By John Moore
original source

Cost savings plus converged network efficiencies make an attractive case for IP telephony, even during a sluggish economy.

The benefits of Voice over Internet Protocol technology have long been known: lower equipment and maintenance costs and, by virtue of combining voice and data over a single network, simplified network management. Nonetheless, large enterprises have been slower to adopt the technology than small businesses.

In 2009, VoIP penetration among U.S. business was 42 percent, according to market research firm In-Stat. Industry experts say there are several reasons for the relatively slow adoption, especially among large businesses.

"Telephony has traditionally been held to a standard of five nines uptime — basically, 10 minutes of downtime per year — as well as having a very high level of voice quality," says Hyoun Park, telecom and unified communications research analyst at Aberdeen Group.

"There have been concerns in telecom departments about the ability to provide both of those metrics through Voice over IP," he says. "In addition, companies also worry about moving from a proprietary voice network that is particular to just carrying voice, to a converged network where voice becomes an application."

Making the Transition to VoIP

Large firms have also succumbed to the misconception that they must totally abandon current phone assets to adopt the new technology. Businesses with large telecom systems have made significant investments, so their turnover rate is likely to be much slower," says Jeff Ridley, director of product management at ShoreTel. And companies typically don't even start looking at VoIP until their circuit-switched Public Branch Exchange (PBX) system becomes cost prohibitive because of repairs and workarounds.

By Andrei Patrick
original source

At this current point in time, the amount of employees that work from home remotely (popularly called as telecommuting) is growing at a rapid pace and this rising trend has had a significant impact on communications technology. Due to this increasingly popular migration, there are so many VoIP solutions that have been designed carefully to measure up to the increasing demands from such customers.

A just released study by research firm, Companies and Markets has revealed that the IP telephony markets in the United States are reaching maturity as they say, according to a press statement. According to the firm, the report forecasts in detail that 20 percent of all business telephony will be hosted by the year 2020, as more consumers continue to realize the multiple benefits and the full potential associated with the IP telephony technology.

Furthermore, the research shows that better VoIP solutions will continue to be implemented by small businesses who have very limited budgets or financing, while larger organizations who have much less worries when it comes to capital or resources are already transitioning to a unified communications environment – some using Microsoft Lync.

Recently, Analyst Rob Enderle commented in a media statement that two of the main obstacles to VoIP hardware becoming more widely integrated in business operations include the many changes that are required for the move as well as in some cases complete opposition to the migration. He added as soon as consumers become better educated or more informed about the countless advantages of VoIP solutions, it is highly possible that "a VoIP revolution will likely take place in the next few years."

Costs associated with Unified Communications and private branch exchange (PBX) systems are dropping like flies, and some PBX companies are starting their own hosted services, potentially restraining market value. Competition has intensified in the hosted telephony market, encouraging better innovation. The report said it is expected that in future, providers will offer flexible, bundled service solutions with enhanced features, specifically designed to customers. Improvements to quality and availability of service will also attract and retain customers.

The report also has an explanation of the market landscape, including market segmentation (IP Centrex; Hosted IP PBX, and hosted UC), trends, models, opportunities, market barriers/drivers for growth, key players and end users. The report also suggests to the reader with strategic recommendations, directed towards end users and service providers.

Learn more about PriorityOne's IP Telephony solutions, features, and benefits. If you have questions or are thinking about switching to a hosted solution call 866-578-5355 for more information. We guarantee savings, reliability, and excellent customer service.