What are the things that I need to look at while implementing VoIP? My organization is a big multi-national corporation that hasn't implemented VoIP. What are the advantages and drawbacks? How can I make use of the existing infrastructure?
QUESTION POSED ON: 09 MAY 2006
QUESTION ANSWERED BY: Russell Shaw
There are quantifiable as well as more subjective advantages in implementing VoIP. In terms of the quantifiable, there are cost savings involved in not having to go through the traditional long-distance network. Many businesses that are relatively new to VoIP tell me they are paying one-third to one-half of what they formerly paid. Because of the ability of IP PBXs to be easily configured for conference calls that could easily cost several hundred dollars to arrange via a third-party provider, there are inherent savings in this as well. IP PBXs are also ideal for your staff to enter in revised contact or call forwarding information for associates.
The subjective advantage in VoIP over traditional phone services is increased productivity. Does that new sales hire need his calls forwarded? This can be configured with a few keystrokes, so that the call is automatically forwarded rather than an operator having to look up the salesperson's cell phone number and recite it to the caller.
When you add this all up, return on investment scenarios for VoIP implementation vary widely, but nine months to a year is far more common than exceptional.
|
|
|
