THE GCS NEWSROOM

The interconnect voice industry has long been considered an intricate, complex component of the voice telecommunications industry.

When one examines the entire scope of the interconnect operations of a voice service carrier, they need to have perspective on all the major domains that need to be addressed.

Voice is just another application, so it should be free, right? We’ve all heard this, haven’t we? That in the world of IP, Voice over IP (VoIP) is just like email, or any other application that traverses the internet. Oh, and since email is “free” voice will eventually be free, right?

Time to stop doing things the old way. The more expensive way. The less efficient way. It’s time to bring true automation into your interconnect voice operations.

So, you’ve gone through all your customers and terminators. You’ve analyzed your supplier rate decks and your customer facing pricing decks.

Isn’t it just a matter of putting the suppliers in Least Cost Routing order?

Okay, time to discuss one of the most oft claimed, but rarely proven, item in the interconnect voice OSS & BSS solution space: Scalability. Scalability is critical, but when, why, and how are not often explained.

Least Cost Routing (LCR) used to be simple, but in 2020 it is crazy complex. Least Cost Routing (LCR), is a term used in the voice telecom industry to describe the process by which voice service providers select which carrier to send an “off-network” call and determine the order in which they are sent if the selected carrier can’t accept the call or complete it.

Interconnect voice is a hyper competitive and complex industry. It forces companies to deal with massive data sets, evolving network technology, and a dynamic, constantly changing marketplace.

We’ve all heard that cliché, “under promise, over deliver”, right?

2020. Just writing that seems crazy. We are at the start of the third decade of the 21st Century. What will this decade be like?

GCS has been in the industry for more than a decade, but our founders have been in it even longer than that.

When complexity increases, specialization is required.

Science has defined for us the geologic periods of the earth to help us understand the major/macro elements of those periods.

Companies often twist themselves in knots trying to figure out what criteria they should use to make the right decision when selecting a major tool set.

Okay, for many years now, those of you who have read our content know that we are ardent proponents of NOT building solutions if it is not material to your competitive advantage.

In any industry, it is important to pursue a bunch of goals. Some of these goals are:

Competitive differentiation is an important aspect in any industry but is often overlooked or under invested in amongst companies.

How do you choose the right vendor for your interconnect voice solution? Do you create an RFP? Do you focus on price? Do you focus on ease of use or implementation? Do you look at their existing customers?

What will interconnect voice look like in 3, 5, or even 10 years? Will it all go away? Will all calls be free? Will voice carriers even exist?

In the world of interconnect voice, wholesalers still exist and, believe it or not, even the pure arbitrage folks are still out there, scratching and crawling to survive and sustain themselves.

Okay, that’s a little boastful. How do we know we have the best platform? Could it be our patent? Maybe. Could it be our real-time routing capabilities?

The complex world of interconnect voice means you need complex systems to run this portion of your voice business.

Interconnect voice in 2019 is an incredibly complex marketplace/industry. Massive data volumes, micro thin margins, enormous complexity, combine to make it appear almost impossible to efficiently and profitably manage the business.