Hosted telephony pays off

SMBs can take advantage of convenience and lower costs with VoIP services.

Over the last two years, we’ve seen quite a bit of hype surrounding voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Still, with the exception of some large, global enterprises, relatively few businesses have been able to take advantage of the technology’s benefits, and most media coverage continues to focus on the small group of forward-thinking consumers who have signed up for VoIP services. What about the bulk of businesses–those in the small-to-medium category (SMBs) who make up 98% of the businesses in the U.S. today–who can and should be taking advantage of the cost savings and increased functionality today? What’s being offered and how can they best evaluate their options?

The current regulatory environment offers some good news. Cable companies and other challengers are in position to roll out packet telephony services, giving SMBs a broader universe of providers and allowing them to capitalize on the coming competitive end game between traditional telephony providers and the managed service offerings. Pricing won’t be a gating factor; instead, carriers and cable companies will be fighting for the significant revenue opportunity presented by the SMB through features, and most importantly, their approach to offering service.

Most SMBs have neither the budget nor the desire to manage their own complicated phone systems. Hosted telephony services offer them the broad range of functionality that traditional PBX systems offer the large enterprise, while simplifying the process of deploying, maintaining and expanding their systems.

Currently, a number of IP telephony providers are trying to convince this lucrative market to move from traditional key telephone systems to IP Centrex solutions. Many SMBs who take this plunge, however, are finding that their new systems are not cost effective and lack the features they need. Without the ability to configure user or line appearance keys, create hunt groups, program a virtual receptionist and other functions that help smaller businesses function like their larger competitors, these customers find themselves frustrated and ready to go back to their legacy systems.

Business-class hosted telephony services offer these customers an experience that mirrors the key telephony solutions to which they are accustomed, while adding important new features that further improve productivity and drive cost savings. These systems are deployed without the need to install and maintain expensive and complicated PBX equipment on the business premise.

Hosted systems provide a number of key benefits to the SMB beyond the savings per call touted in media coverage. They move equipment away from the customer premise and put the focus on the network. Individual users within a company need only plug in their phones, log on to the system and take advantage of a host of advanced telephony features.

Hosted solutions also can improve speed to market. Businesses are up and running quickly since the customer need only install a service gateway and connect the phones.

Most service providers have a plan for rolling out these services and servicing this important market. Hosted broadband telephony solutions can offer significant reductions in operational and capital expenditures. These solutions can also improve the communications experience and provide advanced communication applications at prices that SMBs can afford.

For more information from Voxpath Networks:
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As the CTO of Voxpath Networks in Austin, Texas, Alaric Silviera oversees the Voxpath Unity platform architecture and all its component hardware and software. He has been involved in the definition, architecture and software development for real-time systems and computer-telephony integration areas for the past 17 years. Send comments for publication to guest@comnews.com.