“As operators seek to avoid being relegated to the role of a dumb pipe with their businesses confined to providing transport, it is clear that many revenue generative opportunities are being missed. Among these, the opportunity among the small to medium size enterprise (SME) market is one that offers great potential. However, in common with other areas of the industry, carriers are being cut out of the value chain by web companies that provide applications and services to clients directly. Google is the classic provider of many services that SMEs use via the cloud on a pay-as-you-go or subscription per month model. Some of such providers’ propositions fit elegantly with the requirements of SMEs. By their nature with between 2 and 75 employees, they can’t invest in enterprise-grade hardware and software and don’t want to get locked in to rigid, long-term contracts that could either prove too costly or fail to scale up as their business grows.”

“In my experience, whilst operators’ own shops and specialist retailers were ready to offer bundles of minutes and messages and SME-focused propositions such as shared call packages between company users, they were unable to offer more specific, enterprise applications and therefore miss out on the opportunity to upsell. I believe that operators can use this channel successfully. By offering revenue generative, value-added services directly to SMEs at the traditional point of sale, backed by the enviable trusted relationship they already have with their SME customers, they can outflank the web services companies and tap into the greater revenues generated for themselves.”

You may find the whole article of Mr Scott Stonham at

http://www.communigate.com/Papers/CommuniGate%20GTB%20JulAug%202010-2.pdf