Why Voice Still Matters

12/12/2013

Comcast Business Services vice president John Guillaume explains to Light Reading's Sarah Reedy why voice is still such an important part of the cable operator's business services portfolio.

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albreznick 12/17/2013 | 11:03:24 PM

Re: Voice features It would be interesting to compare the video pricing and check that out, Sarah.. As for good research on UC, that's a good question, Kevin. We'll have to check into that too.

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Sarah Thomas 12/16/2013 | 9:28:45 AM

Re: Voice features And someone also asked a good question on price. Is video not being adopted because it's still priced too expensively, or is it just the lack of interest in it?

I suppose video calls could be a good way to make you feel more connected as a work-at-home employee, and it'd also hold you accountable to make sure you're presentable on a daily basis!

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Kevin Mitchell 12/16/2013 | 8:41:50 AM

Re: Voice features I actually use video calls a significant amount of time. I find it useful as a remote employee and working at home. Either with Lync or my Polycom (or CounterPath client), I think it's great for one-on-one calls and a workable substitute for not being in HQ.

The ease of launching video calls plays into it. As such, I didn't use it when at HQ at my former company, although I would have used it more if it was part of the culture.

I'd love more data on this. There has to be some good data on how UC and video is actually monetized. Are these features just so enterprises/SMBs feel that they are future proof? What percent of seats actually use the UC and video features?

Who has the best research on this topic?

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albreznick 12/12/2013 | 2:30:14 PM

Re: Voice features believe me, you're not the only one concerned about that, Sarah. I haven't meant anyone who wants to do a video call at work yet. All Skype calls are audio-only.

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Sarah Thomas 12/12/2013 | 11:53:35 AM

Re: Voice features Specifically, there was a lack of interest in video, which isn't all that surprising. He was referring to point-to-point video, not telepresence. There really isn't a time you'd benefit from doing a video call versus a a voice call. It's good for simulatenous document sharing and presentations, but you can do all that online. I, for one, hope we don't start doing video calls around here! I'd have to change up my work-at-home look.

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albreznick 12/12/2013 | 11:50:05 AM

Re: Voice features Yeah, go figure. Very interesting that the big firms don't really care about UC yet, even though they may say they do. I wonder when that changes. Comcast's SIP trials and rollouts will be interesting to watch. We'll try to get John back nxt year to talk about the results.

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Sarah Thomas 12/12/2013 | 11:09:58 AM

Voice features I was trying to nudge John into telling me that enterprises don't care about UC features, but he didn't take the bait. Even so, that was the message on his panel, per my earlier story. Comcast may be late to SIP trunking, but it's making a good business on it. Who knew boring old voice would be so exciting these days?

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