Microsoft Lync: Helping Telcos Ring in the FutureMicrosoft Lync: Helping Telcos Ring in the Future

Telcos offering UC solutions like Lync on a large scale with external UC specialists helping them on the IT front will grow the industry much faster than we ever imagined.

With a declining demand for landlines, telecom operators in many countries find themselves in a bit of a pickle when it comes to the corporate market. The PBX might not be dead quite yet, but its life expectancy is decreasing fast. When trying their hand at UC however, telcos usually run into some obstacles and become hesitant quickly.

I can't blame them. UC is mostly about IT, while telcos have always specialized in telephony. They are simply lacking expertise, which makes some of them come to a stand-still. The question of whether to offer implementation and support for UC faster than the competition (but risking startup problems) or to invest in skilled personnel and build a UC division from the ground up (but risking being late to the market) is a tough one to answer.

In 2009, someone at the largest telecom operator in The Netherlands – former state-owned company KPN – kept having nightmares about that exact question. I like to imagine this person had numerous cups of warm milk in the middle of the night before coming to the realization that attracting an external party with a strong foothold in UC was KPN's best bet to solve their impasse.

Based on customer needs, KPN did a full portfolio rationalization in 2013, going from multiple on-premises PBX offerings to just two cloud offerings: Hosted Lync and Hosted Cisco. Their proposition around UC is now finalized: KPN EEN (which translates to KPN ONE) aims for the $4 billion Dutch enterprise market, with Microsoft Lync being a crucial element. The proposition bundles IT with all standard telecom services and consists of building blocks (like Skype and Microsoft 365 integration) that can be added or removed based on client needs. Customers pay per user per month and receive one invoice from a single party: KPN.

While writing this blog, there is no other telco or vendor in The Netherlands that offers a UC proposition like KPN EEN for corporate customers. Some telcos might have come to the stand-still described earlier, some might have chosen to take their time and build an internal UC division. I can't predict the future (I'd be a very lucky man if I could), but what this case study shows us is that KPN will likely become the market leader in UC in the Dutch market because they responded to a changing reality early on. It has a full-on commitment with Microsoft, aiming for a large number of seats on Lync Enterprise Voice by 2017 and investing largely to make that happen.

I think this is where UC is going. Telcos offering UC solutions like Lync on a large scale with external UC specialists helping them on the IT front will grow the industry much faster than we ever imagined. That's why both parties should be aware and supportive of each other.

Lucas Wensing is CEO and founder of StartReady and a specialist when it comes to Unified Communications solutions based on Microsoft Lync. He started his career at ETX in 2000, after which he became Partner Technology Specialist at Microsoft and later progressed to Sales Solutions Management. Together with his business partner Jeroen van Vliet he founded StartReady in 2008, which over the last five years has grown to be an international company delivering Lync solutions to enterprises and small to midsized businesses worldwide. Under his direction StartReady developed multiple technical UC solutions, varying from on-premise to solutions hosted in the cloud.