VOICE over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been positioned as the great paradigm that will essentially change the way in which people communicate and collaborate in the near future. Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, building on VoIP by placing actual telephones and new voice applications onto the IP network, is a growing trend. A recent Gartner report in October 2006 on IP Telephony IT Services expects the migration to IP to reach US$15 billion within the next five years.

The top benefits occur when IP telephony is integrated seamlessly with critical collaboration and business applications.

Now IP telephony providers are recognising the relatively untapped potential of the SMB (small and mid-sized business) segment and are starting to tailor solutions to SMBs' needs and pockets. With non-traditional IP companies like IBM partnering 3Com to offer an all-in-one integrated IP solution, the time seems right for SMBs to take the plunge.

Many industry groups have articulated the benefits of migrating to IP for large corporations. Although less discussed, the benefits for SMBs may not be any less compelling. The reasons that drive large enterprises to make the switch to IP telephony are often the same motivating factors for smaller organisations. These include convergence to help simplify infrastructure; cost savings; and business advantages like improved productivity and enhanced collaboration.

IP telephony enables voice, data, video, and fax to be converged over a single network. Managing a single infrastructure across multiple offices for voice and data easily translates into cost savings and improved efficiency. With voice and data travelling over the same LAN cable, IT managers can focus their time and energy on managing a single network. The amount of wiring required is also significantly reduced, helping cut the costs of new offices, especially for expanding companies.

Centralised administration

Furthermore, IP telephony systems facilitate centralised administration for telephony and messaging. Maintenance costs are thus reduced and IT efficiency improved as site visits are eliminated.

With IP telephony, voice is carried over the Internet connection, reducing the cost of long-distance calls by eliminating toll charges. For multi-site SMBs and companies with frequent engagements overseas, IP telephony offers significant savings in long-distance call charges alone. As the business grows, the cost of expanding PBX systems by adding more circuit cards, additional switching units and labour costs for new installations easily run into tens of thousands of dollars. In comparison, IP telephony systems allow businesses to scale from one to many users without the need to replace existing hardware - a major contributor to costs. Expansion is simply a matter of additional telephones and licences. Its plug-and-play functionality also facilitates and reduces costs of routine 'moves, adds and changes'.

While cost savings are most obvious, the strategic value of IP telephony is its ability to help businesses gain competitive advantage by enabling collaboration and increasing productivity. People can connect with others anytime, anywhere, and collaborate using voice, video and data simultaneously. Companies can leverage on emerging communication applications such as unified messaging, call centre facilities, instant messaging and videoconferencing to enable users to communicate in real time and share information easily, quicken the decision-making process and increase productivity.

The most significant business benefits emerge when IP telephony is integrated seamlessly with critical collaboration and business applications. To achieve this, businesses need to put in place an infrastructure that is integrated, standards-based, highly available, and highly scalable. Businesses require tools and applications that allow for quick reaction to market demands. An integrated system eliminates the complexity and hassle of having to manage individual systems and applications. Once in place, it is easier to implement and support a seamless IP telephony system. A standards-based architecture that supports multiple operating systems and applications gives enterprises a greater choice in solutions according to business requirements.

Scalable infrastructure

It should support traditional PSTN connections and IP telephony protocols, enabling easy integration and the flexibility to connect with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-enabled third-party applications.

Organisations should ensure that their IP telephony system is supported by a secure, highly available and redundant infrastructure with proper backup systems and quick recovery help to ensure that phone calls can be made and received without interruption. The ability of the infrastructure and IP telephony system to meet growing business needs is critical. Organisations need a highly scalable infrastructure able to balance application resource requirements and scale according to new capabilities and capacity.

With a secure and integrated infrastructure in place, enterprises can quickly and easily deploy IP telephony and other business applications. The overall ease of management, greater security and higher reliability of an integrated platform translates into increased staff productivity and cost savings. By seamlessly delivering both voice and data over a single network, IP telephony can inject new capabilities into an organisation's core business processes, as it accords productivity benefits and cost savings.

With packaged integrated IP telephony systems now available, going IP has also become much less of a financial stretch for SMBs looking for a communications infrastructure that can leverage evolving technology and provide a competitive edge. The time to convert to IP telephony is now.

The writer is general manager, Systems & Technology Group, IBM Singapore.

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