How Google + You =
Account Control By Dan Baldwin, Telecom Association Founder &
Executive Director
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New
Google-powered business applications "in-the-cloud" help telecom agents sell
multilocation voice &
data T1s (and regain account control)
When Google launched its "Gmail"
email service five years ago in April 2004, Google set in motion an
opportunity for voice and data telecom agents to regain control of
multilocation business accounts. Through the last half of the 1990's, as
business email began to be seen as a required business application,
information technology or "IT" consultants that sell and service in-house
email servers that utilize Microsoft's proprietary (and expensive)
"Outlook" email software had displaced the "telecom agent" as the most
important consultant business owners would turn to when making technology
decisions.
Video Intro
To wrestle multilocation business account control back
out of the hands of the Microsoft partners, Google is empowering
distributors of voice and data wide area networks or "WANs" (the networks
sold by telecom agents that connect multilocation accounts together as
one) with an ever growing set of "cloud based" business applications like
email that can augment and then ultimately replace the expensive and
proprietary in-house Microsoft email servers and related equipment.
Through accomplished companies like
NuVox that are highly experienced at
servicing and retaining multilocation business accounts, telecom agents
can now deliver business applications like email and document sharing as
easily as they can sell voice and data T1s - all through a single supplier
and servicer.
Because Google has decided to seize its fair share of
the business applications and services market from Microsoft utilizing
telecom agents and companies like
NuVox, Google is
helping telecom agents once again reposition themselves as the primary
consultant business owners turn to when making technology decisions.
The Old Account Control Problem
At a
PAETEC and Allworx
sponsored cocktail party in San Diego a couple weeks ago, I ran into
Clive
Harrison a friend who is an accomplished telecom sales person who
recently switched jobs from selling NEC phone systems (and network
service) at
ATEL Communications to selling IT managed services (and network
service) at CentrexIT.
When I asked him how the new sales job was and why he made the job switch
he spoke like a blind man who had recently regained his sight.
"Dan you have no idea how much better customers and
prospects respond when you approach them with a full set of voice and Managed
IT Services", Clive reported. "When you're the telecom provider you
contact the customer once every year at best. As an IT service provider
we're in contact with our customers at least every month. So I don't lose
telecom deals to data VARs as before because I am the IT vendor my client
turns to for advice on everything to do with their network. It's great.
Seriously, Dan – take a look at this!"
I know exactly what Clive is talking about. The only
reason I have not lost more telecom deals to IT consultants is that most
IT consultants are quite loathe to take on and sell network services to
their IT clients. While some IT consulting companies like CentrexIT have
seen the light and hired Clive on to pick that voice money up off the
table, most IT companies are happy to tell their customers to just "call
your phone guy to order your voice and data circuits".
The advent of the IP-PBX is changing all this though. As
more businesses and their IT consultants turn on to the idea of running
their IP-PBX phone system over their existing data network they are both
seeing that everything that makes up the voice solution are nothing more
than generic "piece parts" that run over the data network. The question
this realization then begs is, "Why do we need a separate voice consultant
in here sopping up margin and possibly mucking up the deal?" Why indeed!?
How Business Multilocation Changes the Account
Control Equation
Business owners want their employees productive
"anywhere and all the time" not just at their desks from nine to five.
1. Return of the "Blame Game"
- When "IT" is only responsible for making one employee's business
applications and data work on one computer at one location, a closed,
local area network ("LAN") IT infrastructure is easy to control such that
only "IT" can be blamed if a business application does not work right for
one employee. But as soon as an employee wants or needs to access a
business application away from their primary desk at the office, a wide
area network ("WAN") is needed to connect the employee to the business
application and their data. With a WAN comes another vendor and the return
of the "blame game" when an employee can't access a business application
or their data. (As far as a business owner is concerned, the whole idea
behind paying extra for an IT department or consultant was to have no one
blaming anyone else.)
2. Multilocation IT Economics
Force "Off-Site" or "Cloud" Computing
Consideration - It's one thing to budget for and pay for a complete
set of business applications, backed-up data sets and a bullet-proof LAN
in one location but to then duplicate and pay for complete replications of
applications, data and infrastructure in multiple locations is
economically unviable for most businesses. "Can't I host it on one
location and then access from all other locations?" becomes the obvious
question from business owners allocating scarce dollars.
3. Cloud Computing is Proven to
Work - By 2009, everyone that needs to be convinced has been
convinced that cloud computing works in a reasonably secure manner. Chief
Information Officers ("CIO's") from the largest businesses down to owners
of the smallest businesses have all likely a) purchased something from the
Internet with a credit card, b) created and used a web-based email account
like Gmail or Hotmail, and, c) watched a remotely hosted video on YouTube
or Yahoo.
The New Account Control Opportunity
The economic realities of providing computerized
business applications to multilocation businesses require a
re-consideration of "cloud computing". When the creation and control of a
LAN is no longer considered the primary business tech requirement, the IT
department or consultant no longer has primary influence over technology
purchase decisions. The WANs required to allow employees access to their
business applications and data suddenly put savvy telecom agents (who sell
the WANs) back into the position of being the primary controller of the
business account - especially if they are also sell the business
applications the businesses employees are using.
While the necessity of WANs to access an app may
put the WAN consultant in the primary tech consultant role in the short
run, in the long run, "He who controls the app controls the deal."
Not all apps are equal though and some apps require "added value".
Understanding "app inequality" and being able to add value to apps
provides savvy telecom agents and companies like
NuVox an opportunity for competitive advantage.
It's "All About the Apps"
Just as telecom agents can help businesses mix and match
multiple telecom services together so too can a "business applications
agent" help a business mix and match the best business applications.
The three most important thing to know about business
applications are
A) while a business might have
three "critical apps" one can be 90% more "critical" than the other two,
B) an "indispensible app" might sometimes be
significantly improved by a third party "adding value", and
C) some apps need to "play nice" with other apps or
they are useless.
To better understand the inequality of critical apps, as
the reader of this article, take a moment to write down the top "business
applications" you consider critical to your own job. For me they are:
1. Internet web browser (Google
Chrome)
2. Email software (Google Gmail)
3. Operating system (Microsoft Windows XP)
4. Web site editor (Microsoft Frontpage 2003)
5. CRM/Sales funnel (Google Docs - spreadsheet)
6. Photo editor (Adobe Elements)
7. Business social network (LinkedIn.com)
8. Prospecting service (Salesforce.com, GoLeads.com,
JigSaw.com)
While the web browser is the app I use 90% of my time,
and I like Chrome the best, I can just as easily switch back and use
FireFox or Internet Explorer - especially if I had to start paying to use
Chrome.
My absolute critical application is email. I switched to
Gmail over three years ago from MS Outlook and could not be happier. No
amount of money could cause me to switch back and I'd pay almost any price
to keep Gmail. (Effortless searching and "always there with me never
having to backup" is why I love Gmail.)
The only problem with Gmail is there is no live customer
or user support from Google. I'd be happy to pay Google for support but
I'm sure there's no amount of money I could pay them to make it worth
their while to speak to me about my support issues on there end.
So again, here is an opportunity for savvy telecom
agents and companies like
NuVox an to seize a competitive advantage - provide added value to my
Gmail experience that Google can't or won't provide for me. (Even if
Google was motivated to provide their own support it would probably be
from a bunch of "propeller heads" when I'd rather talk to a normal person
like myself who understands what I want Gmail to do. Enter
NuVox and their business customer support and retention experts.)
To understand the critical importance of apps "playing
nice together" consider the "invisible app" or the operating system of my
computer - Windows XP. I refuse to upgrade to Vista because everyone I
know has problems with it so I just stay with XP. Therefore all my
applications have to work with Vista. Similarly, since Gmail now has over
three years of archived emails, any contact management ("CRM") software
that I switch too would need to be able to interact with Gmail so i don't
need to duplicate or "cut and paste" data (more than I already do managing
my sales funnel on a Google Docs spreadsheet).
The Telecom Agent's Top 10 Business Apps Call to
Action
Business owners want business applications their
employees can access from anywhere at anytime. In the past it was assumed
that they'd have to pay for an expensive, in-house IT infrastructure as
the foundation that their necessary business applications would rest on.
As we can now see, an in-house IT infrastructure is no longer a
requirement to access many if not most business applications.
Where as IT consultants have always had the opportunity
to sell network services as an "add-on" sale, now WAN consultants (telecom
agents) have the opportunity to sell business applications and remote
managed services as add-on sales as they grow their expertise in what
business owners really want access too - a business applications
broker/consultant.
Following are the actions telecom agents can take now to
get and keep control of their business accounts and prospects:
1. Sign
up for a personal
Gmail
account - Having a Gmail account is the first step to having a free
"Google account" and everything that comes with it like
document
collaboration, text and video chat,
and multiperson
calendaring, and a bunch of other reasonably integrated FREE
stuff.
This is an important step because even if you "hate Google", as a business
apps consultant you need to understand Google's view of the world of
online productivity apps as it's become the understood standard.
2. Sign
up for a free
Google Apps account - Invest $10 at
GoDaddy in a
www.MYbusiness.com URL and then go to
Google Apps and
register that business URL onto a free
Google Apps account.
Take special notice of the differences between the free personal Gmail/
Google account and the free business Google Apps account.
3.
(Optional for show-offs only) Become a
Google Apps Authorized Reseller. Even if you don't go through the
motions of becoming a Google Apps reseller yourself it's good to see
what's involved so you can better understand the next step.
4. Sign up to distribute
NuVox Business Apps (Powered by Google) -
If you looked at number three above you'll have a better understanding for
the NuVox Business Apps offering. Instead of paying $100 per seat up front
for the service and installation and then another $60 up front for a year
of support your customers get to pay nothing up front and just $10 per
month per seat which includes installation assistance and support.
Click here to download MP3 of the recording
(Click
the icon above to listen to an actual 10-minute phone call of me calling into a
Google Apps Authorized Reseller to get information about the non-NuVox
installation and support option).
5. Sign-up for a
Zoho Business account - Zoho is a much smaller company than
Google and has a somewhat comparable SaaS (web based) product to Google
Apps. Some say Zoho's better and other's say Google's better. Everyone
says Google will likely stay in business longer. (Click
here to read a letter from a web app company that "went away".)
6. Review Yahoo's
Zimbra,
Sun's
StarOffice and
OpenOffice - All
three are integrated office productivity applications like Microsoft
Office but they are not SaaS where you access them on the web via a
browser in that you have to download the software and run it from your
hard drive like Office.
7. Call every IT integrator and consultant in your
geographic area - Let them know that you're a network service
expert in setting up WANs for their multilocation customers, integrated
T1s for their single location customers as well as a SaaS business
applications broker. Tell them you're happy to work with them or compete
against them - let them choose. (Contact TA if you need a cheap list of IT
shops in your area.)
8. Call every multilocation business in your area
- Tell them the same thing you told the IT shops in number seven above but
also add that you are an IT broker and can put them in touch with the
right IT shop if they want their IT needs shopped around for better
service or pricing. When telling them you're a business applications
broker, inquire as to what business applications are critical to their
business and if they plan to make any business changes in the near future
that would require changes to the way they access their critical business
apps.
9. Become knowledgeable in all apps critical to your
prospects - Unlike being an equipment installer, it's easier to
become knowledgeable enough to broker business applications without
becoming certified. Your customers and prospects won't expect you to train
their people how to use individual modules of complex software
applications like QuickBooks for business but they will expect that you'll
know which applications compete with QuickBooks and be able to put them in
touch with "certified" applications specialists.
10. Do this in your marketplace now before someone
else does - This is really happening. Someone will be the
recognized business applications agent or broker in your geographic
marketplace two years from now. That person will likely be calling the
shots for their multilocation clients who need to build out their LANs and
WANs to accommodate the needed business apps. Why not make that person
you?
Submit or Read Comment on This Article
Click here to
comment on this article on TA's LinkedIn discussion board and/or to read
comments from other TA members. Below are comments submitted in answer to
the question, "Is anyone reselling Google Apps?"
"We looked at it. Highly functional but not business-grade, IMHO. Security
issues abound. Zimbra (Yahoo) seems a lot more solid. Zimbra allows the
user to select a choice of Gmail or "Outlook" themes, but it does not have
the G-apps Office-like suite of products."
Greg Ottensmeyer,
Co-founder at TelephoNET
Corp. 4/9/9
"Have no experience with Google Apps, except that when Google took over
Postini, they ruined it by gutting internal support – so we don’t sell it
anymore, preferring MX Logic which costs a bit more, but has actual people
there to deal with situations, users who messed up their control panel and
are freaked out about losing important msg, etc.
Google – good for simple stuff, but …
We also had really bad experiences with Google AdWords ($11K fraudulent
clicks in 2 days) and in the 3-4 months we worked to clear this up with
them, NEVER would they give more than a first name via email, never would
they get on a phone call. They are in some sort of once-removed denial
about the need for real human contact to solve problems or provide support
on stuff that becomes important or mission critical to users .. and as
long as that is their business model, I think it will keep them out of
serious contention for clients like law firms, hedge funds, law
enforcement, etc where instant support is absolutely required!
Ben
Stiegler, CEO, Synertel 4/12/9
TA's Weekly Video Blog:
Is Google Voice Good for Telecom Agents and Channel Partners?
1. No, if you
look at free business services as a threat
2.
Yes, if you understand it as just another business application knowing
that we make money selling "pipes" that connect our customers to the
world
3. Don't make the mistake the newspapers made with Craigslist
4. Is what you make your margin on an "application" or a "pipe"?
Click to watch video
5. Understand the "apps" and "pipes" that your customers want or
need
Do you agree or disagree with
this video blog?
Email your printable thoughts to
Dan@TelecomAssociation.com
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The audio tapes, transcript and training workbook
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Click here to listen to the four recorded 30-minute segments, read the
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uniquely
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TA's review of Intelisys.
