IP Telephony offerings help companies across all vertical markets to achieve cost reduction in voice communications, according to a new report from IDC.
The study, based on the results of European Vertical Markets Survey, carried out in January-April 2009, among 1,898 companies with more than 20 employees in the Western European countries, showed that the adoption of IP telephony has not reached mass level yet.
Giacomo Laurini, senior research analyst for European vertical markets at IDC, said: The business case for widespread adoption of IP telephony solutions is more present now than ever given the economic uncertainty that Western Europe is experiencing, which has forced companies across all vertical markets to adopt strong cost-control measures, including the need to reduce voice communication costs.”
According to the study, 73% of organisations are familiar with IP telephony, with the level of awareness is quite different among sectors. 80% of companies in the healthcare, transport, and manufacturing sectors are familiar with IP, while 60% in media, government, retail/wholesale, and utilities/oil and gas are aware of the offering.
Currently, 50% of organisations that are familiar with IP telephony are not adopting the offering. All sectors, except healthcare and transport, have a current adoption level lower than 30%. Current adoption ranges from 18 to 28% for seven in ten sectors.
IP PBX managed services on site is the most adopted offering with 36.1%, followed by voice over broadband (VoBB) and hosted dedicated IP.
Laurini, added: “Companies across all vertical markets that already adopt IP telephony believe that cost reduction in voice communications is quite effectively achieved through the implementation of this solution. However, it appears that many organisations still believe that this cost reduction is not big enough to justify the initial cost of implementation of an IP telephony solution.
