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Derek Roush

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President/CEO, VocalPoint Consulting Group

313 points

Vocal Point Consulting Group is a leading telecommunications consulting firm. We customize solutions to meet the unique business needs of our clients by providing unbiased advice on telecom and IT optimization through the use of next gen products, services and applications.

WEB: Vocal Point

May 8, 2012

Derek Roush asked a question

Do you aggregate your bandwidth across multiple carriers?

Information Technology

Disaster Recovery

April 27, 2012

Derek Roush and 5 other people answered this question

Can you recommend a Voip solution for my small business?

Jeffrey,
My company works with many hosted VoIP providers. All of them are a little different in their approach to the business and all offer different features. There is never a one size fits all. I would recommend that you make a list of the ... more

Information Technology

April 12, 2012

Derek Roush and 4 other people answered this question

What are the best Android Apps for business productivity?

I want to thank everyone for your answers. If I didn't already know the apps that you all have listed, I checked them out on the market. There are a few here that I had never heard of. Good stuff. Thanks for the input. more

Information Technology

Android Application

April 6, 2012

Derek Roush answered this question

Which telepresennce vendor delivers the best value for money spent?

Gurmail, I have reviewed several video conferencing platforms for many of my clients. Out of all the ones that I have reviewed, demoed, and quoted, I would have to give the edge to LifeSize. The HD quality that they can deliver is impressive and their ... more

Information Technology

Unified Communications

Jan. 31, 2012

Derek Roush and 3 other people answered this question

Avaya IP office 500V2 vs Mitel IP PBX 3300 CX II: Which would you choose?

Hi Nadim,
I think both systems are good. Overall it will depend on how you use your communication platform. For instance, if you are going to run any call center application or do any real-time evaluating of employees, then Avaya will most likely end up ... more

Information Technology

Oct. 17, 2011

Derek Roush and 4 other people answered this question

Which is a better/cost effective PBX for a small business, Allworx or Cisco?

Jennifer,
If you have a good local Allworx vendor to deal with, they will understand what to do regarding your voice/data circuit. I have connections at Allworx if you need to speak to them directly.
Good luck
Derek more

Information Technology

Sept. 24, 2011

Derek Roush and 7 other people answered this question

How can I integrate our phone system with our CRM?

Richard is correct. If you are using Avaya Communication Manager (Aura), then you will need an AES server. If you are using Avaya IP Office, then you can do the integration directly out of the box with the built in TAPI license. It is certified ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Aug. 11, 2011

Derek Roush answered this question

What do you do when you and your customer/prospect can't agree on a price?

At that point I would try to get the prospect to focus on the value of the product or service that you're trying to sell. Use an ROI calculator to focus more on the benefit of the total solution. If you can get the prospect ... more

Sales Management

July 15, 2011

Derek Roush is now following Chad Sutton and 4 other people

June 30, 2011

Derek Roush recommends this answer by Kendra Von Achen

What is a good web-based CRM for a small business?

Kelly, there are many event management systems that have a lot of the functionality of CRM but without the sales funnel areas that it sounds like you don't need/require.
Here are some suggestions, all different price points, and none of which I sell/directly use but do ... more

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

June 23, 2011

Derek Roush asked a question

What is the best call accounting software on the market today?

Information Technology

Software Applications

June 17, 2011

Derek Roush and 7 other people answered this question

Does adding more bandwidth solve issues of jitter and latency?

The only thing that will resolve latency and jitter is Class of Service (CoS) or Quality of Service (QoS). Without, at least, QoS on the network the voice and data packets will be competing for the same bandwidth. With QoS initiated you may see your ... more

Information Technology

May 12, 2011

Derek Roush and 5 other people answered this question

Looking for an easy to use, web based project management system. Thanks,

Check out Ace Project. http://www.aceproject.com/. I started using it recently and I really like how easy it is to keep track of my projects. more

Information Technology

May 4, 2011

Derek Roush and 2 other people answered this question

Where can I obtain a VOIP to analog converter that does not require SIP?

I've never known a building to be ALL VoIP. In fact, I don't believe it would pass code inspections. Elevators and fire alarms still have to be on copper these days to pass inspection. So, I'm with Andrew. Have the phone company come out any ... more

Information Technology

April 28, 2011

Derek Roush and 3 other people answered this question

Are there any community managers tools that integrate with FOCUS?

I wholeheartedly agree with Glen. I would love to see a Hootsuite like tool or maybe integration with Hootsuite. I could see where it would be very helpful for me to let my contacts know when I have a webinar running on Focus without having ... more

Information Technology

April 21, 2011

Derek Roush and 1 other person answered this question

What ROI tools are available for SMBs looking to purchase an IP-based phone system?

Brielle,
Brian gave a link to an Avaya ROI calculator on our webinar today. Here is the one I think he was referring to. http://www.avaya.com/usa/campaign/ip-office-roi-calculator/
Almost every vendor out there has ROI calculators on their websites. But, you know me, I'm going to recommend that any ... more

Information Technology

April 21, 2011

Derek Roush and 3 other people answered this question

Do I need to upgrade my data switches when moving to IP-based phone system?

Hi Brielle,
Thanks for asking this question. It was tough to get around to all of the questions on our webinar today. Good stuff though.
When it comes to the question of upgrading network switches to support VoIP, I always recommend getting a network assessment done. If ... more

Information Technology

March 31, 2011

Derek Roush and 3 other people answered this question

Do you think video is a "game changer" for Unified Communications? Why or why not?

I say that "Yes", video is a game changer and I'll tell you why. A couple of years ago we talked about UC it terms of presence and collaboration with MS OCS or the ability to build a shared directory with LDAP. Now we're talking ... more

Information Technology

March 31, 2011

Derek Roush and 4 other people answered this question

Do you pay attention to Generational Dynamics in your company?

Thanks Gary. That's exactly the kind of feedback that I am looking for. We are continuing to do research in this area and we find a lot of hiring managers are not only trying to attract and adapt to the younger talent, but they are ... more

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