Voice over IP
(
VoIP) adoption continues to rise at a steady rate among North
American corporations, according to Infonetics' most recent study
on user plans.
Intended as a study to assist manufacturers and service
providers evaluating the market potential in VoIP over the next
several years, the study looked at multiple factors, including
different implementation plans, adoption rates, trends, drivers and
barriers.
Infonetics conducted interviews with 240 small, medium and large
organisations, the majority of which have already implemented or
begun migration to VoIP, with 75% of their networks residing on an
IP
PBX. A small percentage continue to use hosted services based
on IP Centrex, and a small percentage of the study's participants
use a combination of hosted and in-house services. Corporations
that are using a combination of hosted and in-house solutions
include a mix of small and large enterprises, the study found,
while midsized businesses tend to utilise in-house services
exclusively.
Flexibility for remote workers and road warriors is still the
leading driver for deploying VoIP, in addition to the much-touted
cost-effectiveness of an IP-based system once it is deployed.
Unified communications features also act as a catalyst for VoIP
deployments.
"The idea is to get a hold of you in the best possible manner,"
said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst at Infonetics
Research.
VoIP is eliminating the physical limitations businesses and IT
departments typically endured with their previous telephony
systems. Security of voice communications is another reason many of
the larger corporations are looking at VoIP.
Unified communications (UC) and its features are also major
drivers for companies that decide to deploy VoIP. Its integration
of multiple communications modes -- desk phones, mobile phones,
email, messaging and others – has companies looking to benefit from
a rise in worker productivity resulting from employing these
features.
In addition to implementing IP-based phone systems, most
companies are either deploying UC on their networks or laying the
foundation to eventually include it. The Infonetics study also
found that of VoIP applications deployed, the top two are directory
and unified messaging capabilities -- which form the basic
foundation of UC.
The presence capabilities of UC also add to adoption rates, yet
it still lags behind VoIP.
Much like VoIP, which was ballyhooed when it first became
possible and then took more than a decade to become the main voice
system for 75% of corporations, UC adoption will take time to reach
its full potential, Machowinski believes.
"We have all these great tools, but they work in isolation from
each other," he said. "To achieve their full efficiency, they will
need to be integrated into the phone."