IP Telephony

For many small to medium size businesses these changes present numerous challenges. Adopting new technology for the sake of it can lead to expensive mistakes. This, in turn, can lead to poor market positioning for these businesses. Faced with the bewildering array of communications products, applications and services on the market many companies opt to retain the status quo, put off by the fear, uncertainty and doubt of change.

VoIP, and IP Telephony are two of the most talked about, and most misunderstood, technologies available today.

The arrival of the intelligent PBX, able to integrate these applications and provide the connectivity to individuals and workgroups on a geographically wider scale is delivering a level playing field. Small to medium business can readily adopt the technology for a fraction of the cost a larger enterprise would need to invest and some observers would even say that given their traditional ability to be more responsive than their larger competitors the smaller business may even have the advantage.

Technology today opens up greater options and choice, the latest telephone systems whether they be ‘IP Enabled' or software based IP PBX's can enable business to implement new applications that could greatly enhance their business processes and subsequently, improve their productivity.

For many resellers IP telephony is viewed as a black art – ‘Why not stick to what we know?' For these resellers this strategy will continue to work for some time to come – after all, IP telephony has been around for some time and not too many people to date have been killed in the stampede to adopt the technology.

For business', IP telephony is a transition, or as the marketing people say, an evolution.

Siemens Communications channel marketing manager Dave Dyer would appear to be one such evolutionist, "We are starting to see customers across different market sectors including local Government, retail and business services, now driving to adopt IP telephony.  Initially organisations are attracted to cost saving opportunities, particularly in the wide area, along with the associated savings linked to reduced administration. 

"These organisations are also beginning to realise however that the benefits of IP Telephony can be far more reaching. IP telephony enables these companies to adopt new working practices, by removing the hurdles associated with working across different locations.  It can be used to enable dispersed individuals to work and communicate together in effective teams which, in turn ensures the delivery of high customer service levels.”

 "IP telephony is also the ideal delivery mechanism for high levels of integration with other network applications. We have seen voice messaging being enhanced to deliver One-Touch Call Recording and email notification. IP Telephony servers, located at the heart of the IP network can then deliver these voice messages straight into the email server. This technology is particularly effective in terms of sharing information within an organisation more effectively and ensuring customer's needs are responded to faster and more proactively.”