SMBs look to VoIP deployment

Small businesses are increasingly turning to VoIP as a telephony option. According to a survey from ISP Star, 41 percent of businesses with 100 employees or fewer have already adopted VoIP. In addition, 20 percent of respondents are looking at deploying VoIP systems within the next year.

There are some pitfalls however. The research, carried out by Synergy Research, found that the biggest barrier to VoIP deployment, was the lack of in-house expertise in managing VoIP networks. The lack of expertise has displaced security as the biggest inhibitor in deploying VoIP technology. According to the survey, just 9 percent of respondents viewed security as a major concern – that's a sharp contrast to a survey from Infosec, three years ago where 90 percent of companies surveyed nominated security as their major concern.

The main driver for adopting the technology is the need to save costs. According to the survey, 31 percent said that the financial pressure was the principal reason for switching to VoIP.

Hugo Harber, director of convergence and network strategy for Star said, “It’s encouraging to see that SMBs are realising there are huge savings to be made from making the move to IP telephony.   It’s long been heralded as poised for mass market adoption, and we are now starting to see that this is the case for companies of all sizes from those with less than 20 employees to organisations with 1000+ staff. The lack of a set up charge in particular has been really attractive to Star’s customers.”