Telkom eyes firms with phone cloud services

Telkom has partnered with American multinational technology company Avaya to provide a cloud-based telephone system that will allow local firms to outsource their voice services to the telco.

The solution, dubbed OmniCONNECT, targets corporates and small and medium-sized firms.

Through the technology, employees can receive and make calls via the company landline through an application installed on their mobile phone or via their desktop computers.

Telkom says the cost of the service will range from about Sh800 to Sh1,400 per person each month depending on which specific services firms opt into.

Under the partnership, Avaya will provide the software that runs the telephone system’s functionalities while Telkom will host it in their environment at its recently launched Upper Hill data centre and make it available to local users.

“Currently most people use their PBXs (Private Branch Exchange, defined as a private telephone network used within a company) that are installed within their own premises. One of the key differences we bring is you do not have to install the technology in your business unit.”

“We host it on the cloud in our data centre … You don’t have to get expertise to manage it on your own premise and you will just pay for what you use. Even if you fluctuate, we just vary the cost,” said Telkom’s Head of Product in the Enterprise Division Peter Othino at the product’s launch yesterday.

Many local firms are migrating their operations into the cloud, with investment bank Genghis Capital moving not just their telephone system but their entire operations to the cloud in a partnership with Node Africa.

Global players are also eager to attract local firms with their cloud solutions. Microsoft recently launched its first data centres in Africa in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The link to the new data centres reduced the delay before data transfer for local firms by more than half.