Managed services reduce IP telephony costs

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 16 Nov 2005

A company with 500 staff could potentially save 83% of its IP telephony expenditure by using a managed service, rather than doing it in-house, says Rakesh Parbhoo, Dimension Data`s networks solutions innovation and development manager.

It would do it with greater efficiency and less stress too, he says.

There is a growing trend towards managed services for IP telephony, driven by the need to manage the increasingly complex converged voice and data networks, as well as the need to contain and control costs, says Parbhoo.

As companies strive to become more efficient, they look for solutions that reduce capital expenditure, maintenance and management costs and allow staff to focus on the strategic needs of the company, he says.

Scarce resources

Another motivating factor for using managed services is that the company does not have to deal with the challenge of finding and retaining of skilled staff, says Parbhoo. Qualified and skilled staff are especially important in this environment, as the convergence of voice and data onto a single infrastructure requires highly specialised skills in networking voice, data and security.

"IP skills and resources are the hardest thing to come by," he says.

Etienne Naud'e, chief technical officer at Alexander Forbes, agrees. The challenge is not only to find the technical skills required, but also to retain them, he says.

Training up staff to the required level requires a huge investment in time and money, which again makes the business case for managed services, he says.

Managed vs DIY

Large corporations are not the only ones affected by this challenge, Naud'e says. It`s even more critical for smaller companies to go for managed IP services, as they would likely have even less resources to invest in the system and the people, were they to do it themselves.

It is, however, important that a suitable service provider be chosen carefully, he notes.

"Look for someone who has a track record and the ability to deliver ongoing innovation and value creation."

Local trends

While many companies have indicated interest in IP telephony, SA is still at an early adopter phase, says Richard Hurst, BMI-TechKnowledge telecoms analyst.

VOIP liberalisation was undertaken in the absence of other enablers with the result that there is a slow start in adoption, says Hurst. However, VOIP will gain greater traction, growing from R30 million in 2004 to R630 million in 2009, with solutions unable to keep up with demand, he predicts.

Although there are no killer VOIP applications yet, says Hurst, the potential for cost saving remains. However, cost saving alone will not be a driver.

IP telephony may provide features such as intelligent call routing, find me/follow me, bridging and conferencing, and improved desktop productivity, he says.

There are key challenges, however, that could still impact on the adoption of the technology. The delivery of quality, real-time VOIP is one of them and, Hurst argues, features such as cost savings would be moot if voice quality suffers.

Businesses considering rolling-out VOIP would therefore need to analyse and assess cost of IP downtime, create a strategy to scale the phone and network deployment system, and put measures in place to prevent security breaches and business interruption.