Despite the wide range of solutions currently available, customer requirements never seem to stand still – and 2008 will see the channel become ever more creative in order to keep up,” comments Rob Pickering, Director at ipcortex. “Innovative technical solutions and resourceful twists on existing business models will be necessary to provide both end users and the reseller channel with the level of choice and accessibility that they require.
“Fuelled by a greater understanding of the opportunities presented by converged communications, there has been a demand for solutions that can accommodate increasingly diverse business requirements. It is this that has spearheaded the shift to a more open approach - one where technological freedom is paramount. A great example to demonstrate the importance of an openly compatible solution is that of handset selection.
“In this instance, you have to remember that different organisations require varying levels of functionality from their handsets – and that levels of functionality and handset capability may change over time. It is therefore important that they have a choice of phones, and with requirements varying considerably from client to client, resellers need to be confident that the IP PBX solution they carry will be flexible enough to support this choice - open compatibility is the key.