Recently, Microsoft announced its Response Point IP PBX would be for sale at Costco.com. Now that the country’s biggest software company has teamed with one of its top five retailers to sell an IP PBX, the obvious question is how will retail competition impact indirect sales channels for converged voice and data gear?
Response Point is a software-based IP PBX packaged as an appliance by three OEMs – Aastra Technologies Ltd., D-Link Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. Its biggest selling point is that Mom and Pop can install the system themselves, and therein lies the rub for the channel – both traditional PBX dealers and emerging VoIP VARs.
The Response Point IP PBX sold through Costco.com is coupled with hardware designed and built by Quanta’s Syspine division. The system undeniably is appealing. It’s pretty, for one thing. Plus, it contains voice-recognition software that links with a company’s phone directory as well as each employee’s Outlook address book. Businesses can add up to 50 of Syspine’s IP310 phones without incurring additional license fees, too. Microsoft and Syspine tout Response Point as being so easy to install that no special IT or IP telephony skills are required.
Out-of-the-box operation enables distribution through a big box retailer, but does it make indirect channels obsolete for serving the sub-50 employee company? Industry executives — including execs from Quanta Syspine and Microsoft — think not. In fact, they see products like Response Point as creating more business for the indirect channel.
As IP technologies continue to evolve, “I believe there’s going to be an increasing need for the IT specialist or the resellers that can go in there and do the managed services,” said Bob Gordon, director of sales and marketing for Quanta Computer.
Besides, noted Richard Sprague, senior director of marketing for Microsoft, few resellers make their money off the hardware margin. “Many of our IT specialists are comfortable letting their customers buy the Response Point hardware however it’s most convenient for them,” Sprague said. “The specialists will make their money from additional integration and other services.”
Sprague and Gordon expect that to become even more true upon the introduction of Service Pack 1 for Response Point, slated for release this summer. The major feature is a set of partnerships with Cbeyond and New Global Telecom. Channel partners will sign with either one of those companies and earn commissions by helping SMBs turn their Response Point all-VoIP. Another expected change to Service Pack 1 is the addition of direct inward dialing, which routes callers to an extension, or several extensions, to make sure someone picks up the phone.
So even though Microsoft bills Response Point as self-installable, experts — from suppliers to dealers to analysts — predict SMBs will continue to look to VARs and integrators for IT help. Indirect channel partners agree, claiming small businesses are clamoring for someone else to manage their networks and applications.
D&H Distributing sells Response Point through VARs and retailers. “We haven’t heard any rumblings in the channel” about Response Point being sold through Costco.com or similar outlets, said Rob Eby, vice president of purchasing at D&H. “VARs feel that their value-add outweighs simply being able to sell the product. Many retailers aren’t as comfortable with the technology as VARs. In that case, retailers aren’t really a threat to VARs and integrators; they would need to figure out how to both sell and service the system. These kinds of products are still not completely off-the-shelf solutions.”
