VoIP Channel Update

by | Apr 28, 2022 | 3CX, Grandstream, Latest News, UC Update

In this update:
  • 3CX Hosted – now available in NZ
  • 3CX v16 mobile app support ends April 30th
  • Yealink promotions
  • 3CX partnership
  • Upcoming webinar and technical training
  • Submit a great 3CX case study. Get pizzas for your team!
  • 3CX blogs – essential knowledge
  • Need demo equipment?
  • Firmware for IP phones
  • Join our LinkedIn VoIP community

 

3CX Hosted – now available in NZ

3CX Hosted has been successfully used by 3CX partners around the globe and has now launched in Australasia. New Zealand partners or customers can now get 3CX hosted in their own dedicated instance, at data centres in Sydney and Melbourne. This service frees up time and resources by taking care of all system management.

3CX Hosted is offered FREE for the first year for all Standard, Professional, and Enterprise licenses up to 32-SC. Year 2 hosting starts from NZD$148 excl GST. 3CX will:

  • Deploy your dedicated instance to cloud provider Vultr and auto-configure firewall rules.
  • Manage the 3CX operating system, including security patches and version upgrades (i.e. from Debian 10 to Debian 11).
  • Take nightly backups.
  • Commercial customers are kept on the latest non-beta update.
  • Monitor your 3CX system 24/7.

For existing customers, they can also be converted to 3CX Hosted FREE for the first year by logging into the customer portal and following this simple guide.

All pricing is based off USD retail and converted at the NZD exchange rate at the time.  There are storage limits based on the size of your license.  There are also some limitations around configuration such as:

  • not managed via the Instance Manager in your Partner Portal (3CX takes care of the updates).
  • not able to use CFD (Call Flow Designer).
  • not able to have customer templates for IP phones.
  • STUN is not supported.
  • Note it must use a SBC (Session Border Controller). This is a dedicated device, on premise for physical phones to provision and meet the system requirements found here. If you need assistance around this, please reach out to voipsupport@sofsol.co.nz. Keep watching this space. We have new devices coming soon to assist with this function.

3CX Hosted will be purchased from year 2 onwards via Soft Solutions, your 3CX Distribution Partner.  Revenue will count towards your partner targets but margins will be set differently to normal product purchases.  If you’d like to know more, you can view the 3CX blog here or reach out to our voip@sofsol.co.nz team to discuss in more detail.

3CX v16 mobile app support ends April 30th

At the end of this month, the mobile apps will no longer be compatible with v16 of 3CX. If you have customers using this feature, you need a strategy to get them upgraded to v18.  Since late 2021, we’ve been communicating important dates for when parts of 3CX v16 will end. The current version is v18 update 3a. We ran a webinar earlier this year, looking at these dates and this can be viewed here. If you have any queries or need to know more, please contact us on voip@sofsol.co.nz.

Yealink promotions

If you haven’t yet taken advantage of these fantastic offers from Yealink, it’s not too late. This quarter’s promotions include:

  • SIP-T43U + WH62 Dual Bundle – save on these popular SKUs by buying together!
  • SIP-T46U + WH62 Dual Bundle – save on these popular SKUs by buying together!
  • UH34 and UH36 USB Headset bundles – buy 5 and receive 6 (See flyer. Cannot mix models).
  • NFR promo on the UVC40 and UVC34 video bars – a great way to equip your office!
  • A30 and A20 MS Teams meeting bars with CTP18 touch panel – special pricing plus a free VCH51 sharing box.
  • Yealink Junior Certified Microsoft Solution Engineer (CMSE Junior) certification. Complete the training and pass the test. Then post to LinkedIn tagging Yealink and Soft Solutions. We’ll put you in the draw for a prize! Get bragging rights to being one of the first in NZ to complete – will it be you?

 

 

 

 

 

For full details please visit this link or reach out to our sales@sofsol.co.nz team.

3CX partnership

If you’re not a 3CX partner, now is a great time to explore how effective the 3CX IP PBX unified communication platform is. We’re sure it will fit several of your clients’ requirements – with options for Cloud hosted / on-prem and Linux / Windows installations, it’s highly flexible. 3CX have recently updated their website but a great overview is straight on their landing page at https://www.3cx.com/.  To chat around becoming a partner and what 3CX’s expectations are, please reach out to our VoIP Brand Manager Megan Twentyman. Or if you’re ready to sign up – use this specific link. Soft Solutions will help speed up your application.

Upcoming webinar and technical training

Join Megan Twentyman, Brand Manager, on Thursday 28th April at 11.30am for a bite size webinar to look at 3CX’s top features to assist sales. We’ll cover off why the features may grab your customer’s attention and what to focus in on.  3CX has such a rich feature set that being able to drill down on key features can be incredibly helpful in the sales process. The session will wrap with a Q&A session. Please register here and we look forward to your attendance.

Our 3CX Technical Certification sessions are proving very popular this year. Coming up on Wednesday 11th May we’ll be running the 3CX Intermediate training session. Spaces are limited – please visit here to reserve your spot today. The session will start at 9am and run through to approximately 1pm.  We also have a 3CX Advanced training session coming up on Wednesday 15th June. If you’d like to claim one of the remaining spots, please visit this link.  If you or any of your team need to complete training, please reach out to megan@sofsol.co.nz. They’ll be added to the wait-list to be contacted first when new dates are set.

Submit a great 3CX case study. Get pizzas for your team!

Would you like a lunch shout on Soft Solutions? We want local NZ stories of 3CX in action. We’ll get a good story out, featuring your skillful team. You can also use it for your own marketing. No story is too big or small – it’s about your customer’s success. We have a simple questionnaire you can work through with your customer. 3CX’s marketing team will then consider it. It’s a great reason to touch base with your customer and ensure their 3CX is working as it should be. You can also check if they need a larger license or extra hardware. Propose a case study for consideration and we’ll arrange a treat for your team. Reach out to our VoIP Brand Manager Megan Twentyman. We’ll make the process painless and treat your team!

3CX blogs – essential knowledge

The 3CX team continue to deliver new content, information, and updates for v18. We post links to these first, on our LinkedIn VoIP Community Group. If you’re not a member you can can join here. Here’s a summary from the past month:

  • IMPORTANT DATE: From April 30th, mobile apps will no longer work with v16. Customers still on v16 will no longer be able to use their mobile apps after the 30th April. Now’s the time to move your customers up to the current v18 platform.
  • Don’t be “that” guy blog series – these blogs look at the security of your 3CX system and the best practises to ensure your customers are protected.  In volume 1 it drills down on why you should definitely keep complex credentials – weakness will allow entry and that’s the last thing your customers need.  In volume 2 the focus is on call fraud and what a hacker is trying to achieve.  There are some clear guidelines on what you should configure to protect your customers.  There are more volumes in this series to come and they are well worth a read.
  • Factors to consider when planning a PBX configuration – this blog from 3CX looks at the migration journey from a legacy PBX to a modern IP-PBX.  It’s a great starting point for your planning and contains useful links to the appropriate guides from 3CX.
  • Four clients – one Omni-Channel PBX – how do your clients interact with 3CX?  Do they use the Desktop App; the WebClient; the new Progressive Web App (PWA); or the mobile apps for iOS and Android?  This blog from 3CX reviews the 4 modern ways to interact with 3CX. It’s well worth a read whether you’re a 3CX veteran or new to the platform.
  • New global case study: Porsche Inter Auto in Croatia – the press release here has an overview of the deployment and what the key requirements were.  In the complete case study here, it drills down further around the 5 locations with 400 staff, and how 3CX addressed their needs.  Remember, Soft Solutions is looking for great case studies too – see article above and how we’ll reward your team.
  • The Android and iOS apps have new Betas – both apps have new Betas available for testing.  The Android app has had a facelift with a new user interface.  Read the blog here to check out the new look – it delivers an enhanced experience.  For the iOS app, new alerts for missed chats mean even when the app is closed, you’ll be aware you have unread chats. This enhanced chat experience makes mobility just that much simpler for users – check out the blog here.

Need demo equipment?

Just a reminder that we operate quite an extensive range of Yealink and Grandstream demo equipment. Borrow a device to put it through its paces, or for a client event to showcase. We also have access to EPOS-Sennheiser and Jabra headsets. If you have a requirement, please reach out to megan@sofsol.co.nz and she’ll be happy to assist.

Firmware for IP phones

Remember it is vital to keep checking for updated firmware, for your VoIP hardware. Grandstream and Yealink release new firmware as it is developed. The firmware is available free of charge from their respective websites. It does take some time for 3CX to verify new firmware so be sure to check the latest supported firmware that 3CX advises you to use. This is found on the 3CX website here. If you are ever trouble-shooting any issue with 3CX, the first thing they will check is whether your hardware has the supported firmware version. Now is a great time to ensure everything is up-to-date and working optimally.

Join our LinkedIn VoIP community

Our “Soft Solutions NZ VoIP Community” group has been created so our customers get all the latest news quickly. We post regularly and welcome new members to the group. Keep up to date with upcoming Soft Solutions events, VoIP updates and any other general VoIP news. Join the LinkedIn group here.

Thank you for reading.

 

The VoIP Team at Soft Solutions

Phone: 09 306 0450, Freephone: 0800 733 233, E-mail: voip@sofsol.co.nz.

3CX Hosted