Yet, Cooper said that sitting on their hands may not be an option for many businesses. “There’s been talk of a delay for a while, mainly due to challenging migration scenarios such as vulnerable users and care lines,” said Cooper. “My guess would be any delay could be targeted towards the likes of the vulnerable, alarm systems, and careline type customers but ultimately as far as we’re aware no decision has yet been reached. “We know that products and services like SOTAP (Single Order Temporary Access Product) are being developed to support the migration of those types of challenging services and scenarios. “With regards to the pace of change, any postponement or delay would give partners and end customers additional time which I’m sure some would look to take advantage of. That said whilst there’s still a long way to go in terms of completing the 2025 rollout many partners are engaged in the journey so slowing the pace of change now may not be an option.” But while some will take advantage of a delay, to use Cooper’s words, others will have already swapped customers over the modern technologies, and a lot of progress is being made today. “Obviously the interest has been there from the point the switch-off was announced,” said Cooper. “That interest probably waned a little because the dates got put back and there was always a sort of question as to whether they really meant 2025 or not. But this hockey stick effect on adoption will likely come through the latter part of 2024 and early 2025 when that realisation sets in that things have got to change. “We’re pushing connectivity across the whole of the Nimans Group now. When we got all the salespeople together, whether they were predominantly working outside of our connectivity business, and asked them to put their hands up if they have a phone line at home to put their hands up. “I asked a similar question at the BT Tower during a partner event. I asked whether anyone in the audience, from a partner point of view, had anyone completed their base migration and there was one lady who put her hand up out of 50 partners in the room, which just goes to show you there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
My guess would be any
delay could be targeted towards the likes of the vulnerable, alarm systems, and careline type customers but ultimately as far as we’re aware no decision has yet been reached
Connectivity As Cooper points out, at the heart of the PSTN switch-off is an opportunity to upgrade connectivity, a point he emphasised with just how fundamental it is to the success of businesses. “Some people view this as a one-way conversation that centres around the customer being on an old circuit and having to change. Whereas I think it’d be better to use it as an opportunity to talk about, not just the connectivity, but the overall products that the customer is using and any advantages that can be gained from a migration. “Connectivity glues everything together, if we look at what we can do now in comparison to what we could do a couple of years ago, it’s phenomenal. With home working and hybrid working, reliable connectivity becomes ever more important. “From a partner’s point of view, the switch off is an opportunity to get customers using the next generation of connectivity and the products and services like cloud computing, telephony, or AI typically follow on down the line. “Connectivity is like a utility now. If your electricity goes off you’re kind of snookered because things won’t work. But you could probably survive in an office environment without water for longer than you could without connectivity because it has become so critical.” Extension The opportunity for partners may well be out there but while talks of a delay fill the airwaves and column inches, the motivation to get a move on is reduced.
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