By Sarah Linares, vice president, TMC Communications

Four years ago, my company entered the exciting new world of VoIP and found that our customers weren’t quite so ready for the idiosyncrasies of SIP. Granted, some idiosyncrasies seemed to some more like telecom basics ─ being able to hear the person on the other end without clipping and being able to consistently use DTMF tones or other newfangled functions like faxing. SIP most certainly was not ready for prime time in 2004. The convergence of SIP with customer networks’ woefully inadequate managed bandwidth was a recipe for disaster.

So where are we today? Are we any closer? We all keep hearing about convergence and unified communications, and how we really need SIP to make all these magical things happen. But is the average businessperson ready to take on all the new requirements necessary to making SIP really work in their business environment? Do you as a salesperson know what you need to know in order to sell the right solution?

The good news is that all your data and voice services can flow over one circuit. The bad news is that all your data and voice services flow over one circuit!! In a badly designed solution, a business owner gets to learn the hard way about network congestion and how it can affect VoIP calls. And the rumor that VoIP is cheaper than TDM is not always true.

When you’re selling VoIP and SIP applications, you’re talking to a whole different group of people. Instead of the phone guys, SIP applications are under the mysterious realm of IT, a world full of even more acronyms than telecom. Instead of just connecting directly into a PBX with a good old-fashioned TDM circuit, we have to worry about routers, firewalls, and internal customer networks that sometimes nobody really understands.

OK, enough about the problems. Here’s the really good news!

Choose a carrier or reseller who will help you choose the right services for your customer and is available for consulting to make those VoIP/SIP services work beautifully. Be certain that the network is ready for VoIP and other SIP applications, that the customer has the right amount of bandwidth and, even more importantly, ensure that the applications running over that bandwidth are prioritized correctly. In a business environment, VoIP traffic is more important than the latest music download. You’ll need bandwidth management so the customer’s network understands that.

You can help your customer take advantage of free interoffice calling, powerful applications that converge data and voice, and all the cool tools available via SIP applications. All you need is carrier-grade VoIP services, a carrier that’s willing to consult with you to make it work, and a monitoring and grooming device that keeps the customer’s applications and VoIP prioritized in the right way.

So the real question is not whether SIP is ready for prime time but rather is the telecom industry ready for SIP.

Sarah Linares is vice president and director of product development and revenue assurance for TMC Communications. She drives the development of new products and pricing structures for the company’s more than 300 agent partners. A seasoned professional with more than 15 years of telecom experience, she also leads the team that is responsible for TMC’s customer bill analysis and 99 percent invoice accuracy. She also is a member of the 2008-09 PHONE+ Channel Partners Advisory Board.