Least-cost routing still tops

Least-cost routing (LCR) is still the most strategic emerging technology among large corporates, says a recent report by BMI-TechKnowledge.

The report says 70% of large corporates surveyed rated LRC as the most strategic emerging technology, followed by voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) at 65% and broadband Internet at 46%. For medium-sized corporates, all the technologies were seen as less strategic with only broadband Internet coming close at 38%.

Tertia Smit, senior telecoms analyst at BMI-T, says the report aimed to identify telecoms trends and spending among the local top corporates, as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Emphasis was placed on business solutions, emerging technologies, current trends and telecoms spend within this sector, she says.

Smit says respondents were asked about their future adoption plans of various types of generic IP-based applications in the next 12 months.

A sample of 165 large and medium corporates, as well as 120 SMEs was surveyed, Smit says. The majority of respondents came from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.

The survey also found that 52.7% of SMEs surveyed were using dial-up as their Internet access method, with 48.1% using ADSL and 39.5% using leased lines.

In terms of which method they would most likely use, ADSL and fixed wireless broadband were the most popular alternatives, with 45.3% and 50% respectively, Smit says.

Respondents from medium and large companies were also asked to rate the strategic importance of certain mobile technologies for the future, Smit says.

Some 54% of respondents from large companies and 40% from medium companies rated mobile data using a laptop or personal digital assistant as a technology of strategic importance, the report says.

This was followed by mobile data over cellphone at 36% for large corporates and 34% for medium corporates.

Noting the results, Steve Brown, MD of Multimatics, says VOIP will never replace LCR, even though it is top of mind when corporates consider LCR solutions.

Brown says once companies begin investigating VOIP, they usually find the value it offers does not surpass some of the LCR solutions they already have in place.

In practice, VOIP can reduce up to 30% of the cost of local and national calls, which on average account for approximately 35% of the phone bill, Brown says. That boils down to 9% reduction to the total phone bill, he says.

Brown insists the most effective cost-cutting solution lies in reducing staff abuse of the phone.

"By managing your telecoms properly and stopping abuse of the phone, a company can save up to 40% of the phone bill," he says.

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