Three-quarters of firms are now using
IP telephony systems, but 90% of network managers have no idea
that handling voice over the data network is more complicated than
other applications such as e-mail or web access.
An independent survey of 114 large firms employing over 1,000,
commissioned by
voice and video network management firm Psytechnics, found that
over half (53%) are concerned about or are experiencing call
quality issues.
Half of UK companies using IP telephony use it across the board,
both internally and for external customer communications.
The financial services sector is the most advanced, with four
out of five using the technology, suggesting that most banks,
mortgage and credit card providers already speak to customers using
IP telephony.
However, only one-in-ten firms understood that managing voice is
much more complicated than managing other IP data traffic, meaning
firms using IP telephony for customer-facing systems could see
their businesses negatively impacted through call quality issues,
for instance.
Integrated IP tools can analyse the delivery of voice packets
but they often do not perform deep packet inspection to determine
impairments such as echo, noise level and speech distortion.
Conversational and listening factors need to be measured and
managed in real time, all the time, to ensure that internet
telephony quality is acceptable for corporate communications, said
Psytechnics.
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