Over the past month we’ve reviewed how a hosted voice switch can fit into your network architecture, and then considered the reasons in favor, and the concerns for an ILEC looking at a hosted voice platform.
In this article we’ll finish our series by pulling it all together, and we’ll present a framework for how a rural ILEC might consider the path forward.
I’ve presented the framework as a decision tree below, and then in the latter part of this article we’ll discuss the key factors that weigh on your decision.
How important are business features?
If you sell a lot of UCaaS / hosted PBX to business customers, and if your existing platform doesn’t have a strong feature roadmap then you’re likely to find yourself in a tough place in the marketplace. Over-the-top providers are continuing to innovate, and you may find yourself losing business if your existing switch doesn’t measure up. This is a strong reason to look at other options.
On the other hand, if your existing switch is mostly supporting residential subscribers, then it’s probably providing all the features you need, so as long as it’s stable there’s no urgent need for a change.
Hosted voice for business only
If you do need to offer a better feature set for business users, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to replace your entire class 5 switch.
Given all the complexities of a full replacement (NECA regulations for ILECs, TDM trunking, etc) that we discussed in the previous article, you could potentially use a hosted voice platform to provide business services, and keep your residential lines and your SS7 trunks on your existing switch.
From our research, this is actually the most common scenario for people who use one of these platforms today.
The timing is up to you
From a technology perspective, I believe that eventually all telecommunications service providers will be operating an IP network, and voice will be just another service, provided over that network from the cloud. However, I don’t imagine that this will happen quickly – it will probably take decades.
If you urgently need better UCaaS features, then go ahead and purchase a platform with strong UCaaS features – but even then there’s no particular hurry to decommission your existing class 5 switch. You can focus on business first, and then look at residential services and your trunking later.
For everyone, I would expect that eventually there will be an operational argument for moving your entire voice subscriber base to a hosted voice switch. Maybe it’s cheaper, maybe it’s easier to find good staff, or maybe it has better features. However in most cases you’ll be weighing those benefits against the costs of making the change. Migration projects are a lot of work, and you may have other projects that are more important this year. So keep this idea on your radar, but there’s no need to hurry.
Of course, the decision framework diagram doesn’t take into account all the complexities of everyone’s situation. This is going to be a personal decision based on your market, your network, your team and your priorities.
If you decide you want to move forward, or you’d like to discuss your particular situation in more detail, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’d be happy to discuss further. We’ve worked with several clients on migration projects, and we’d be happy to help you too – if/when you’re ready.
