SMBs plan telephony purchases

Communications News, Oct, 2006 by John Venator

Businesses with fewer than 500 employees have aggressive plans for making new technology purchases over the next 12 months, according to the results of a new survey conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). Close to 30% of the small and midsize businesses (SMB) surveyed say they plan to make significant investments in phone system upgrades during the coming 12 months.

SMBs constitute an important market for converged voice and data networks and applications, as just 17% of the respondents to the study have already combined voice and data traffic onto a single network.

More than 350 individuals involved in purchasing communications systems for companies in North America with 20-500 employees were questioned in the Web-based poll conducted by IDC. Respondents that currently have separate voice and data networks indicated even more interest in upgrading their phone system.

More than 28% of SMBs surveyed are planning significant investments in data network upgrades. Laptop upgrades are planned by 43% and wireless LANs by 33%. Mobile wireless data services and applications (27%) and voice mail and e-mail integration (26%) are also high on the respondents' shopping lists.

More than half of all respondents (53%) say they intend to own/lease and maintain all of their system when they make their next major communication system upgrade. Another 38% want to own/ lease the equipment, but will consider contracting with another party to manage the system. Just 9% say they are interested in hosted communications services or other outsource options.

Current communications solutions are not viewed as a competitive advantage. When asked what they like about their current communications systems, the top three responses were ease of use; low cost to run and maintain; and the system is consistently responsive and reliable. Interruptions are the primary dislike with current communications systems; followed by difficulty in managing multiple sources of communications; and difficulty finding people when needed.

Security concerns present a significant obstacle to selling converged solutions to SMB customers. The survey found that more than one-third of respondents had suffered an attack on their computer network and/or phone system during the previous 12 months. Among companies with 250-500 employees, close to 50% had experienced such an attack. When asked if they trust the security offered by vendors in four different technologies, IP telephony received an affirmative answer from just 50% of respondents. That figure lags behind traditional digital telephones (82%), Ethernet data networks (72%) and wireless LAN (60%).

Among SMBs that have already deployed some level of IP telephony in their organizations, nearly 25% report they have had no significant difficulties with the deployment. For those organizations that say they had experienced problems, the three most frequently mentioned culprits were underestimating the costs of network upgrades; poor quality of voice services; and underestimating the difficulty of integrating applications.

Close to 30% of survey respondents say their network is ready to support converged communications today, while 42% say their network would require only a "small upgrade to one of two devices." When asked how they knew their network would be able to support converged communications, however, 71% admitted it was a "best guess."

Within SMBs, buying decisions for both voice and data communications are predominantly made by the same person, by individuals on the same team or by small cross-functional teams, typically representing business line, finance and IT. In the survey, one individual was responsible for the phone system and data networks in 29% of the cases. In another 43%, the responsibilities were held by people in the same department.

John A. Venator is president and CEO of CompTIA, a global trade association of 20,000 member companies in information technology and communications.

Which of the following best describes your organization's
current communications infrastructure?

Voice/data corporate
traffic combined onto
a single network           17%

Separate voice/data
networks w/ converged
mail systems               13%

Some voice converged
onto data network, but
separate for most dept.    16%

Separate voice/data
networks                   54%

Note: Table made from pie chart.