The upcoming Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference & EXPO will feature a veritable who’s who of industry luminaries representing the industry’s leading companies. At the event in Miami Beach, which is being held January 23–25, 2008, Thuy Ha Director of Product Management at Qwest (News - Alert) Communications will be speaking in the session titled Selecting VoIP for the SMB.

 

I had the opportunity to catch up with Thuy Ha who took the time to respond to a series of questions I had regarding the future of IP communications, market trends, and more.

 

TH: Today the traditional categories we used to think about companies — service provider or application provider — are blurring because of changes in communications. There are no real segregations anymore as companies put more money behind understanding applications and deploying their own services. Customers have more choices because of this blurring and that is a good thing for both them and for the industry.

 

Customers themselves are more technology savvy as well. Two years ago, the top concern was cost. While remaining mindful of cost and their investment return, customers today are focused on the overall business value. At Qwest, we’re having more comprehensive discussions with our customers about what their needs are and how we can meet them. It is fair to say that this translates into an evolved definition of what cost is all about.

 

As customers become more versed in what technology can do, they are becoming more comfortable with it. For example, convergent technologies, mobility and presence-based solutions are becoming increasingly important as customers look to advance productivity.

 

TH: At Qwest, we finished strong and we see a lot of opportunity around IP-based services going into next year. We are looking forward to extending our reach and growth in vertical markets and hitting the mark with small- to medium-size business opportunities in 2008.

 

TH: We’re excited about this year because not only is Qwest expanding and enhancing solution sets, we’re also taking a hard look at how we utilize our full suite of network, hosting and managed service solutions to meet real business needs. Our approach is to help tailor products for our customers versus taking a one-size-fits-all approach. This makes for a more impactful solution. Our recent news that we’ve enhanced our Contact Center Services with the Notify me feature is one example of tailoring products.

 

TH: If anything has altered the market it’s really the culture shift than a specific technology. Technology is always evolving, but the business mindset is being more receptive than ever to trying new things. It’s about unifying technologies and integrating them in a way that makes sense for the customer. A retail store will have different needs than a grocery store or contact center. Qwest is tailoring its needs to integrate billing, provisioning and monitoring capabilities in one suite.

TH: These companies are all examples of how the lines are blurring as to how we think about what a service provider is versus an application provider. It’s a different world now and we see players in spaces we didn’t think they would be in before.

 

TH: Qwest continues to expand our product and services capabilities to help address the growing needs of our customers. We invest in, develop and deploy network capabilities holistically with the thought of layering on applications and integrated solutions.

 

At Qwest, we realize that customers are looking for business partners who can provide the knowledge and skills to manage emerging technologies cost-effectively while minimizing risk.

 

TH: We are in a very competitive industry, so like many companies, we see threats to the business coming from many different sources. We can’t take our eyes off customer service and we have to continue to evolve with solutions that meet changing needs in order to create differentiation.

 

TH: This session is dedicated to creating opportunities for SMBs to manage and take advantage of communications in a whole new way. With hosted VoIP and data solutions, SMBs are able to give employees voice and data functionality, advanced messaging technology and integration of voice/data, Web and e-mail communications without the complexity of navigating these solutions on their own. Attendees will learn what to look for when shopping for hosted or premise-based VoIP and data solutions geared toward SMBs.

 

TH: Everyone of course! Especially attendees interested in the latest in IP solutions for business and specifically advanced, hosted contact center solutions and IP for SMBs.

 

TH: As the market moves towards a solutions model based upon lower capital investment, improved telecom and application capacity planning and management, and higher service standards, Qwest will discuss how our approach is delivering solutions that map to these new demands.