SS Telecoms' Kevin Greig explains that voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is now a realistic cost saving option for small and medium-sized businesses, and that most SME VOIP implementation fears are based on ill-founded perceptions...
With the cost of bandwidth falling steadily in South Africa, more and more businesspeople in the SME sector use Skype and other IP telephony software to communicate. But while informal use of IP-based systems continues to climb, many SME decision-makers still believe putting an IP-based telephony system in place across a small or medium-sized organisation is complex, costly and time-consuming.
“This is a very common fallacy,” says Kevin Greig, Sales and Marketing Manager at telephony specialist SS Telecoms. “But really there are IP PBX systems out there that cost as little as R5 000. This kind of amount can be off-set in phone bill savings over a very short period of time. Our experience is that often the perceptions of cost and complexity are just that - perceptions. They don't relate directly to what's happening in the market.”
In fact, upgrading to an IP-based communications system doesn't even require much in the way of hardware upgrades. A new IP-based system can be simply incorporated into the organisation's current IT set-up utilising existing cabling infrastructure. Somewhat surprisingly, the main cost is located in the need to change from analogue phones to IP-capable devices. And in most cases, it's actually cheaper to upgrade to IP phones than to upgrade a traditional analogue phone system.
“The bottom line is that the system has to work,” says Grieg. “That means the call quality has to be of the right standard and that there must be fail-safes in place in the case of emergencies. What many SME business decision-makers don't seem to realise is that these capabilities are already available on the market, and at low cost too.”
And what of the fear of losing existing investments in PABX systems?
“A product like the Mediatrix 4108i IP PBX is very effective for smaller companies with existing investments in analogue and PABX systems,” says Greig. “Here the technology simply plugs into existing analogue phone and PABX systems. It's a pretty seamless process, which opens the VOIP door for smaller organisations that need to make the most of every cent they spend.”
If the Internet line happens to fail, the VOIP system can fall back on the existing phone system until the network is back up again. “Fear of network failures is another IP red herring,” cautions Greig. “Yes, networks do go down, but then again, so do phone lines! Any decent system will offer the necessary alternatives that are essential to keep communications online.”
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