The week was very busy for Broadvox and many of our partners. We were in Miami for the East Coast version of ITEXPO. The crowd was bigger, the sessions attended by larger audiences and the discussion points varied. But like many conferences this year, cloud computing and managed services ruled the day. For me, I learned a very interesting fact from IDC. In polling companies with at least 50 employees, the most important feature of Unified Communications (UC) was instant messaging (IM). At the bottom of the list, with only 29% support, was presence.

Last year after complaints by a European carrier that new services offered by Google were making it impossible to accurately predict traffic requirements which drive network expansion, I noted the need for Google and others to coordinate new product releases with service providers. This seems to still be a problem. Japanese service provider, NTT DoCoMo, suffered a signaling storm generated by an Android application. While I haven’t seen the specifics, I do know that having networks fail around the world, as we are attempting to generate confidence in using cloud application, is not good.

I didn’t cook much this weekend as it turned out to be a weekend of leftovers. Friday, we ordered Mexican food and since neither of us eats very much we had quite a bit leftover. As a result, I made scrambled eggs with cheese topped with leftover ceviche and sour cream. Dinner was a seafood quesadilla served over chive mashed potatoes for Gay. I had smoky barbeque ribs and brisket with black beans and salsa. Sunday, I made omelettes filled with sautéed onion, tomato, and chopped rib meat and brisket.

In the month of January we lost two very good people from Sales and Marketing. While no one person is ever critical to the success of a business, losing good people can be expensive. In addition to the easily measured costs associated with salaries, bonuses and benefits there are other reasons to work very hard to reduce undesired attrition. Consider these less discussed costs:

One of the early lessons we learn as children is to play fair and share with others. For most of my life this was a useful phrase. However, with the advent of the Internet and the ability to share copyrighted content with anyone connected to the net, sharing has become a major issue. When I first learned of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), I knew I would be opposed to their provisions. Yes, even without reading the Acts, I was siding with the opposition.

This past weekend was very interesting as I did a home work assignment for one of my wife’s students. Gay teaches at a small college in Dallas that has a culinary school. One of the tests is to look at a list of ingredients and put together an appetizer and main course. The student, having read a few of my Monday blogs, asked me to work with a flat iron steak and puff pastry for an appetizer and rabbit as a main course. The list contained everything needed to make mini-Wellingtons as an appetizer (Dijon-style mustard was missing). I decided to go in that direction anyway.

Wednesday when I used the word “punt” to describe the option of moving to a fully managed solution, I expected a few comments but surprisingly received very few. So, without being pushed I’ll explain why punting is a good thing. Most people consider punting a play that is called after the offense has failed but consider this it is also used to improve your field position. Selecting a fully managed or hosted solution does the same thing.

I filled out a questionnaire last week that had as a question the supposition that PBXs were going the way of the dodo bird. Cloud computing and hosted communications are viewed as making hardware purchases extinct. I do not hold that outlook. Broadvox has a major business segment that is focused on offering hosted communications. In fact, we have expanded the offering with the inclusion of the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution. It is now the latest member of the GO! family of products as GO!UC. However, the sales of PBXs or IP PBXs will not end in the foreseeable future.

We ordered Thai food for dinner Friday (soup and two entrées). It was very good. Saturday we decided to eat the leftover Thai (it was really good). So, Sunday was my only day of cooking. I decided to make a dish I had in Buenos Aires Argentina six or seven years ago. I remembered how to make it but I had to do some research to get the name. In Argentina it is called Braciole with Ham and Cheese. Typically, braciole is known as an Italian dish composed of a flank steak that is covered in an herb mixture, rolled up and tied. It is then braised or roasted.

The 80:20 rule is more than a common concept. It is formally known as the Pareto principle. The Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In sales, we translate that to 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our customers. Analyzing the 20% then becomes a very important thing. With online marketing and the web, we tend to focus on buying behaviors or information search patterns. Too often those of us working with the Internet and IP technology forget there are real world analytics performed every second of every day.