A new survey by Timico showed that a shocking 68% of those surveyed are unaware of the benefits of SIP. A further 43% were unaware of whether they would be able to run SIP on their current system, with 34% unsure if their company planned to adopt SIP at all.
Despite being heralded as the next big shift in telecoms, the results of this survey pose a significant challenge to the channel, which will be hoping to maximise the benefits of SIP to its customers.
Darren Hilton, Director of Timico Partners, said: “The benefits of SIP are clear – reduced cost, greater resiliency and additional functionality. But if the channel is finding itself pushing a product the market doesn’t understand – it is going to pose a significant challenge.
“Good partners will be educating their resellers on the benefits of SIP – underlining both the cost savings and the additional reliability in ways which both the channel and the end user will understand. It’s not just the SIP channel technology that partners should recognise, but the end to end solution and the importance of having enough robust capacity with their connectivity. “
As well as offering greater resilience, flexibility and cost savings – SIP models can now incorporate the use of business smartphones, by rerouting personal extension numbers directly to mobile devices, for example.
The cost savings of SIP are substantial too. A typical ISDN30 channel costs around £14.50 p/m whereas a SIP channel comes in at around £3.50 p/m; a £3,960 per annum saving.
Darren concluded: “It is partly our responsibility to educate the market and remain as diverse and relevant to customer need as possible, which is why we’re running educational seminars for our partners around SIP and how to create the most reliable and cost effective solutions for those prospective clients. SIP is a remarkable opportunity for the channel – a lack of understanding from both parties would be a foolish reason to miss out.”