Explore all options when looking to VoIP

By Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer 17 May 2006 | SearchSMB.com

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A transition to VoIP can offer tremendous savings to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and companies can also leverage the technology's growing list of features to make their employees more productive and mobile.

Dwight Darling, CEO of Pinnacle Printing Systems, an Alameda, Calif.-based marketing communications company, moved his 20 employees to a new office two years ago. He decided to switch from a traditional telephone service to a hosted VoIP service with CallTower Inc., a San Francisco-based VoIP provider. "Originally we did see savings of about 28% out of the door," Darling said. Those savings have grown to 30%, he said.

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Chris Hazelton, senior research analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass., said companies should ask vendors up front what they can expect in cost savings. They should also ask about reliability, because VoIP integrates voice and data.

"How will it impact data?" Hazelton said. "If you're just going to have a five-person shop you shouldn't have any problems, but you want to make sure there isn't a degrade in service if you have different people downloading files and sharing files. Will that affect my voice performance?"

Dave Lemelin, senior analyst at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat, said small and medium-sized firms should also find out how much help a vendor will give them in the transition to VoIP.

"What will that vendor do to help them integrate with primary voice and data networks? It can take a certain amount of hand holding. Is that something they can expect from the vendor, or are they going to need to bring on some sort of systems integrator?" Lemelin said.

Also, the transition to VoIP isn't a simple yes or no decision. An SMB must also consider the different strategies for deploying a VoIP solution.

While home offices might opt for consumer broadband services from major carriers like Vonage, larger businesses have several options for VoIP. They can opt for a do-it-yourself model where a company buys its own IP PBX system and manages it internally. An SMB can also opt for a managed service, where the IP PBX system is on site, but it is managed remotely by a service provider. There are also hosted services, where SMBs access the IP PBX through a Web-based interface. The IP PBX is off site and managed by a service provider.

A company should assess its resources before determining which option is best, Hazelton said. "Do they have an IT staff? That's the most important thing," Hazelton said.

Hazelton said companies with small IT staffs should opt for a hosted service since a small staff might not have the resources or skills to manage a self-manage VoIP system. Hazelton also recommends hosted services over managed services.

"When there is a problem or you need to update something, if you have a small business where all its VoIP equipment is hosted, that [hosted service provider] has access to the equipment 24 hours a day," Hazelton said. Managed service providers do not have direct access to the SMB's VoIP equipment. If a problem occurs, there could be a delay while the provider arranges to access the equipment on site.

Darling, of Pinnacle Printing Systems, said the hosted solution from CallTower was quick and easy to use. "I don't have to mess with it. Just plug it in and go. I have a remote sales force that can get in and out of the system easily. And there are lots of gizmo features that we're starting to employ, such as the one-touch system. A customer can find a sales guy very easily. It makes them more productive."

Hazelton said that having the IP PBX on site can take away from a company's flexibility. "With a managed service, the on-premise equipment you own it or lease it. You're locked into it long term. With a hosted service you're more flexible. You can transfer vendors."

"I didn't want to buy a system that gets obsolete in less than a year," Darling said. A hosted service will "contemporize itself all the time."

Lemelin said some companies might want to try a mixed approach to VoIP since the vendor market is constantly changing. If the SMB has some remote workers with home offices, those employees could use consumer broadband services. "You could have a hosted service at another location, an IP-enabled legacy PBX system at one location and a full-blown IP PBX system at another. People want to try to be as nimble and flexible as they can to take advantage of these opportunities as they arrive."

In addition to being extremely dynamic, the VoIP vendor market is also very crowded. SMBs may find it difficult sorting through the different options pitched to them.

Hazelton recommends that SMBs arrange a trial of a vendor's VoIP service. "Let the vendors give you a chance to test it."

Hazelton said SMBs should also look beyond cost savings and reliability. "Small businesses are predominantly interested in cost savings, but that's primarily a short-term argument. As more features are pushed from vendors, small businesses will begin to adopt them, and once they take them on they will start to demand more features."

Let us know what you think about the story; e-mail: Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer

Tags: VoIP (Voice over IP) for SMBs,  VIEW ALL TAGS

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