by Eric Eckman, Director of Business Development, Broadvox
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) approach decisions differently from large enterprises, basing them more on cost issues than features and technology, and understandably so. In the long run, however, the most successful companies are those who incorporate all three factors into their solution.
SMBs evaluate cost issues by estimating capital requirements for new equipment such as IADs or IP-PBXs and effective use of their employee pool. During the analysis phase they must determine which of two factors will prevail – return on investment or productivity. ROI is difficult to calculate accurately due to the variables involved. Company size, number of employees, legacy CPE, whether it is IP-enabled, and physical location all play a significant role. In terms of productivity, features enabled by SIP Trunking can allow employees to work more efficiently, thus cutting labor costs.
As for features and functions, the most successful transitions to SIP Trunking introduce the company to those that can immediately enhance operations without disrupting business processes. They can deploy trunking quickly and then gradually add features such as load balancing between data and voice to minimize bandwidth requirements, quality of service which mimics that of TDM networks, and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which brings assurance that the purchase is not the end of a newly-developed business relationship.
Technology is the final factor to be considered. SMBs are seldom early adopters but want equipment and connectivity that offers the opportunity to take advantage of converged services, improved bandwidth and pending advances. Their approach is more conservative, looking to enterprises to provide direction on making decisions about choosing products offering evolution and scalability, thus providing an added level of investment protection. The fact that SIP Trunking has been in use now for several years gives assurance it is stable, secure and here to stay, addressing concerns they may have about reliability or longevity.
More at broadvox.net.
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