Competitive Analysis
Take out the feature set Brochure Note that there are Three type of competing Architecture. Determine which of these type you competitor is and use the feature comparison grid to see where they fall short
The Way People Work has Changed Companies have spread out and outsourced parts of their organization More and more employees are working from their homes The cell phone has become an important part of the business communications process Broadband Internet access is now serving most small to midsized businesses and has become another important part of the communications process There is now an anytime, anywhere expectation for staying in communication whether we like it or not
The Only Thing That Has Not Changed Is The Phone System. Even After these vendors have converted them to VoIP. Why?
The Traditional Phone Companies Have Changed but for the Worse Degrading analog lines Customer Service unaware, uncaring, and under-staffed Overpriced No new features in the last 30 years People are Angry The Carrier Idea of VoIP is to have no customer Premise PBX which is really a poor architecture. Why would they think to do it this way?
How do You Train a Flea Circus? It is simple: Catch some fleas (the hard part) Put them in a jar with a lid but air holes so they can breath Wait 2 days Pour them out onto a table and they will stay exactly in the space of the jar and not jump more than a few inches To feed just put your hand in there for a few minutes every few days and they stay alive
There Are 4 Ways to Deliver Phone Service to a Business 1. Traditional phone service and a phone system (PBX) from a third party 2. VoIP PBX from one company with Internet phone service from another company 3. Hosted VoIP PBX over the Internet 4. End-to-End Competitors
1. Traditional Phone Service and PBX Competitive Analysis
Traditional Phone Service and a Phone System (PBX) From a Third Party Traditional phone service and a complex, expensive traditional business phone system (PBX) from a third party lack features and costs tens of thousands of dollars. They have missed the Paradigm Shift of Outsourcing, Home Offices, Cell Phones and the Internet Even after converting many of their product to do VoIP at the customer premise.
Competitors Traditional PBX Manufacturers Mitel, Nortel, Toshiba, ESI, Cisco, Lucent, 3COM, Shoretel, COMDIAL, NEC, Siemens Traditional Carriers Verizon, ATT&T, COX Communications, Bright House, COMCAST
Key Disadvantages Features cannot interoperate between locations: IVR, Remote extensions, Call Routing Very Expensive Angry customers too big to care
VoIP PBX and 3rd Party Internet Service Provider Competitive Analysis
Beware of the Consumer Grade, Mom and Pop and Broker Providers VoIP, better known as Internet Phone Service, has been offered to consumers as a cut rate service from companies such as Vonage, Comcast and Skype. These consumer grade services save money but lack the feature set, quality and reliability that a business requires.
VoIP PBX from One Company with Internet Phone Service from Another More recently you could purchase a VoIP PBX from one company and tie it to Internet phone service from another company. This approach is more of a science project than a solution and lacks features as well as quality and reliability. So much so that many PBX manufacturers are recommending more expensive traditional phone service with their products. Internet Company A Turns a PC Into a PBX Company B Provides Internet Phone Service at Some Level
Competitors New IP PBX Mfg Fonality Digium TrixBox Apetela Foundry Voxter Ipitomy Internet Phone Co s Vonage Proximiti Broadvoice Compartners Point One Teleiax go-to-call
Key Disadvantages Not end-to-end Features do not match up PC Disk drives, power supplies & fans break No End-To-End QOS or 729a CODEC No failover system No Monitoring Science project will be hard to ever get this to work 3000 settings between phones, PBX and Service provider that need to match up with many networking issues
Disadvantages Not End-To-End Which leads to: Features do not match well between vendors Lack in quality no end to end QoS or CODEC pairing No way to monitor No Fail Over No reliability Science Project (will never work) No single point of accountability (on neck to crush if it does not work)
Hosted VoIP PBX and Internet Phone Service Competitive Analysis
Hosted VoIP PBX Over the Internet A third option is a completely Hosted PBX with VoIP Phone Service over the Internet but this requires an expensive T1 line with one phone line per extension and does not save any money. Internet
Competitors COVAD Packet 8 Pocket Rocket Ceybond Speakeasy Calltower
Disadvantages You must go out to the Internet and come back using two channels of bandwidth just to speak to the person in the next cube Bad Architecture Multiple phones and PC competing for network bandwidth on the customer network and across the Internet without any controlling PBX and router prevent QOS and result in very low quality which then requires an expensive T1 Expensive, You pay for a T1 and per phone per month for PBX functionality, sometimes even more for particular features like Voice Mail Minimum fail over and monitoring
Key Competitor Profile Packet 8 PACKET 8 - Packet8 is a broadband telephone and videophone service. Designed with both residential and business customers in mind, Packet8 is a hosted PBX and needs T1 connectivity to work correctly. It is costly and if system goes down you have no back up system to keep you up running. System is expensive $90 per month per line with inbound/outbound call 2000 minutes. If system goes down no back solution
The World s Most Reliable Business Grade Internet Phone Solution
End-to-End Competitors
End-To-End Competitors Whaleback LinksysOne
Disadvantages Whaleback Small under-funded Startup, No QoS, Proprietary Software only 2 developers, $50 per phone, cable only, 2x our cost, bad quality, requires separate cable, work only through cable companies which is a weak connection LinksysOne A Year late.. So far. $62 per phone per month, Cheap hardware, Voice mail reside on each phone, cost because they have 3 tier selling, provider, dealer, distributor, promised to delivery Star2Star - Better Features Quality, Reliability and Lower Cost $23 per phone per month.
Introducing Star2Star The World s Most Reliable Business Grade Internet Phone Solution
Star2Star Components
We Make the World s Most Reliable Business Phone PBX Called the StarBox Starbox 2100 Starbox 5500 Up to 100 Users Up to 500 Users Supports DSL, Cable or T1 Supports Up to 4 T1 Lines Powerful Features Powerful Features Solid State (no moving parts) Solid State (no moving parts) Monitored 24x7x365 Monitored 24x7x365
Phones Offered By Star2Star
Star2Star Supports Analog Phones, Fax Machines Even Other Phone Systems
StarService
Superior Quality With StarPath
Star2Star Data Center Our Data Center houses the core telecommunication infrastructure for Star2star Communications. Located on the 16th floor of the Lykes Tower (Colonial Bank Building) in downtown Tampa. Originally built by GTE to house its telephone network core for Southwest Florida, this building has become one of the nation's most active carrier neutral communications facilities, housing more than a dozen major communications companies and having multiple redundant fiber loops connecting the entire region to the Internet backbone.
Around the Clock Monitoring and Service Desk Online System Monitor Automatic Detection of Quality or Reliability Issues Service Tickets Can Be Created at Anytime by Automatic Detection, From Our Web Site or By Calling our Around the Clock Support Center
Guaranteed Reliability
Data Center Reliability 100% Redundant Cisco Network at Tier-1 Data Center Inergen Gas Fire Suppression System Redundant Environment Control System Powered by Redundant Connections
Star2Star Nationwide Network Our service extends far beyond our core infrastructure in the Data Center. When you make a call, Star2Star determines the best quality route for your call and sends your call through that route to guarantee the highest possible call quality.
Powerful Features
Find-Me/Follow-Me We Provide Powerful Features Such As Find-Me/Follow-Me
Call Routing You can have as many phone numbers as you wish. You can have multiple companies, departments or personal numbers and each can behave differently when people call. You can also specify different behavior during or after business hours for each day of the week.
Voice Menus You can quickly create an unlimited set of voice menus leading to individuals, departments, recordings, custom applications, or other menus. We can even have these menus professionally recorded for you.
Ring Groups and Call Queues You can create groups where the phones all ring together or where calls are automatically distributed to the next available agent.
Customize Music On Hold You can upload your own MP3 or WAV files to customize Music On Hold. We can even make custom recordings for you to communicate to your captive audience.
Integrate With Outlook and Your PC You can integrate your phone system with your PC. By right clicking on any contact we will call them and also call your extension at the same time so you do not even have to dial the phone.
911 Support We Fully Support Making 911 Calls From Your Office Phone and Remote Extensions
Star2Star Savings
We Cut the Typical Business Phone Bill in Half