Colleague and fellow VoIP practitioner Ted Wallingford posted a Mini-white paper: Overcoming cultural challenges to the VoIP revolution yesterday. I was going to offer some thoughts last night, but, well it was Sunday evening and I was unwinding from a busy week. I'll list Ted's basic 10 points in bold and italics, but any comments or observations here are my own. Please follow the link to read Ted's excellent write-up and thoughts.

1. Disbelief about pricing and features
Ted notes the social issue of people not believing or accepting that VoIP can reduce telecommunications costs and gain services. It's a common problem for both consumer VoIP providers and business providers of VoIP solutions. I think there's a split here though. For consumers the value is lowered costs and more features. For business the value is enhanced and integrated features, coupled with the possibility of reduced cost. Too many vendors sell backwords to business enterprise. Cost can't be the primary driver for VoIP to succeed in the enterprise business market any more. That approach doesn't work.

2. Uncertainty about security
Ted says perception is reality, and he's right, but there's so much more. VoIP is an application on the network. People don't understand security period. They don't understand that VoIP security is one application related issue, but network security is the larger, dominant one. The FUD factor (fear, uncertainty and doubt) takes center stage in VoIP security.

3. The question of E911 and government interference
I think there are three bodies involved in E911 issues that muddy the water. The traditional telcos aren't using and providing it as a public safety tool. For them it's a stick to beat away the VoIP competition. They treat it as a tool given to them by legislation to eliminate competitors. That was never the pupose of E9111. The legislature doesn't understand IP technology. Period. As a result, they listen to the telcos drivel about their leadership role in telecommunications. And it is just drivel mostly. We lack informed, technically savvy legislators. And lastly, the VoIP providers missed an opportunity. Instead of aggressively pursing not just E911 service as an offering, or better, improving it to a true public service offering, too many of them used the ostrich defense for too long. They stuck their head in the sand and used delaying tactics rather than embrace the need.

To VoIP providers, you can't have it both ways. You can't gain all the revenues and market of the telcos and truly compete as a telco until you compete on every level of service. Innovate and take E911 forward to the next generation.

4. Uninformed-ness about VoIP technology use
This exists everywhere. People don't understand VoIP. Many don't understand IP. The tech sector has done a poor job of demystifying the technology overall. Telephone technology isn't mystical. Buy a phone. Plug it in. It works. Until we demystify Internet and VoIP technologies to that level, many people will resist adoption.

5. Difficulty in usage & hook up
See above. In a word, simplify. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

6. Paranoid media coverage
Like the legislators, technically savvy media folks are few and far between. The tech reporters in the media proclaim non-existent problems. They run stories that to the uninformed public seem believable. To the technologist, most of what they say is all too frequently irresponsible crap reporting. Time for us to call them out and show the errors they make for what they are. This further demonstrates the problems that exist in mainstream media today. Credibility is something to be earned and the media isn't earning it.

7. The issue of network neutrality
This is a huge issue. Even technology specialists are divided. At the core of the issue sits the traditiional or legacy phone companies efforts to retain and increase control over communications. Are the communications providers who facilitate the flow of information? Or are they communications filters who control what gets said, where it gets transmitted, and to whom? It's a huge issue.

8. (Non-existant) Vendor interop
Interoperability and open networks are crucial. Open protocols. Open standards. Interoperability. Proprietary solutions have limited use and should be crushed out of existence by the market. I believe that will happen over time. Even proprietary VoIP solutions can be wrapped in a SIP wrapper to achieve interoperability. Vendors who don't work towards total interoperability are short-sighted and will be left behind when the next telecommunications chasm is crossed if they survive this one.

9. Bad enterprise attitudes about infrastructure upgrades
Too many enterprises trust in the vendors with far too much naivete. The enterprise business today is the enterprise telco tomorrow. The IT organization that puts too much faith in vendors and telcos will find themselves answering to their investors at some point.

10. Genuine quality of service issues
Just as Ted said, QoS is relatively easy to achieve, if the architects of the networked voice solution can convince the capital
spenders to purchase the right equipment in the right quantities. Quality of Service has never been as daunting or formidable as it's portrayed, but it does take work. Those who invest the labor will reap the benefits. Those who don't will be left behind in the competition.

I'll take the liberty of summarizing all ten issues into a single word - education.  Training, education and socialization of the truths around IP networking and VoIP are the keep to ubiquitous penetration and global VoIP services. Nice write-up, Ted!


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