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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology continues to generate lots of attention, as organizations look for ways to leverage the Internet to cut costs, add efficiencies and enable more-effective communications and collaboration among workers.

Many large enterprises and small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are deploying VoIP technologies and services, which allow users to conduct voice conversations over the public Internet or private, dedicated IP networks.

According to a report published in July 2007 by Forrester Research, in which the firm surveyed 715 network and telecommunications decision-makers at North American enterprises, 63 percent of the respondents said they plan to increase spending on IP PBX services and hosted IP telephony in 2007, compared with 2006. About 20 percent of the enterprises said migrating to IP telephony and VoIP is a critical priority this year.

Of the 830 North American SMBs Forrester surveyed, about one-third said they plan to increase spending on IP telephony and voice over IP technologies and services this year. In contrast, Forrester notes, only 15 percent plan to increase spending on legacy voice technology and services in 2007.

Although many companies anticipate huge growth in the deployment of IP telephony, VoIP and IP videoconferencing over the next two to three years, a number of critical inhibitors could delay migration, Forrester says. For one thing, the return on investment on IP telephony and wide area VoIP might be longer than what many organizations are looking for. Other factors, according to Forrester: managed IP telephony and WAN VoIP offerings are immature; migration to IP telephony and VoIP is highly customized and can be a prolonged process; and many enterprises do not have internal organizations set up to accommodate converged voice and data communications — typically handling voice and data in separate groups.

Still, the possible benefits of VoIP are compelling to many organizations. The technology offers potential advantages over t raditional telephony systems, such as enhanced calling features that can boost worker productivity, lower costs for long-distance and international calling, and the efficiency provided by converged voice and data networking.

Since the communications infrastructure is such a vital part of business operations, organizations launching a VoIP initiative need to be diligent about monitoring and managing their network and ensuring that they have adequate trouble-detection and resolution mechanisms in place, says Lisa Pierce, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester who specializes in enterprise-class telecommunications services.

“How will I ensure per-call performance across all sites, for all calls on my VoIP network?” Pierce says. “Many [organizations] put a number of other questions first. But the answer to this question helps streamline all the answers to the other questions.”

Many companies assume they will care for their VoIP network in the same manner that they cared for their traditional phone network, Pierce says. “But it's a lot more complicated [and] costly, and requires more tools and expertise,” she says. “So often, they either back off the pace of rolling out VoIP across their sites, or they look at using managed VoIP services.”

Either way, VoIP is finding its way into the communications strategy of many organizations.

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