With their coaxes passing by offices, restaurants, and stores cable companies, cable companies, especially those that are multi-service organizations, have been turning their attention to businesses: striking into the heart of their telco competition. And for good reason. These are not only large untapped markets but are ones where cable companies already have the feet in the doors by providing high-quality voice, data, and video-capable services to decision makers’ homes and home offices.

 

“Small and medium size business customers represent substantial growth markets for Tier 2 cable MSOs,” Craig Clausen, executive vice president and chief operating officer of New Paradigm Resources Group, said in a statement. “Many are located on or near the existing cable plants of these providers. This makes them perfect targets for higher margin services such as business-class broadband, carrier-grade VoIP, and even business-specific digital video. To do so, operators must hone their sales and provisioning processes for the business segment, and this includes paying attention to back-office systems.”

 

To meet the needs of demanding business customers, Integrated Broadband Services has rolled out a new and upgraded set of services, which have, in turn, helped it attract new cable company clients. The firm announced them at the NCTC Independent Show in Dallas, Texas.

 

IBBS’s (News - Alert) new Commercial Services product will give cable operators access to business-class support including premium levels of network monitoring and customer care. They will also be able to sell a full suite of integrated business solutions with support from IBBS. These include hosted, value-added applications such as e-mail and collaboration with mobile synch, file storage and backup, managed firewall and VPN, and digital voice.

 

“We developed commercial services packages that include business-class products as well as applications that small and mid-size enterprises have indicated they would like to receive in a hosted manner,” said Sandra Jimenez, vice president of sales and marketing, IBBS, in a statement. “We take pride in listening to our customers. They told us that they view business services as a tremendous opportunity for growth, and we responded by researching the marketplace and developing an offering that maximizes their opportunity. What’s important to note, is that we are not only packaging these services for cable operators; we are also providing training and support, as well as helping them to market and sell to their respective business customers.”

 

Thanks to innovations like these IBBS has been connecting new clients to the firm. One of the latest to join its roster of 220+ cable operators is Windjammer Communications. IBBS will bring its so-called “Triple Play (News - Alert)” services and expanded customer support to the more than 80,000 residential and business cable subscribers Windjammer acquired in July 2008 as a result of its purchases of several Time Warner (News - Alert) systems. 

 

IBBS will empower Windjammer with a full service solution via its BBX solution and the new Commercial Services offerings. These features will ensure that enterprise customers receive the same exceptional high-speed digital voice and data support as individual consumers.

 

 “We selected IBBS because of the high quality and performance of the software, services and support,” said Windjammer CEO Tim Evard in a statement. “The dramatic growth we have recently experienced requires scalability and reliability, and IBBS has proven that their innovative, fully integrated software and services can more than satisfy our customer base.” 

 

“IBBS prides itself on a strong customer focus, and as such, is committed to the success of Windjammer Communications and to providing its broadband subscribers with unmatched customer support,” said David Keil (News - Alert), CEO, IBBS, in a statement. “Windjammer is recognized industry-wide for its core values and quality of service, and we are honored to work with their team. We look forward to a long, productive and mutually beneficial relationship.”