When will VoIP reach tipping point?—Posted on November 24, 2008
VoIP has been a funny technology really, it has been around since the late ‘90s and ever since its emergence, analysts and vendors alike have been predicting its inexorable rise to dominance. Most still believe this will happen, but it is taking longer than predicted. Sure enough, there has been a slow and steady increase in adoption, but how far are we away from the ‘tipping point’ towards mass take-up? I predict 2009 will prove to be the year we see many more of our customers enjoying the OPEX savings VoIP can offer.
A note of caution should be struck here, however. VoIP can save money, but only if the business case stacks up! Whatever size your business, it is essential that you ensure your migration to VoIP really will deliver ROI. We are still at the stage where the decision to deploy VoIP should be taken on a case-by-case basis and we advise all our customers to weigh up their needs carefully to see if they are just such a business.
VoIP, you see, does not mean automatic cost savings – there are a number of key factors that need to be considered before these are assured. The most obvious of these is, of course, investment in new hardware as well as the ongoing maintenance costs of systems. These short-term costs though, must be considered against the longer-term reduction in phone bills as well as the benefits of more advanced IP applications such as unified communications and video conferencing. Sometimes, the initial outlay in terms of CAPEX will simply prove too much to justify the move to VoIP, but there are ways that companies can manage the business case to ensure that VoIP delivers on its cost promises.
The timing of a deployment is, of course, highly important. If your business is already due a network upgrade, be it in the LAN or the WAN, the costs of migrating to VoIP can largely be absorbed in these already necessary costs. The same is true for businesses moving to a green-field site where the cost of deploying other necessary cables has already been considered. So, if you want VoIP telephony for your business you should ask yourself the following questions: how long is the lease on your current communication system? Will the company be relocating or opening a new office in the near future? Are there any features that IP telephony provides that will benefit the business and are not currently available on the TDM telephony platform?
The long-long envisioned days of an all-VoIP world are still a little way off, but the technology works and the cost savings are real. If IT managers can provide the right business case, I fully expect to see the technology continue to grow in 2009 and perhaps at a much faster rate.
Matt Cantwell – Head of Product Portfolio