Thanks for returning. You're a very smart person.
I know, I know - you are sick of hearing about how you will soon be sleeping under an overpass. I get it, I am going to miss running water just as much as the next guy. But what I don’t get is why more people aren’t talking up the fact that the current economic woes present an amazing opportunity for open source VoIP. That’s right. I think that:
economic woes = open source VoIP opportunity
Why?
I can see the future. Kidding. No, seriously, I have a number of ideas on why the next6 to 24 months are going to be a boon for open source VoIP as the economy works itself out (or the government ruins it) but one really “pops” out as being the one that will make comes to fruition.
Businesses will be forced to pull their heads out of the arses and stop spending BMW dollars on something can be had for Hyundai dollars or why pay $150,000 for something that can be had for $50,000.
You see, in tight economical times, businesses will look to VoIP to save money. The problem is ROI - more specifically how fast will this project pay for itself - with faster being the preferred answer. With ROI related costing putting a bullseye on deployment costs, businesses will become increasingly sensitive to deployment costs and thus much more likely to shop for less expensive alternatives to the big names like Cisco, Avaya and Shoretel. As they search for lower cost alternatives, they will stumble upon open source VoIP.
They might decide to use SwitchVox SMB or PBXtra - maybe trixbox CE or a system from Intuitive Voice. Perhaps they might even do-it-themselves with Asterisk. Whatever they decide, it is good for open source VoIP and the entire ecosystem - cultivating an increase in awareness and opportunities for those within. As this economic downturn induces fear that will result in an increase in the scrutiny businesses place on their purchasing decisions businesses will finally realize that open source solutions have everything that their proprietary breathren have - except a high price tag.
If you are in the open source VoIP ecosystem smile - take advantage of FUD marketing.
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Garrett,
I completely agree. You mentioned the equipment but the service is often cost effective as well. The flexibility and ROI make open source a very attractive alternative to traditional telephony. Virtual PBX systems hosted by the carrier give the customer complete control without the costly equipment. The customer simply buys the phones and “hangs” them off the carrier’s platform. This will prove to be a very cost effective solution in a business environment looking to reduce expenditures.
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