It’s often hard to determine if the promise of a new piece of technology will deliver the stated return on investment. Having been in the reseller business for over ten years, we’ve seen many technologies from a wide range of vendors... and how well their deployment has met the expectations of businesses.  In this first article in a series of seven, we are looking at some practical steps to re-evaluate your environment with a view to cost savings. VOIP... Can it really save you money?

Voice Over IP is often cited as a cost-saving technology. But will it really save you money?

What is it?

VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a protocol used to make voice conversations over your organisation’s private data networks and internet connections.

How does it work?

VOIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet or network as data. At the destination it is converted back to an analogue signal for use with traditional telephony services.

Ready For VOIP?

For organisations with multiple offices, whether it be in the same town or a different country, the answer is ‘Yes’.

How much do you currently spend on calls between your own offices? Using IP handsets or by linking your communication platforms to each other can offer considerable savings. Other scenarios that would indicate benefits from moving to VOIP include:

- Voice recording. If you are required to record voice conversations, VOIP together with a digital recording system is a very cost-effective and flexible solution .

- Remote office reception. Due to the flexibility of VOIP systems, remote office reception provision is easy and cost-effective.

- Re-cabling your building. Eliminating the cost of renewing your voice cabling - and just re-cabling the data network - can be justification for a VOIP deployment.

However, if you are a more centralised organisation VOIP may well not be for you. Where your office to office calls are minimal, or non-existent, the pure cost argument for VOIP will fail.