Now I'm an analyst

I don't often share the details of my 9-to-5 job in this venue because, frankly, I don't think you'd all be all that interested in my written perspectives on IT and mid-sized businesses. For the record, I'm a senior research analyst at a technology research firm.

I'm going to make an exception this time out because I like how it turned out, and thought you might like to have a peek at what I do in real life.

Here's the story: After spending Thursday afternoon and evening lying on the couch and trying to coax my insubordinate body back to health, I checked my e-mail after kids'-tuck-in and noticed that the CRTC (Canada's government agency that regulates all things in telecommunications, otherwise known as Big Brother) had handed down a ruling on VoIP telephony. It had been expected for a while, and represented a fairly significant piece of news for this market.

Our PR department had asked me to comment. I'm never one to keep quiet when asked to share my opinion.

I analyzed the decision and wrote up a comment on the announcement - to try to help our client base figure out what it means and how it may or may not affect their IT-related decision making. After reading it over, I really liked how the message resonated. It has been released to the wire here, and has also been posted here on the corporate web site, but I've included it here as well:

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Attention Business and Technology Editors

For Immediate Release

CRTC VoIP Ruling Comment

Impact on Mid-Sized Enterprises Expected to be Minimal

London, ON – May 13, 2005 – The impact of yesterday’s CRTC ruling on the regulation of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) will not have a direct, near-term impact on mid-sized enterprises, according to leading information technology research firm Info-Tech Research Group.

“The ruling is very clearly focused on residential, consumer services,” says Info-Tech Research Group Senior Research Analyst, Carmi Levy. “However, the ruling does set a precedent for delivery of business-specific services, and the regulatory environment that will evolve around these services in the months and years to come.”

“With that in mind, CIOs and IT managers would do well to examine the specifics of this decision,” says Levy. “It will serve as a harbinger of things to come as traditional telcos and newly-empowered upstarts turn their attention to business-focused offerings.”

Levy believes that anything that fosters a greater degree of competition will ultimately benefit whoever consumes these services. He says the CRTC decision’s core goal is to facilitate an optimal degree of competition between traditional telecommunications companies and newer competitors who are trying to establish a foothold in local telephony service.

“The CRTC decision will level the playing field by forcing the incumbent telecommunications companies to apply for permission to change rates – while newer competitors like pure-play VoIP provider Vonage and cable providers like Rogers will be able to charge whatever they wish without any regulatory approvals,” Levy says.

“In the longer term, the CRTC has made it clear that its goal is to pull back from regulation as each market becomes sustainably competitive,” says Levy. “This announcement represents a stopgap measure by the CRTC to give smaller competitors a bit of breathing room as they work to establish their own positions in the rapidly growing VoIP market. As competitive critical mass is attained, Info-Tech believes it will be in consumers’ best interests to let the market determine what vendors are able to charge.”

Without this announcement, incumbent telecommunications providers would have had more power to leverage their dominant position in the local telephony market. They would be been able to use predatory pricing as a siege tactic against the newer competitors. This announcement will tie the incumbents’ hands to a certain extent. It is hardly a fatal blow to their future prospects, as they possess the resources to creatively identify and pursue viable market opportunities in the wake of this regulatory decision.

About Info-Tech Research Group

With a paid membership of over 25,000 worldwide, Info-Tech Research Group is the global leader in providing information technology research and analysis to the mid-sized enterprise market. It is North America's fastest growing full-service IT analyst firm.

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Carmi Levy is available for interviews at [snip] or via e-mail at [click the link on the blog, instead]. For general media inquiries please contact ... Info-Tech Public Relations.