iPads and iPhones fascinate some but just don't work for others. In day-to-day businesses that we serve, I don’t see an exodus away from the desktop telephone.
Digital proprietary phones are alive and well. Why? When the IT infrastructure fails or gets disrupted by the barrage of updates, changes and reboots to get something right, those IP phone users fail to function as a business unit. Digital proprietary phones are akin to lifelines to the PBX. Still there are other unexciting reasons that I stated previously in Death of A Hybrid.
iPads and BYOD meet offsite instant demands but they fail to meet all office call handling standards. The business phone hasn't been reinvented with the same user expectations as in the past to assure that it will always be available and always working while emulating business call handling as if you are in the office.
My last note is an old saw but it remains valid. A desktop business telephone is a terminal. Some of the IT guys never recognized that, or that the PBX is a server and a router; it may even qualify as an Integrated Access Device.
Large enterprise envisions the demise of the PBX and more recently the desktop phone. This may be the perfect reality for large enterprise. Then, those Mom and Pops and startups that lack capital seek out hosted retail voice. Half of those businesses die anyway while many of the remainder of those businesses wind up bailing out of hosted services, seeking more reliable solutions or something that meets their need. The PBX and desktop phones remain.
Sales figures, reports on trends and marketing data still don't show the boneyard filling up with desktop phones and PBXs, or sales of them ending.
We have been dealing with a 20-site business that is currently rebuilding their MPLS network. They've dumped Verizon simply because the services rendered in the past were unresponsive to the business needs for the value received. Interestingly enough, the new carrier also has local data center presence.
My questions to the experts are pretty basic. In fact, I asked the same questions to the customer and COO in a recent meeting:
1. Why not place the IP-PBX in the data center?
2. What are the disadvantages of placing the IP-PBX in the data center?
So, my above questions are extended to you too.
Right before Enterprise Connect, I had a lengthy conference call with some folks that have been in the Interconnect business for about 12 years. Their arguments make perfect sense as to why they're moving to the cloud without a PBX. Their reasoning I understand and respect because I know and feel exactly what they mentioned as to why their new model is good for them.
I want to say that I love doing what I do. The process from start to finish is what we learned and relearned and still try to master. Moving to the data center doesn't mean I give up my road trips to customer sites, because they will continue. Infrastructure isn't going to the data center or to 4G or LTE. My side-stops to 7-11 for coffee, and out of the way stops will continue. This debate will no doubt continue as will the proclamations that the PBXs or desktop telephones are dead. But don't infer from my comments that I don't want to move to the cloud or have ruled it out. I'm simply not giving up my road trips or 7-11 coffee, and have no fear that I will ever need to change that. I embrace virtual when it fits and works better for the customer.
Yet do remember that while voice is certainly fragmented, it isn't the clean cut-away from either PBXs or desktop telephones. For those willing, I will reframe my two questions:
1. Why would you place the IP-PBX in the data center?
2. What are the advantages of placing the IP-PBX in the data center?
Maybe there's more than just one reality. Who said my cloud has to be your cloud, or your cloud mine?
