Spring - InsideOutdoor Magazine

many retailers fit the mold of operations that stand to reap the
most gains from the capabilities that can and are being wrought
by advanced communications.
Touting “enterprise-class functionality at small business prices”
and overall savings in voices services spending, groups of advanced
communications providers have zeroed in on businesses
that operate multiple offices or branch locations (each with about
five phone lines or less); owners-managers that need to be accessible
but rarely can be found at their desks; employees who
share desks and phone lines; modest local networking requirements
with little or no “telecom equipment” on site; and some
customer service functions moving to the Web. Sound familiar?
For most purposes, we’re talking here primarily about “IP
telephony,” also known as “VoIP,” or “voice over Internet protocol.”
It’s important to note that while IP is short for “Internet
protocol,” it doesn’t necessarily mean on or utilizing the public
“Internet,” nor is it limited to PC-based calling. IP just happens
to be the protocol behind the “Internet” we all know and use.
In other words, while the much-advertised Vonage telephone
service, for example, sends calls over the public Internet,
other providers of IP communications have built private IPbased
networks that in no way ever touch the public Internet,
and therefore are not susceptible to the quality and reliability
issues of the public Internet. But by being fully compatible and
interoperable with the widely available and easy-to-access public
Internet, IP networks allow providers to develop and deliver
new and existing communications services much more affordably
than ever before, often on a nationwide or global basis.
Use of VoIP Products and Service by North American
Businesses, 2005
Small Businesses
Medium-Sized
Businesses
Large Businesses
14% 23% 36%
Source: Infonetics Research
For starters, on IP-based “packet switched” networks, time
and distance are less relevant than in the old world of the “circuit
switched” telephone networks, so the line between local
and local distance calling has been blurred, and as such perminute
pricing plans are all but disappearing, much as has happened
with cell phone plans.
So, if you currently are paying per-minute fees for long distance,
and your monthly phone bill is significant, IP telephony
services definitely should be a consideration moving forward.
At the very least, IP telephony providers tend to offer free or
unlimited “on-net” calling, such as the calls between dispersed
branch locations.
Of course, phones bill are a fairly modest chunk of retailer
operating expenses, so even a good percentage of savings may
not necessarily be enough to encourage a switch in telephony
services. Savings can be driven further, however, by bundling
landline voice services with other applications such as Internet
access or even mobile services. The upside for subscribers
of bundled plans are one point of contact for all services (i.e.
one bill to pay) and discounts for buying multiple services
from one provider.
Source: 8.0% NSGA
7.0%
Linear (Footwear)
6.0%
How Does Your VoIP Service Compare to Your Old Service
(Among 5.0% companies with 100 or fewer employees that have adopted VoIP)
4.0%
100
3.0%
2.0%
801.0%
60
40
20
0
9.0%
0%
68%
12%
8% Linear 8% (Footwear) 28%
20%
16%
8% 8%
Source: NSGA
Cost
1999
84% 60% 64% 80% 92%
84% Equipment
84% 92%
Moves, Adds,
Changes
2000
Footwear 8%
Linear (Equipment)
24%
Management
2001
Call Quality
2002
Reliability
2003
16% 12% 4% 4%
4% 4% 4% 4%
Routing
2004
Features
Capacity
How Does Your VoIP Service Compare to Your Old Service
(Among companies with 100 or fewer employees that have adopted VoIP)
VoIP Worse About the Same VoIP Better
100
Multi-Location
Source: Savatar
80
This “convergence” of services is where IP telephony gets
really
60
interesting, beyond just the potential cost savings. To
simplify Would you matters, recommend convergence VoIP service is when to
84% 60% voice and messaging
64%
services, your business 68%
Internet peers? connectivity and 80% all related data
92%
services are
40
84%
84% 92%
delivered using the same network through one connection to
8%
the customer 12% premises, 24% with increasing levels of cross functionality
20
2%
between the services.
100
4% 34% 8% 8% 21% 28%
16% 39%
<
Consider, 20% for example, 16% a link on a Web 12%
site 4% 4%
8%
that a consumer
8%
4% 4% 4% 4%
anywhere 0 on the globe can click, from a computer at their home
or on a sales floor, and instantly be connected to a live, human attendant
who speaks the caller’s language and can handle orders,
frequently asked questions, take a message or forward the call 100 to
4% >
VoIP 20% Worse 24% About the Same 52% VoIP Better
the phone of the proper recipient, all for a monthly fee that easily
can be justified by a small amount of newly generated business.
Source: Savatar
Taking things one step further is “fixed-mobile convergence,”
whereby applications seamlessly travel across
0 20 40 60 80 100
both
Cost
Moves, Adds,
Changes
Management
Call Quality
Reliability
Routing
Features
Would 1 you recommend 2 VoIP service 3 to 4 5
your business peers?
Not Recommend Recommend Highly Recommend
2%
Source: Savatar
4% 34% 21% 39%
4% 20% 24% 52%
Source: Savatar
2005
Capacity
2006
Multi-Location
0 20 40 60 80 100
1 2 3 4 5
Not Recommend Recommend Highly Recommend
Employees
Employees
100
<
Employees
100
>
Employees
Spring 2008 | InsideOutdoor | 21