Moving to voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) cuts costs, but employees will not be the ones to benefit, says Telesa.comms.
Employees don`t fully understand what VOIP is and may not realise there is no benefit to them when the telephone system is moved over to VOIP, says Malcolm Dunkeld, marketing director at Telesa.comms.
In fact, he notes, when a VOIP system crashes, employees could end up having to make more expensive cellphone calls.
"The only people who will benefit from VOIP are the suits on the top floor," he says.
Regarding infrastructure, Dunkeld advises companies to cater for the worst-case scenario, as VOIP can take a lot more bandwidth than expected.
"Companies are not doing enough research when moving over to VOIP, says Dunkeld.
Dunkeld, along with several other speakers, will address Brainstorm Cape 2005 - ICT in the Cape for the Cape, which takes place on 14 and 15 September in Cape Town.
Dunkeld will highlight the problems companies face when migrating to a VOIP system - both on an employee and technical level.
Wave of change
Day one of the event will focus on the new wave of ICT technology and from where the next killer application is likely to come from.
Grenville Payne, a practice manager at Unisys SA, will talk about why and how smaller South African companies should take part in the global economy.
He will illustrate the benefits of embracing new technology by examining how a village-based tin company was transformed into a global competitor.
The technology needed for enabling a connected Africa will be discussed by Russell Achterburg, a senior manager of technical product development at Telkom.
Nirvesh Sooful, CIO of the City of Cape Town, will discuss how IT can make a difference in the future of the public services sector.
Future of networks, CIOs
The future-focused CIO and the role the CIO will play in matching ever-changing technology to business needs will come under the spotlight with Theo Nkone, CIO of Old Mutual SA.
The role of CIOs will be challenged and adapted by the current environment, says Nkone.
The future of the network will be discussed by Greg Payne, GM of managed services at Internet Solutions.
Payne will focus on how convergence is bringing together a variety of applications, including voice and data, all deliverable over one network.
iPod`s success story
Devices such as the iPod are important in driving the applications we are seeing, says Raven Naidoo, director of Radian, an IT services consultancy.
Naidoo will talk about the success of the iPod and illustrate that this success is not culturally driven or "because it looks pretty".
"The iPod is successful because of the types of services developed around the usage of the device like music, photos, iTunes and podcasting," says Naidoo.
Naidoo will discuss whether the music player has made Apple the leader in identifying a shift in consumer behaviour, which could have a significant ripple effect on the ICT industry.
Share