The market for Voice over IP (VoIP) services is likely to double in size over the next five years, a new report predicts.
According to ABI Research, the overall market, which includes VoIP integrated access, SIP trunking, hosted IP-PBX and managed IP-PBX services, will exceed £12.6billion by 2015.
Despite the global recession both the volume and value of VoIP services experienced strong levels of growth as businesses take advantage of the OPEX model offered by VoIP.
Factors contributing to the uptake of VoIP:
- Cloud based so some or all services can be outsourced
- Services and features can be scaled up or down without additional hardware or capital investment
- Higher call quality and lower subscription costs than ISDN
- Free calls between users regardless of geographic location
- High end features such as call recording, virtual switchboard and real-time call statistics available for free or significantly lower costs
- Internet Service Providers are now building services designed to optimise VoIP traffic over their networks
- BT’s aim to replace the national PSTN phone network with a digital IP network as part of their 21st Century Network (“21CN”) upgrade currently being deployed
VoIP Services
Most people have experienced VoIP by way of free services such as Skype and Microsoft Live Messenger for personal use. Those that did not, were exposed to VoIP when they called their utility, banking or service providers only to have their calls routed to an international call centre. Unfortunately most companies either skimped on hardware or routed their calls over unsuitable internet connectivity to further reduce costs. This lead VoIP becoming synonymous to poor and often fragmented phone calls even though the service was not to blame. With the introduction of standards and as protocols mature, telephony service providers are starting to build their own private platforms. Industry heavyweights such as BT, Cable & Wireless and Virgin have also started offering VoIP services thus helping to dispel the stigma.
As VoIP evolves and gains end user confidence service providers are now offering features that were previously available on high end systems or required expensive call routing to achieve. For example, being an IP service much like how web pages are sent over the internet, businesses can request out of area numbers so that an office in Nottingham can have a London or even a New York number. Many people in the UK, who work in the film industry, have a business card with a Los Angeles phone number to give them an international presence. If you do business across different time zones then calls can be diverted to a virtual receptionist or even different countries depending on the time of day. For remote or field workers there are mobile apps which enable them to make, receive and even transfer calls over their landline number all from their mobile phones.
Free telephone networks
Businesses moving to VoIP are actually building their own private telephone network which allows them to make free phone calls between branches even if they are overseas. They can also have particular extension ranges assigned to specific sites or countries making it easier for their staff to manage calls.
Cloud based service
Being a cloud based service it is also possible to upscale or downsize easily depending on demand or if the business is seasonal. As there are no hardware dependencies extensions can be added or reduced by simply purchasing or renting additional handsets and user licenses. This also means user activity such as number of calls made or received as well as destinations can be monitored in real-time allowing business owners to keep an eye on excessive unauthorised calls or staff performance.
VoIP functionality & flexibility
As digital and internet technology improves it is changing the way people relate and the way business is being conducted. The uptake of VoIP has revolutionised voice communications. For small business’s they can now have the flexibility and functionality which was only available to larger enterprises. It is up to business owners to adapt these new features to their ever changing working environments to achieve significant cost savings and a competitive advantage.
