When purchasing a choice of turrets / dealer boards, the prefer
options is to have a good support coverage in the Regions. Presently in
the Asia Pacific region, various campaigns and marketing strategy are
emphasizing on technology, cost, space savings, scalability and
reliability. But the main focus of the product still lied on the support
of the product.
In the Asia Pac Region, they are various dealerboard company claiming that can do this and do that. In terms of support coverage what do they actually covered. Thus this factor is often neglect as many consider it not an important factor. In fact this is the most crucial component. Let put it this way, if you looking for expansion into other region, and the dealerboard that is in place do have not direct presence in the region. The supporting time definitely going to be gap compare to the direct office as the SLA and maintenance cover will lapsed. Dealerboard company often run into issue of not have enough spares to cover the supporting Region as they do not have direct (local) presence.
The factors to look out for:
1. Not only on technology specifications, scalability, total cost of ownership (TCO) and cost savings but on the Daily Operation part.
2. Dealerboard company to have at least direct (local) presence to cope with spare and most importantly the support level they offered. Ultimately, you do not want to keep calling the helpdesk which get route back to their HQ to get issue sorted out. If it does, it show that their Solution Partner is not up-to a level of standard.
Below is just a brief description of the technical support coverage that is currently offered in Asia Pac Region.
BT
In Asia Pacific, BT Global Account is located in Hong Kong and they had varies strategic operations support well covered within Asia. No doubt their their technical support in Asia Pacific is mainly from third-party vendors like Black box and Wipro, they do have strong support presence well-covered the within Asia Pac Region especially in India, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. BT offer Unified Trading Voice services which enable communication collaboration. With their current operations outsourced, they do have a group of skill-trained service engineers in every Asia Pac Region. BT bundle their dealerboard with Voice Recorder Solution and Cisco Switches (Cisco Nexus), and offered level 1 support technical expertise on site to station in their customer site. Currently, with the largest dealer board base installation in the Asia Pacific Region in the Financial Market. BT had a Technical Support Center (TAC) strategical based in Hong Kong with more than 8 direct local presence in Asia Pac with a strong sales, engineering team, Technical Design Lead based in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. BT had better third party product integration with their Dealerboards and C&C products.
IPC
IPC Global Account is located in Hong Kong and they had their own Voice Network Carrier and almost covering the Asia Pacific Region making them known in the Markets for their Max Alliance Series and their extensive technical support . In terms of support coverage, they offered an exclusive expert and well-train service engineers in the Region especially having direct presence in Asia Pac. All service engineers are well-versed in their product in the Region with CCNP certified minimum. IPC dealerboard often ease of management using UMS and they had 24 hours x 7 days of coverage on standby service engineers. With Unigy Solution, it offered a whole wide range of solution from Intercoms to Mobility Trader Voice. Having excellent operations management well covered within Asia Pac, with Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other Asia Regions, IPC Technical Operations Center is strategical located in Hong Kong with strong Technical Lead for Engineering Support and Sales Lead in Asia Pac. IPC Network Operations Center is strategical located in Singapore. They had more than 9 direct Local Presence in Asia Pac having strong partnership around the Region with HP and Mitsubishi which bring their level of technical presence in the Region.
Orange
Orange Business Solution was formerly Etrali Trading System, well-known for their Mach3D and also their integrated Voice Recording Solution for various Investment Bank. They had well-versed of service engineer trained in Nice, Cybertech recorders. Getting a dealerboard (turret) solution also in bundle with voice recording solution which makes their service level up to competent level known for their recorders and turret support. Orange Technical Support and Network Voice Carrier is strategically located in Singapore. With the recent new deployment of more than 1,500 position SIP OpenTrade Turrets (200 over position in Singapore, 200 over in Hong Kong), they strengthen their technical support (with SIP, ACME, session border) training. Orange had more than 7 direct local Presence operating within Asia Pacific. They have a group engineering team, with excellent Voice Recorder skills and Technical Support with their Technical Support Center situated in Singapore. They continued growing with wide series of products with their new machine-to-machine solutions for warehouse, RFID, Biometrics and Enterprise Communications Solutions.
Speakerbus
An intercom company which start selling their dealerboard known as 'i-turret' which fully support SIP. It had a central management server which can integrate into other interface. Speakerbus do not have many direct presences in the Region and mostly are Agens and Channel Partners handling their support. Their technical support coverage is not as competent enough as their Global Account is mainly handle in London. Dealerboards installation in the Asia Pacific Region are fairly less compared to IPC/Orange/BT. Most of the dealerboards were sold and maintain by channel partners. The Operation Management for Asia Pac Region is run by an one-man located in Australia, with no Technical Support Center located in anywhere of Asia, heavily relying on outsource Engineering resources. Currently with Hong Kong being Agent partnership having less than 5 direct Local Presence in Asia. They had probably less than than 10 local service engineers or staffs in Asia. Their existence of technical support cover in Asia is not competent and lacking with no Operations Management situated in key strategical areas like Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore unlike IPC, BT, Orange and IPTrade.
Infinet
They had been selling dealerboard in Bombay and had recently come with a new dealerboard which support SIP. In terms of Technical Support, they they mainly rely on the channel partners. Their voice solution had started integrating with Cloud Services such as Amazon Web Service. The Technical Operations is located in Mumbai and Tokyo.
Conclusion:
Getting a dealer board / turret is not just emphasizing on the key technology side, TOC, and ROI but with the aspect of the product coverage and premium support.
A Great Product Deserves Great Support - A simple bold claim statement
John Yamashita
Senior Voice Consultant (Regional), Asia Pacific Region
(Voice Trading Solution)
In the Asia Pac Region, they are various dealerboard company claiming that can do this and do that. In terms of support coverage what do they actually covered. Thus this factor is often neglect as many consider it not an important factor. In fact this is the most crucial component. Let put it this way, if you looking for expansion into other region, and the dealerboard that is in place do have not direct presence in the region. The supporting time definitely going to be gap compare to the direct office as the SLA and maintenance cover will lapsed. Dealerboard company often run into issue of not have enough spares to cover the supporting Region as they do not have direct (local) presence.
The factors to look out for:
1. Not only on technology specifications, scalability, total cost of ownership (TCO) and cost savings but on the Daily Operation part.
2. Dealerboard company to have at least direct (local) presence to cope with spare and most importantly the support level they offered. Ultimately, you do not want to keep calling the helpdesk which get route back to their HQ to get issue sorted out. If it does, it show that their Solution Partner is not up-to a level of standard.
Below is just a brief description of the technical support coverage that is currently offered in Asia Pac Region.
BT
In Asia Pacific, BT Global Account is located in Hong Kong and they had varies strategic operations support well covered within Asia. No doubt their their technical support in Asia Pacific is mainly from third-party vendors like Black box and Wipro, they do have strong support presence well-covered the within Asia Pac Region especially in India, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. BT offer Unified Trading Voice services which enable communication collaboration. With their current operations outsourced, they do have a group of skill-trained service engineers in every Asia Pac Region. BT bundle their dealerboard with Voice Recorder Solution and Cisco Switches (Cisco Nexus), and offered level 1 support technical expertise on site to station in their customer site. Currently, with the largest dealer board base installation in the Asia Pacific Region in the Financial Market. BT had a Technical Support Center (TAC) strategical based in Hong Kong with more than 8 direct local presence in Asia Pac with a strong sales, engineering team, Technical Design Lead based in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. BT had better third party product integration with their Dealerboards and C&C products.
IPC
IPC Global Account is located in Hong Kong and they had their own Voice Network Carrier and almost covering the Asia Pacific Region making them known in the Markets for their Max Alliance Series and their extensive technical support . In terms of support coverage, they offered an exclusive expert and well-train service engineers in the Region especially having direct presence in Asia Pac. All service engineers are well-versed in their product in the Region with CCNP certified minimum. IPC dealerboard often ease of management using UMS and they had 24 hours x 7 days of coverage on standby service engineers. With Unigy Solution, it offered a whole wide range of solution from Intercoms to Mobility Trader Voice. Having excellent operations management well covered within Asia Pac, with Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other Asia Regions, IPC Technical Operations Center is strategical located in Hong Kong with strong Technical Lead for Engineering Support and Sales Lead in Asia Pac. IPC Network Operations Center is strategical located in Singapore. They had more than 9 direct Local Presence in Asia Pac having strong partnership around the Region with HP and Mitsubishi which bring their level of technical presence in the Region.
Orange
Orange Business Solution was formerly Etrali Trading System, well-known for their Mach3D and also their integrated Voice Recording Solution for various Investment Bank. They had well-versed of service engineer trained in Nice, Cybertech recorders. Getting a dealerboard (turret) solution also in bundle with voice recording solution which makes their service level up to competent level known for their recorders and turret support. Orange Technical Support and Network Voice Carrier is strategically located in Singapore. With the recent new deployment of more than 1,500 position SIP OpenTrade Turrets (200 over position in Singapore, 200 over in Hong Kong), they strengthen their technical support (with SIP, ACME, session border) training. Orange had more than 7 direct local Presence operating within Asia Pacific. They have a group engineering team, with excellent Voice Recorder skills and Technical Support with their Technical Support Center situated in Singapore. They continued growing with wide series of products with their new machine-to-machine solutions for warehouse, RFID, Biometrics and Enterprise Communications Solutions.
Speakerbus
An intercom company which start selling their dealerboard known as 'i-turret' which fully support SIP. It had a central management server which can integrate into other interface. Speakerbus do not have many direct presences in the Region and mostly are Agens and Channel Partners handling their support. Their technical support coverage is not as competent enough as their Global Account is mainly handle in London. Dealerboards installation in the Asia Pacific Region are fairly less compared to IPC/Orange/BT. Most of the dealerboards were sold and maintain by channel partners. The Operation Management for Asia Pac Region is run by an one-man located in Australia, with no Technical Support Center located in anywhere of Asia, heavily relying on outsource Engineering resources. Currently with Hong Kong being Agent partnership having less than 5 direct Local Presence in Asia. They had probably less than than 10 local service engineers or staffs in Asia. Their existence of technical support cover in Asia is not competent and lacking with no Operations Management situated in key strategical areas like Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore unlike IPC, BT, Orange and IPTrade.
Infinet
They had been selling dealerboard in Bombay and had recently come with a new dealerboard which support SIP. In terms of Technical Support, they they mainly rely on the channel partners. Their voice solution had started integrating with Cloud Services such as Amazon Web Service. The Technical Operations is located in Mumbai and Tokyo.
Conclusion:
Getting a dealer board / turret is not just emphasizing on the key technology side, TOC, and ROI but with the aspect of the product coverage and premium support.
A Great Product Deserves Great Support - A simple bold claim statement
John Yamashita
Senior Voice Consultant (Regional), Asia Pacific Region
(Voice Trading Solution)
