UC's traditional model has been to sell systems according to the number of seats that will use the service. However, prior to the pandemic about 80% of workers globally were deskless, working in jobs that do not typically require sitting in one place. Now, with remote workforces as the new norm, the traditional seat is even harder to understand as a value proposition than a session which takes account only of the usage of the platform by the end user.
Service providers had limited control of their business model when their supply chain dictated how they go to market. UC platform vendors decided for them that service providers are locked into a cost-plus pricing model when the vendors charged them by the seat. This allows only limited scope for service providers to package and bundle specialised offerings and drive margin.
For service providers, number of seats is an arbitrary measure that doesn’t take account of the true utilisation of their service. Recent data from netsapiens, a leading Unified Communications & Collaboration platform provider to service providers which has over 1.3 million users on its platform, shows that typically only 4% of seats are active at any one time, demonstrating the wastage and inflexibility of the traditional vendor pricing model. Service providers are asking themselves: Why am I paying for the 96% who don’t use the seat at any point in time? However, these conversations have fallen on deaf ears since the inception of the UC industry.
“We’re different to 99% of platform vendors out there who charge in the traditional way because we charge per session - per active call,” explained Scott Goodwin, the senior vice president of market development EMEA at netsapiens, “Our pricing is anchored around the utilisation of a person and every function is incorporated within the usage. This means service providers no longer pay for the 96% of the seats that aren’t being used at any point in time, exponentially boosting margins and putting the power squarely back in the service providers’ hands.”
“netsapiens’ combination of universal licensing and session-based pricing extends total control to the service provider to maximise revenue opportunities whilst optimising margin”
Goodwin added, “Combine this with a broad and deep API that allows the service provider flexibility to offer differentiated services and develop their own look and feel, building value around their brand.”
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Scott Goodwin[/caption]
