By Sylvia Carr, 15 March 2006 15:10
NEWS
Voice over IP is proving to be a slow burner with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Eighty-five per cent of SMEs have yet to deploy the technology at their organisation, according to a recent survey of 560 SME executives by US-based consultancy Savatar.
They're holding back because they don't see its value or have a strong need for it, the research revealed.
The study also suggested small businesses aren't sure where to turn for voice over IP (VoIP) services, as a frontrunner has not emerged among the different types of VoIP providers. Around 40 per cent of those SMEs that have deployed VoIP bought from a telecoms equipment provider, while 20 per cent bought from resellers and 14 per cent from traditional telcos.
Previous research from Savatar also showed SMEs only want basic VoIP features - such as consistent dial tone, number portability, voicemail and conference calling - and are turned off by vendors pushing VoIP services laden with bells and whistles.
According to the most recent Savatar survey, however, most of the companies that have taken the VoIP plunge are happy with their purchase: 71 per cent said their system has met expectations.
John Macario, president of Savatar, said VoIP is proving to be habit-forming among SMEs. "[O]nce they have it, they are using a range of capabilities and features and now can't seem to live without them," he said in a statement.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Simon Jefferson
VoIP is not really a goer until broadband contention ratios, upload speeds and service reliability have been addressed.
2. Antony Norris
There is not a consistent quality yet, you know when you're talking to an Indian call centre down a VOIP line, and it's not just the accent. I use it when I'm abroad, but I've had many issues, disconnecting, single way audio, I certainly wouldn't use it to call other companies, only my own and home.
Why would I with a working phone system want to pay lots of money to replace half my phone system and an install fee when it already works. It would take years to recover the money saved on call charges to offset the install charge. Mobile phones not only make sure we are contactable when we are not at the office, it also makes the person calling aware that we are not at our desk so they wont get quite the same immediacy of service when they call.
It works for some businesses, but not all, just because it's the latest craze why does EVERYONE have to use it? I'm happy to leave it to BT and get the benefits once they are running it as standard.
But remember, when it goes down, it will go down in a BIG way!
3. Angus Cleaver
As an SME working from two locations, VOIP is excellent, and for the price of a cheap little handset the payback is immediate.
4. Doug Schulek-Miller
Let's cut to the chase on VoiP. Aside from the fact that you need a dependable wire source for the broadband carrier - wireless gives you such pops and is too intermittent for quality conversations - what sold me is reviewing the bills for calls. From across the pond for 35 minutes was less than 2.15 CDN, that's about or less than a pound after exchange rates. If call volumes are high and you have a consistent broadband carrier, why would you use anything else? Throw on the whiteboard, video, and other features, and you have a complete multi-media communications package on your laptop; which, by the way, is what I usually use for my telephoning.
5. Robin Venables
I am half of a VSME. The other half of the partnership (my brother) spends most of his time in Slovakia and Ukraine.
We went Skype and have saved between us £400 per quarter on comms. Furthermore we communicate much more regularly and often with video and live file transfer.
There have been problems with quality - video tends to degrade the audio through lack of bandwidth and excessive latency - but the overall QOS gets better by the day.
I never use the baseband line for business calls.
6. Paul Taylor
I believe one of the main reasons holding small businesses back is due to a lack of knowledge and advice given at the reseller level about the options available to smaller businesses.
Whilst IP Centrex is gaining speed in the market, many SMEs are in fact turning to domestic voice over broadband providers for in-house calls to remote users and customers in an effort to cut costs. This is because many SMEs just don’t realise the commercial options available to them, including SIP trunk offerings, which can prove more cost effective, reliable and flexible.
Resellers are not pushing VoIP services because they don’t know enough about them and this is why education is so important.
With SMEs becoming more tech savvy, they are looking for cost-effective applications that will add real value to their business. Those providers that invest time in educating SMEs in what can be achieved over and above cost savings will reap the true benefits long term.