By Charles Scarborough, Cox Communications

For nearly five years, Cox has delivered packet voice services to business customers. Before that, we provided voice services via facilities-based circuit switching. As operators, cable and telco companies spend a lot of time talking about routing and management efficiency of transport techniques, at the end of the day it is irrelevant for most customers how calls are delivered. Business customers will always be most concerned about three things related to voice communications:

• Does it work?
• Is it consistent (service reliability)?
• Will it support features/applications that positively impact my business?

As Cox Business began developing its first hosted VoIP service, these were the questions that kept us up at night. Through market trials, we quickly realized that “hosted VoIP” means nothing to the majority of our customers (75 percent of Cox Business’ nearly 250,000 customers are businesses with less than 20 employees) without unique applications that differentiate the service. Sales teams who led by explaining VoIP architecture to customers struggled to close deals. Although VoIP has been an industry buzzword for several years, business owners continue to ask the age old question, “What’s in it for me?”

Regardless of how it is packaged (over-the-top, hosted or SIP trunking), VoIP services must offer capabilities that are compelling to business owners to drive adoption.

In the case of our hosted voice service, we found that these applications resonated most frequently with customers:

• Enhanced productivity – Businesses want communications solutions that help them operate more efficiently and effectively. VoIP call control features such as find me/follow me, auto attendant and time-based call features help meet this need.
• Complete mobility – Customers don’t want to miss any calls that could result in additional sales or that could solve critical service issues before they spin out of control. Remote office, simultaneous ring and call notification to e-mail functions allow one number to be pointed to desk, home and mobile phones.
• Business continuity – Wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and terrorist attacks represent real threats that businesses of all sizes are concerned about. The streamlined administration of VoIP services allows every employee to adjust communications preferences from a Web portal, ensuring that business activities can continue from home, on the road or an alternative work site when the office is closed or damaged during an unforeseen disaster.
• Modern messaging – Business owners want the ability to get all messaging in one place, with a simple interface. Unified Messaging places voice mail and e-mail in one common interface across multiple devices for easy management.

As my colleagues from the vendor and provider community and I work on standards and capabilities in organizations like the SIP Forum, it is important for us to keep a customer focus as we continue to refine the delivery. When business owners can’t live without the capabilities VoIP delivers, the evolution from circuit to packet switch voice services will be complete.

Charles Scarborough is director of product development for Cox Business Services. His team is responsible for leading the definition, development, and implementation of products for Cox’s commercial customers. Since joining Cox in 2001, he has helped launch a full commercial product portfolio including offerings such as: Cox Optical Internet; VPN Services; Ethernet Services, and Voice services to new markets via circuit switched platforms and VoIP technologies. Prior to joining Cox, he served for seven years in a variety of management roles with MCI Communications.