soup to nuts! Nice job man, don’t be shy, you just stepped up to the world of recurring revenue! Take this advice however, “Just take care to prepare!” You must deliver a good solution, comply with the rules, while controlling costs – so you make a profit each and every month.

So, maybe you know all that already. But, did you know that partnering with a communications-as-a-service provider (like EtherSpeak) helps you overcome some challenges with developing a hosted business model?. A SIP communications-as-a-service provider can provide the following:

1. Access to the world of telephone numbers for inbound calls – and availability of the connecting to the world for outbound calling
2. Excellent advice on delivering quality of service and more appropriate and good “Quality of Experience” or QOE from the user perspective. If the calls stink, you are sunk.
3. Access to a private label billing system because maintaining a professional brand is very important
4. Along the same lines – using the providers investment in systems, process and technology to maintain compliance with Lawful Wiretaps (CALEA) and providing for regulatory compliance with 911 and taxing authorities.
5. Most importantly, find a partner that enables you to sell the system that you know and love “as-a-service” (which is “code” for monthly managed services revenue for telecommunications Value-Added-Resellers).

So, if you are considering how to develop a new recurring revenue stream, consider “hostifying” your product and partner up with you communications-as-a-service provider. Then work together to provide an excellent and profitable service for your customers benefit.

Neil Darling
EtherSpeak

Hey IP Phone Manufacturers – What Have You Done For Us Lately?

I was speaking with a customer the other day and he was asking me my opinion of “this SIP based IP Phone handset vs. that SIP based IP Phone handset” and I realized after seven years of selling the devices, they haven’t changed all that much. By and large, the biggest expense for customers moving to VoIP is the cost of the handset. Models from Polycom, Aastra, Snom, Grandstream, ShoreTel, Zultys and Cisco look very different – but they all comply with the SIP standard for core functions like Hold, Park, Transfer and Three-way calling features. Some proprietary handsets do some neat stuff – but that stuff doesn’t hold a candle to what an iPhone or Blackberry can do now with their implementation of useful business and personal applications.

What I think is lacking is that these devices are essentially Linux endpoints capable of doing so much more. Why can’t I program my DVR; turn the lights off and on at the house; or glance at calls in queue at my call center? Most models incorporate a micro-browser – some come with color screens – but not a one of them can help me record the last episode of “24” on my DVR since I am running late at work (again).

What exactly is a customer getting for that ~$100 to ~$700 unit price other than different look, ergonomic plastic and pixel density? On the other side of things, the iPhone and Blackberry (or “typical” smart phone) are the main business tool used by most knowledge workers. I would wager that for many of us – we do more minutes on our cell phone for business use than on our expensive IP Phone. For purposes of my blog, let’s define a a “knowledge worker” as an individual who works in front of an Internet connected computer. Perhaps a bluetooth enabled speaker, bound to my iPhone will enable those mobile phones to totally usurp the role of the expensive black plastic box taking up space on my desktop. What if knowledge workers foresake the tethered IP Phone and accept the cell / smart phone instead?

Personally, I use my iPhone for the majority of my phone calls in my normal day at the office. The reason is that our Unified Communications solution allows me to do that. Since Unified Communications has enabled me to use the iPhone to essentially replace the majority of my usage on my office Aastra handset – I am growing to like the standardization of using my iPhone for everything. I do use the Aastra for the speakerphone – but overwhelmingly I am using my iPhone and it’s applications to aid me through my business day and my personal day (I love playing Zynga when no one is looking).

Further, I blogged recently about Magic Jack’s introduction of the residential Femtocell (http://tinyurl.com/yk8kl7e). Well, AT&T recently announced their own offering. The AT&T version of the Femtocell (or Microcell) essentially supplants 3G cell and data connectivity from the local cell tower to a small access point like device in my office (according to AT&T (http://tinyurl.com/lbwweh). When you walk out of range, you are back on the cell tower. The cost will be about $150.00) and routes AT&T cell and data usage over my existing broadband for a nominal cost (for up to 10 handsets). Calls routed this way cost me a flat rate $20 per month. This effectively limits using up “air-time” for those employees who want to use the cell phone for personal reasons while away from the office – and my forthcoming mandate in making them use the cell phone while within the office – and not using their precious personally paid minutes.

So what is next for the IP Phone? Should we start considering eliminating the IP Phone from the bill of materials when quoting a solution to a customer and relegate the use of the IP Phone to lower-end models for the desktop – or specialty models for the conference room? Perhaps an iPhone or Blackberry IP PBX in the cloud may supplant the requirement for an IP phone for most Unified Communication solutions. More on that later…

For now however, I think the value of the IP Phone is lacking and may no longer hold the place it once did when I began this career around IP voice and video some time ago. It is increasingly difficult to justify the one-time expense now (in this economy) that most are standardized for SIP. They all pretty much do the same thing.

What say you IP Phone manufacturers? Are you losing your value and utility within an open-standards based Unified Communications environment? I think the answer is a definite maybe. If you have an opinion, I’d love to hear it!

Neil Darling
EtherSpeak
http://www.ietherspeak.com
703-221-9999