The benefits of IP telephony are clear
Although there are changes in the market, not enough businesses are adopting voice over IP. Keith Humphreys, analyst at EuroLAN, argues that its advantages are too great to ignore
At the end of last year, IP traffic overtook voice traffic in businesses worldwide, but recent data from analyst MZA shows that sales of IP telephony (IPT) are not outstripping traditional PBXs.
EuroLAN has stated that this is because the benefits of IPT have not been articulated strongly enough. The main benefit is lower phone charges via call arbitrage. While this can be a strong argument, the cost of telephone calls is falling so dramatically that this argument can become irrelevant.
EuroLAN has found the IPT consultancy web site, www.smbinfo.com a great tool that could be of value to VARs that are looking to persuade customers to migrate to IPT. The site lists the benefits of IPT as follows:
Long-term capital equipment costs. By integrating a company’s infrastructure into a single network there is a reduction in the number of elements that make up the network and need upgrading. This lowers the total capital outlay for the company.
Management and administration costs. It often happens that a new phone is required for a new or relocating employee who moves to a different part of the office. With traditional phone systems a lot of work is involved in moving or re-programming phones. With voice over IP (VoIP), a user simply disconnects their IP phone from the network in one place and
re-connects it at a new location. The phone registers with the network and the user’s details and features are immediately available.
Cabling costs. Deploying VoIP in a building means that either the user doesn’t need the phone extension cables anymore, or if it’s a new building, users can dispense with installing them all together. All that is needed is Ethernet cabling, typically a type called category five.
Maintenance and support costs. Communications equipment can be expensive to maintain. A typical service contract costs about 10 to 15 per cent of the original purchase price each year for voice equipment, and five to 10 per cent for data. These costs can be lowered by converging the network and reducing the number of systems that have to be under contract.
Increased productivity. Collab-oration applications such as Unified Messaging can save a great deal of time. Instead of having to regularly check a variety of systems for messages, or finding they can’t access one or more of them when travelling, users can connect once to their email system and download all messages of different types at one time.
Improved customer and employee satisfaction. Having a modern system can help employees to respond to customers’ needs. This increases customer satisfaction and has a positive effect on staff because the system enables them to do their job effectively and efficiently. One of the reasons that employees sometimes give for leaving a company is frustration with antiquated phone and computer systems. VoIP can address that.
A decision to move to a new technology for a business function as pervasive as a telephone service is complex and requires more attention than this article can give. But unless vendors educate the market and educate its channels, then the slow uptake as illustrated by MZA will continue. For a copy of the Return On Investment calculator for this technology, which SMBInfo has created, please send an email to: