Ask The Experts

Q: If VoIP technology is better, why haven’t more companies taken advantage of this service so far?

Adoption of VoIP has taken longer than analysts initially projected, but it is steadily growing as small businesses become more aware of the capabilities and cost savings that hosted VoIP solutions can deliver. In addition, the service provider community has significantly matured. Today, solutions are of a much higher quality compared to what was available a few years ago, with vendors offering phone service that is both feature-rich and very reliable. Finally, Broadband providers are delivering higher speed services at much lower costs, allowing small business owners to consider and take advantage of these advanced technologies. All of the above combine to deliver a clear message to SMBs—VoIP is a viable, powerful tool that will help increase their presence and grow their business. If a small business owner hasn’t considered VoIP before, now’s the time.

Actually, a significant number of businesses have migrated to VoIP telephony and many more are expected to do so in the coming months and years. According to market research firm Gartner Inc., more than 80% of companies are currently undergoing trials of IP telephony and, in three years, a majority of companies will be using it. During the first quarter of 2 009, 8×8 added a record number of new business subscribers to our hosted IP telephony service and we now have over 16,000 businesses using our service. Many of these companies were initially motivated by the cost savings inherent in VoIP technology but then quickly came to realize how IP enabled features and capabilities helped their business operate in ways they never expected. Customers like these are helping to fuel additional market growth by evangelizing the merits of the service to other businesses through invaluable referrals and testimonials.