Do your customers know their SIP from their CPN? Get them up to speed with the 2016 jargon buster

As an experienced telecommunications reseller, it is unlikely that any industry terms, acronyms and buzzwords will be new to you. But can the same be said for your customers?
There is a good chance that they will not know their SIP from their CPN. So when you talk to them, are you sure that you are both speaking the same language?

Ensuring that your customers understand key terminology is not just about offering them more products to boost your revenue. It is about being a good provider, working in their best interests and knowing that they are getting the most out of their telecommunications.

Here are five key products you need to jargon bust in 2016:

1 – SIP Trunking

The likelihood is that you will have been working with SIP trunking for some time now. But many of your customers will probably have no idea what it is. In fact, many businesses will still be reliant on ISDN, a technology that BT are planning to switch off entirely in 2025.

The message channel partners need to be getting to their clients is that making the switch is not as tricky as it might first seem. If they have invested in their PBX within the last five years, then it may well already be SIP-enabled. If not, they can still easily make the move and save money.

Read more about moving from ISDN to SIP.

2 – FTTC

If your customers are telecommunications savvy, there’s a good chance they may have already heard of FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet). And if they have heard of it, there is an equally good chance that they will be interested, if they prize data and connection speed.

FTTC is a next-generation fibre broadband solution, offering connection speeds that far outstrip most modern alternatives. The appeal is clear. But as FTTC is primarily a residential service, it will not be available to some businesses (particularly those on trading estates). The key thing for providers is to make sure that clients are fully consulted and able to choose the right solution for their business.

3 – Inbound

Every organisation knows that their customers are demanding more of them. Not just in prices and services, but also in availability. In the simplest terms, if a prospect cannot contact company A, they will go to company B (50% of them, according to some sources). And none of your customers want to be company A.

Inbound is the best way to guarantee that the incoming call reaches its intended destination. It offers businesses an in-built continuity solution, with which calls are immediately rerouted to named second numbers if the primary destination is out of action. So if the landline is down, the mobile will ring and the call won’t be missed.

Find out how to keep your customers connected whatever the weather.

4 – Resiliency

Businesses preparing to implement SIP trunking must also consider resiliency. More specifically, they must decide what level of protection against downtime they should adopt.

Gamma offers multiple resilience options, including Resilience+.; a design that offers extra peace of mind by ensuring that if a channel, site or link becomes unavailable, another will pick up the slack. It is another way of guaranteeing essential telecoms connections.

Learn about what resiliency option is best for your customers.

5 – CPN

Convergence is the preferred way of working for many channel providers. And it is often the best way of working for most companies, whether they know it or not. Convergence means less paperwork, fewer bills and more time to focus on the core business.

CPN stands for Converged Private Network – Gamma’s fully managed wide area network solution. It takes the core benefits of converged supply and creates a bespoke platform for businesses with multiple sites. It will become increasingly important in 2016 because more businesses will find themselves working across sites, as workers become agile and remote. As a result, their existing communications solution may not look as reliable, secure and cost-effective as it once did.

Find out about the benefits of CPN.

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The coming year will usher in more new technologies and further changes to business practices. Your customers will be looking to their telecommunications provider to guide them towards the best solution for their business. Knowing that you are all using the same terms of reference will be crucial if you want to enjoy a happy working relationship in 2016.