[Asterisk-biz] Target pricing for small asterisk pabx ?

[Alexander Wiercinski]

I don't know whether market in Poland is different but we found that we have
three groups of customers and it is usually relatively easy to charge set up
fees around 30% - 50% of your total hardware costs:

1) companies where IT administrator is an asterisk fan but does not want the
responsibility.

2) companies which are growing and their present solution makes their growth
expensive - then you play the scalability card - thus you can also sell
reasonably expensively. 

3)Even small companies need voicemail, complex ivr, qeueing - this is your
easiest customer and the margins are very good couse legacy solutions are
very expensive and often quite limited.

- Do not compete with the cheapest PBXs out there - simplest way to loose
money!

What turns out to be difficult is charging standard servicing and support
fees - what is ok for Alcatel is unacceptable for a company like ours.  If
Panasonic breaks down its also ok - afterall you dont produce it. If
asterisk breaks down they will crucify you couse for the customer you made
it! 

Support contracts are out biggest challenge at the moment - if anybody has
worked out a good model/approach to do that please share.  

Aleksander Wiercinski
Managing Director
Halo Kwadrat Sp. zo.o.

David Gurr <david.gurr at congruity.co.uk> wrote*: 
>I agree with Jason ... If you're in straight competition with the typical
>SME keysystems, you'll find it hard to win the business.
>
>I have had success here in the UK when I can convince them to do VoIP for
>outgoing calls though. This means they need fewer incoming lines (as
>they'll
>use these only for inbound calls, outbound emergency and directories, and
>in
>case of outbound VoIP failure).
>
>They can then make an ongoing saving on line rental, as well as lower
>rates
>for VoIP-PSTN   (less than half) than they would pay to BT.
>
>D>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
>[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Jason Becker
>Sent: 07 October 2004 15:01
>To: Danny Zak; Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
>Subject: Re: [Asterisk-biz] Target pricing for small asterisk pabx ?
>
>Danny Zak wrote:
>> Hello Commercial's :)
>> 
>> 
>> i got a question about "selling" a asterisk based pabx;
>> 
>> for SMB target ( 2 incomming lines = 1 isdn; linked up with 5 phones; 
>> including configuration of these extensions and providing basic 
>> services such asauto attendant (simple ivr); voicemail; etc..
>> 
>> what would be a FAIR price to charge the SMB entrepreneur for this ?
>> So just the basic price without the hardware costs (like system and
>> phones)
>> 
>
>Whatever the market will bear. ;-)
>
>Seriously though I don't think there is an easy answer to your question. 
>     I think it's a tough sell for such a small outfit. There's a lot of
>competition period but even more so for the very small office. There are
>Key
>System Units from all the big players (e.g. NEC) and there are companies
>like TalkSwitch that offer pretty inexpensive full-featured solutions. Not
>sure why ISDN is being used in your scenario - that might give you an edge
>since I don't think TalkSwitch provides an interface to ISDN.
>
>Whether the company is growing or not is an important factor IMO. KSUs and
>devices like those offered by TalkSwitch kinda force a client into a
>"categorical" growth path. An *-based solution in comparison offers more
>of
>an "incremental" growth path. i.e. Drop in another telephony card and make
>some changes to the conf files. The telephony cards from Digium are also a
>fraction of the cost of what some other vendors charge.
>
>Cheers
>
>--
>Jason Becker
>Director & CEO
>Coalescent Systems Inc.
>403.244.8089
>www.voxbox.ca
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