Giving Companies a Stronger Voice
Comcast Brings a New Bundle to the Small-business Marketplace
Doug Guthrie says Comcast Small Business Voice addresses the direct needs of what has been an underserved constituency.
Doug Guthrie says small businesses have traditionally been overlooked, or underserved, as he put it, when it comes to voice services, which is ironic, because they dominate the economic scene in most regions, including the Pioneer Valley.
Small businesses have pretty much had to take a back seat to bigger companies when it comes to phone service, said Guthrie, vice president of Comcasts so-called Connecticut-West Region, which encompasses the Valley. He told BusinessWest that his company is hard at work on remedying that situation with a new product rolled out earlier this year. Its called Comcast Business Class Voice, part of a Business Class bundle of voice, data, and television services that is similar in many ways to the companys Triple Play package of those three services for residential customers. The new offering should help businesses operate more effectively, said Guthrie, while also saving money in the process through monthly charges as low as $99.
Business Class Voice includes unlimited local and long-distance calling for one price, as well as features ranging from auto attendant to a host of caller ID services to three-way calling. The new product brings a number of benefits to small businesses, said Guthrie, starting with choice, meaning a viable option to the phone company. But it also offers an effective bundle, those aforementioned cost savings, and the ability for smaller companies (those with under 20 employees) to operate as much larger entities.
The idea behind this product is to make the small-business guy feel like the big-business guy, he explained, adding that this concept is captured in Comcasts materials to market the new product, which feature the tag line, turn your office on. Were providing power to the business people.
Meanwhile, for Comcast, which does business in 39 states, Business Class Voice and the new bundle provide what Guthrie and others expect will be an effective vehicle for capturing a larger share of the small business market within its substantial footprint, which is pegged at $12 billion to $15 billion nationally, by most estimates.
The immediate mission, or challenge, for the company, Guthrie acknowledged, is to convince would-be customers that a cable giant that has also gained a solid footing in the business of providing reliable, high-speed Internet service can also provide a quality voice service.
He believes the product quality will speak for itself, literally and figuratively, and that Comcast can build on the track record it has compiled within the residential market.
We have a considerable amount of experience providing voice services to residential customers, he explained. We want to take that know-how to the small-business market, where there is enormous potential for growth.
Voice of Reason
Anthony Facchini says his law firm was quick to be among the first to sign on for Business Class Voice and the Comcast business bundle.
Springfield-based Facchini & Facchini has three lawyers (brothers Anthony, Richard, and Michael), 10 employees, and seven phone lines, said Fracchini, and saw in the Comcast package an opportunity to pay one bill instead of two or three, reduce some expanses, and gain better quality, reliability, and service response.
Three months after signing on, hes reporting all of the above.
Our bill used to be about $450 a month, and weve probably cut that in half, he said. Our Internet is much faster and more reliable, and the phone service is good; there have been just a few hiccups with it, but the service has been tremendous.
Facchini & Facchini represents the kind of customer, and the type of response, that Comcast had in mind when it spent the bulk of 2007 putting together its new product one that would give it the opportunity to compete against AT&Ts package of phone and Internet service that runs for $90 per month, or closer to $130 when mobile phone service is added to the mix while also building the sales and service team that would bring it to the market.
Such small businesses have traditionally had few, if any, choices besides AT&T for land-line services, said Guthrie, adding that he believes Comcasts business bundle will compete effectively, garner significant market share perhaps 20% and meet or exceed the companys goal to create a $2.5 billion business by 2011.
He bases that estimate on the quality of the package, the quantity of specific features and services, and, perhaps most importantly, the opportunity the Comcast bundle provides for businesses in terms of cost savings and greater efficiency.
These are the selling points being stressed by a sales force amassed by Ed Gallagher, a 20-year veteran of the communications industry recruited by Comcast to become vice president and general manager of Buisness Services for Comcasts NorthCentral Division, which encompasses all of New England. Gallagher was given the task of putting what Guthrie called the building blocks in place for the new business venture.
Assignments included the hiring and training of a sales force for all regions, he said, adding that, by the end of 2007, Comcast had more than 2,000 employees across the country dedicated to the small- and medium-sized business efforts, including about 750 business salespeople and 1,400 technicians.
Theyve been busy of late, said Guthrie, adding that early response to the bundle has been positive, and no doubt helped by a softened economy that has business owners thinking about costs and how to reduce them.
All companies are looking to trim their expenses and become more efficient, he explained. This is the right product at the right time.
And Western Mass. has the demographics to be the right place, he continued, adding that small businesses dominate the landscape in the 35 area communities to which the company provides service. These include Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield, Northampton, Greenfield, Longmeadow, and West Springfield.
We see Western Mass. as a strong growth area for us, he explained, adding that many businesspeople in the area are familiar with Comcast through their residential cable, Internet service, or even cable advertising. Such relationships, coupled with the new voice product and the business Triple Play, as he called it, all add up to opportunities to take market share.
Guthrie told BusinessWest that, while Business Class Voice is a new product, and it is part of a new small-business bundle, the company is bringing a significant amount of experience to this initiative that makes new a bit of a misnomer.
For starters, Comcast is the fourth-largest residential phone provider in the nation, so it brings voice experience to the table, he explained, and it has been offering its Triple Play cable, Internet, and voice to residential customers for years.
Comcast already delivers reliable voice service to thousands of business owners where they live, said Gallagher. These business owners now have the option of choosing Comcast for all their communications needs where they work.
Answering the Call
Comcast means business.
Thats another of the marketing slogans being used for the rollout of the new small-business bundle, and it has meaning on a number of levels, said Guthrie.
First, it speaks to the companys focus on bringing better services to small-business owners. But it also reflects the companys aggressive plans to take market share in an increasingly popular small-business sector, which, as he said, offers vast potential.
Whether Comcast will meet its ambitious goals remains to be seen, but the companys intentions are as clear as a bell or a strong dial tone.v
George OBrien can be reached at [email protected]
Doug Guthrie says Comcast Small Business Voice addresses the direct needs of what has been an underserved constituency.
Doug Guthrie says small businesses have traditionally been overlooked, or underserved, as he put it, when it comes to voice services, which is ironic, because they dominate the economic scene in most regions, including the Pioneer Valley.
Small businesses have pretty much had to take a back seat to bigger companies when it comes to phone service, said Guthrie, vice president of Comcasts so-called Connecticut-West Region, which encompasses the Valley. He told BusinessWest that his company is hard at work on remedying that situation with a new product rolled out earlier this year. Its called Comcast Business Class Voice, part of a Business Class bundle of voice, data, and television services that is similar in many ways to the companys Triple Play package of those three services for residential customers. The new offering should help businesses operate more effectively, said Guthrie, while also saving money in the process through monthly charges as low as $99.
Business Class Voice includes unlimited local and long-distance calling for one price, as well as features ranging from auto attendant to a host of caller ID services to three-way calling. The new product brings a number of benefits to small businesses, said Guthrie, starting with choice, meaning a viable option to the phone company. But it also offers an effective bundle, those aforementioned cost savings, and the ability for smaller companies (those with under 20 employees) to operate as much larger entities.
The idea behind this product is to make the small-business guy feel like the big-business guy, he explained, adding that this concept is captured in Comcasts materials to market the new product, which feature the tag line, turn your office on. Were providing power to the business people.
Meanwhile, for Comcast, which does business in 39 states, Business Class Voice and the new bundle provide what Guthrie and others expect will be an effective vehicle for capturing a larger share of the small business market within its substantial footprint, which is pegged at $12 billion to $15 billion nationally, by most estimates.
The immediate mission, or challenge, for the company, Guthrie acknowledged, is to convince would-be customers that a cable giant that has also gained a solid footing in the business of providing reliable, high-speed Internet service can also provide a quality voice service.
He believes the product quality will speak for itself, literally and figuratively, and that Comcast can build on the track record it has compiled within the residential market.
We have a considerable amount of experience providing voice services to residential customers, he explained. We want to take that know-how to the small-business market, where there is enormous potential for growth.
Voice of Reason
Anthony Facchini says his law firm was quick to be among the first to sign on for Business Class Voice and the Comcast business bundle.
Springfield-based Facchini & Facchini has three lawyers (brothers Anthony, Richard, and Michael), 10 employees, and seven phone lines, said Fracchini, and saw in the Comcast package an opportunity to pay one bill instead of two or three, reduce some expanses, and gain better quality, reliability, and service response.
Three months after signing on, hes reporting all of the above.
Our bill used to be about $450 a month, and weve probably cut that in half, he said. Our Internet is much faster and more reliable, and the phone service is good; there have been just a few hiccups with it, but the service has been tremendous.
Facchini & Facchini represents the kind of customer, and the type of response, that Comcast had in mind when it spent the bulk of 2007 putting together its new product one that would give it the opportunity to compete against AT&Ts package of phone and Internet service that runs for $90 per month, or closer to $130 when mobile phone service is added to the mix while also building the sales and service team that would bring it to the market.
Such small businesses have traditionally had few, if any, choices besides AT&T for land-line services, said Guthrie, adding that he believes Comcasts business bundle will compete effectively, garner significant market share perhaps 20% and meet or exceed the companys goal to create a $2.5 billion business by 2011.
He bases that estimate on the quality of the package, the quantity of specific features and services, and, perhaps most importantly, the opportunity the Comcast bundle provides for businesses in terms of cost savings and greater efficiency.
These are the selling points being stressed by a sales force amassed by Ed Gallagher, a 20-year veteran of the communications industry recruited by Comcast to become vice president and general manager of Buisness Services for Comcasts NorthCentral Division, which encompasses all of New England. Gallagher was given the task of putting what Guthrie called the building blocks in place for the new business venture.
Assignments included the hiring and training of a sales force for all regions, he said, adding that, by the end of 2007, Comcast had more than 2,000 employees across the country dedicated to the small- and medium-sized business efforts, including about 750 business salespeople and 1,400 technicians.
Theyve been busy of late, said Guthrie, adding that early response to the bundle has been positive, and no doubt helped by a softened economy that has business owners thinking about costs and how to reduce them.
All companies are looking to trim their expenses and become more efficient, he explained. This is the right product at the right time.
And Western Mass. has the demographics to be the right place, he continued, adding that small businesses dominate the landscape in the 35 area communities to which the company provides service. These include Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield, Northampton, Greenfield, Longmeadow, and West Springfield.
We see Western Mass. as a strong growth area for us, he explained, adding that many businesspeople in the area are familiar with Comcast through their residential cable, Internet service, or even cable advertising. Such relationships, coupled with the new voice product and the business Triple Play, as he called it, all add up to opportunities to take market share.
Guthrie told BusinessWest that, while Business Class Voice is a new product, and it is part of a new small-business bundle, the company is bringing a significant amount of experience to this initiative that makes new a bit of a misnomer.
For starters, Comcast is the fourth-largest residential phone provider in the nation, so it brings voice experience to the table, he explained, and it has been offering its Triple Play cable, Internet, and voice to residential customers for years.
Comcast already delivers reliable voice service to thousands of business owners where they live, said Gallagher. These business owners now have the option of choosing Comcast for all their communications needs where they work.
Answering the Call
Comcast means business.
Thats another of the marketing slogans being used for the rollout of the new small-business bundle, and it has meaning on a number of levels, said Guthrie.
First, it speaks to the companys focus on bringing better services to small-business owners. But it also reflects the companys aggressive plans to take market share in an increasingly popular small-business sector, which, as he said, offers vast potential.
Whether Comcast will meet its ambitious goals remains to be seen, but the companys intentions are as clear as a bell or a strong dial tone.v
George OBrien can be reached at [email protected]
