This document discusses opportunities for value-added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators (SIs) in the unified communications industry. It notes that UC features are becoming commoditized but that VARs can optimize profits by adding value through customized designs, specialized methodologies, interoperability solutions, and communications applications that improve business processes. It provides examples of how applications can accelerate transactions, increase notification precision, improve contact success, and more. The document advocates that VARs focus on guiding customers towards proven applications or creating new apps tailored to specific customer needs.

1. Show Me
the Money!
www10.edacafe.org DLTJ.org
“I need to feel you, Jerry…”
Passion and Pertinence, right now in the UC Channel!

2. Agenda
Outside the VAR/SI Inside the VAR/SI
 A look at the  A look at business
environment and drivers, opportunities
external realities and what can be done
impacting the to optimize profit.
business of UC.
 Leader: Dave Michels  Leader: Marty Parker

3. It’s Been a Tough Millennium
 Recession
 Dot.com bust
 Housing
 Bankruptcies
 Wars
 9/11
 Iraq
 Afghanistan
 Technology Disruption

4. Disrupted Industries (SEP)
 Newspaper Industry
 Automobile Industry
 Book Publishing
 Big Tobacco
 Major Retailers
 Yellow Pages
Working for free or giving away products and services
is not disruptive. It's just a trendy way of getting
attention.

5. Very Tough for the Channel
CompUSA Cost Plus
Borders
Dillards
KB Toys
Sears
Circuit City
Blockbuster Barnes and Noble

6. Channel Stars
Amazon
Starbucks • Low Price
Costco (Great value)
Ikea • Self Service
Home Depot Commonalities • Easy to work
Walmart with
Kohls • One Stop
Target Shop
Safeway

7. The UC (and IT) Channel

8. The Channel 2012

9. Reality Dose
 The Channel will Shrink due to Self-Help,
Direct Services
 Fewer VARS
 Fewer Consultants
 Why?
 Declining Margins
 Self-Serve Options
 Less Capital Intensive
 Choice:
 Be a Survivor1 – adapt and conquer (acquire)2
 Exit/sell while there is still value2
 Do nothing – (whither and die)
1 This option
disappears in decline
2 UCStrategies can assist

10. Bad News and Good News
Bad News Good News
• Racing to the Bottom (zero) • End Users Need Help
• Video Hardware • Security
• SIP Services • Mobile Integration
• Voice and Endpoints • Virtualization
• Bypassing the Channel • Interoperability, Federation
• Cell Phones • Trends Driving Investment
• Desktops • Mobility
• Google • Collaboration
• Amazon Web Services • Managed Services
• Salesforce.com • Vendors WANT YOU

11. Trends Driving Tech Shifts
Productivity and
Individual Technology
Collaboration
• Mobility • Ease of Use • Shorter lifecycles
• Consumerization • Horizontal shift • Phones?
• No Hierarchy

12. What to Do
Acknowledge the changes – (embrace them)
Business Be Easy – life is too short/competitive for hard vendors
changes: Service oriented (what does this mean?)
Modularize
Tech Service oriented (what does this mean?)
Changes
Expertise in solutions

13. How to be Easy
 MyDealerPortal.com
 Modular
 Self Service Savvy
 Returns, orders, quotes – easy
 Easy Paper-Work w/o Paper
 One Stop Shop – Broader Revenue
 Communicative
 Workflow visibility
 Why Do Customers Call? Minimize it!

14. Vertical to Horizontal
 PC, Mini, Mainframe – all vertically optimized
 Web is Horizontal – customers, partners,
suppliers
 Examples: Conferencing systems that invite
external users, Federation, alerts, education
 Adapt – Who’s in Your Conference Room?
 Collaboration and Social Business

15. Horizontal VARs
 Online Collaboration with customers and
prospects (whiteboard, documents, video)
 VAR represents product expertise beyond line
card
 iPads, AWS, Google, Lync, etc.
 VARs and Consultants will Overlap More
 VARs Historically Product Expert
 Consultants Historically Solution Experts

16. Where Opportunities Exist
 Verticals
 Mobility
 Video
 Federation
 Collaboration – Beyond UC
 Cloud – Public and Private

17. The Channel Partner
Old Emerging
• Revenue • Revenue
• Product • Managed Service
• Cabling • Retainer
• MACs • Recurring
• Focus • Focus
• Centered on a few Products • Focused on 3-5 solutions
• Local/Narrow • Solution expertise/broad
• Business Model • Business Model
• Transactional – Needs based • Transactional- Strategic
• Break Fix (reactive) • Contractual (proactive)

18. Agenda
Outside the VAR/SI Inside the VAR/SI
 A look at the  A look at business
environment and drivers, opportunities
external realities and what can be done
impacting the to optimize profit.
business of UC.
 Leader: Dave Michels  Leader: Marty Parker
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

19. Three Ideas
Watch the Trends
Add Value to Utility
Focus on Applications
© UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

20. Perspective on the Trends
 Our forecasts at the past three UC Summits are
now reality in the marketplace…
Source: “De-mystifying VoIP and UC Pricing Trends”, M. Parker, BCR Magazine, Sept. 2007
© UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

21. Price per User per Year
© M Parker UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

22. Total Price
© M Parker UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

23. Observation #1
 Each Vendor fits specific Use Cases!
• Every Vendor is affordable for their Use Cases
 All of the responses had call control;
the existing PBXs were used as:
• Gateways to the PSTN
• Gateways to the desk phones
 Specialized functions remained on PBXs
• Call centers
• Attendant consoles
• Analog devices, paging, etc.
© M Parker UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

24. Observation #2
 Is enterprise voice now ‘free’?
• Except for phones (if used) and gateways
 Will you ever buy another PBX?
• Or will you buy a UC license with voice?
• Funded by specific UC Use Cases
• Requiring selected items from:
• Mobility and remote or virtual workers
• Conferencing, Collaboration, or Social
• For employees and Customers/Supply Chain
• CEBP applications for business transformation
© M Parker UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

25. Three Ideas
Watch the Trends
Add Value to Utility
Focus on Applications
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

26. Utility Pros and Cons…
 Customers must have the utility services
 Configure, sell, install, Tier 1 & 2 service
 However, this has boundaries
 Competitive bids commoditize prices
 Vendors will push prices down
 Hard to just ‘make it up in volume’
 VAR/SI can’t deliver Tier 4 (or 3?) services
 So, add value to the utility services…
© UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

27. Component-Level Trends/Potential
Opportunity Area Trends In That Area Profit/Margin Potential
System Hardware General Purpose Hdw. Services for install/test on
Virtual Machines, Cloud customer’s servers
System Software Price Declines Application, integration and
Hosted/Cloud Versions adoption services
UC Features Now “free” to sell IP PBX Integration/customization esp.
multi-vendor links
User Devices, End Points Rapid ecosystem growth Sell to base & with systems
Legacy Integration Essential solution elements Services and products
Mobility Increasing importance Cost avoidance designs
Conferencing &/or Conf: Avoid travel, space Design, integrate adopt;
Collaboration Coll: Value for certain roles w/ SharePoint, Quickr, et al.
CEBP Major upside potential Analyze, design, develop
Install, deploy, support
Management Services Good cost offsets Efficiency tradeoffs
Hosted, Cloud Solutions Growing interest, offerings Depends on sales/services
terms from cloud operators
© UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

28. Value Add Opportunities
 Customized designs
 Multi-brand, multi-location, mixed end-points
 Specialized methodologies
 Conferencing/collaboration; mobility; Ethernet backbone; E-911
 Interconnection
 Gateways, SIP and more
 Interoperability
 Middleware, appliances to ‘make it work’ & ‘sweat the assets’
 Specialized services
 Security, load testing, monitoring, instrumentation, et al.
 Applications
 The value add opportunity with no ‘ceiling’
© UniComm Consulting LLC 2012

29. Three Ideas
Watch the Trends
Add Value to Utility
Focus on Applications
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

30. An Unlimited Opportunity…
 One affirmative, value adding action plan is to focus on
integrating packaged or customized communications
applications to optimize customer business processes.
Source: “De-mystifying VoIP and UC Pricing Trends”, M. Parker, BCR Magazine, Sept. 2007
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

31. What Value Can UC Deliver?
UC-U Value UC-B Value
per user per year per user per year
• Improve conferencing $3,034 • Increase sales $115,909
• Reduce wasted time $1,137 • Speed projects $95,000
• Eliminate Delays $1,005 • Lower process costs $12,880
• Save Toll Costs $246 • Cut operational $ $11,875
• Reduce Admin TCO: $43 • Drive transactions to $7,813
mobile devices
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

32. Application Case Study Examples
Optimize Help Desk: Find engineers via IM search to save
Resource Utilization 70% of time; 80% better service
Accelerate Mortgage Company: Answer questions via
Transaction Completion Presence and IM ups capacity by 30K loans/year
Increase Utility Company: Reduce outage times via crew
Notification Precision dispatch app using location, skills, rules
Improve Branch Banks: Increase revenues and service via
Contact Success video access to banking specialists
Automate Insurance: Put IM in broker portal for field-specific
Communication Processes chat; staff saves 30%, ups loyalty
Speed University: Use student iPhone apps for NANO
Information Delivery quizzes for better and more learning
Enhance Oil Exploration: Reduce time and assets 20-25% for
Collaboration Effectiveness each exploration via built-in collaboration tools
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012 Read the CEBP Series on UCStrategies.com

33. Applications –
A BIG Differentiator
 UC Now Enables
Business Change
 Technology is proven
 Now leverage it!
 Two ways:
1. Guide the customer
with the proven apps
2. Create new apps for
one or more customers
© UniComm Consulting 2012

34. Application Roadmaps: Relationship Revenues
Optimize Operations
through comm-enabled portals and
resource ID for problem solving
Improve Time to Market
through collaboration acceleration
Enhance Service and Sales
through contact management and
mobile information delivery
© M Parker UniComm Consulting 2012

35. Agenda
Outside the VAR/SI Inside the VAR/SI
 A look at the  A look at business
environment and drivers, opportunities
external realities and what can be done
impacting the to optimize profit.
business of UC.
 Leader: Dave Michels  Leader: Marty Parker

36. Show Me
the Money!
www10.edacafe.org DLTJ.org
“I need to feel you, Jerry…”
Doyle-scienceteacn.blogspot.com
Passion and Pertinence, right now in the UC Channel!
Thank You!!