Rajani Baburajan at TMCnet discusses how VoIP or Unified Communications (UC) could overtake traditional PBX and PSTN by 2014.
This prediction is probably not far from accurate as VoIP systems and services have rocketed in popularity over the last few years. While not visible to the outside world from a B2B perspective, the burgeoning market for cheap international phone services, Skype and the wealth of IP based communication apps for modern smartphones cannot help but point to towards the popularity of the technology today.
Based on research from market analysts Wainhouse, Rajani’s article goes on to states that as one the fastest growing managed services area, VoIP services are being offered by most network service providers in one form or another.
The research report goes on to look at the growth of the hosted and managed UC and conferencing services markets in Europe, noting that combined revenue from both areas should reach $4 billion by the end of 2014, surpassing the revenue collected from traditional PBX and PSTN services.
YOu can read the entire article here
Those wondering about the reach and potential for VoIP Telecommunications may be surprised to learn that Yo! Sushi, the Japanese cuisine restaurant chain, is to implement an IP phone system across it’s 35 branches in an attempt to reduce its operational costs.
The company’s current legacy set-up will be replaced with the new technology and plans to extend the VoIP system to a further 15 outlets are planned for the next 12 months.
Through integration with their customer database and maps software, Yo! Sushi hopes to generate savings by routing calls through to it’s London call centre.
Internal communications will be streamlined via a conferencing feature in the new VoIP phone system which will enable regional managers to hold remote meetings with restaurant supervisors thus reducing the need for travel or for employees to subscribe to a third-party service.
A spokesperson for the restaurant chain stated “The ongoing costs of line rental and telephony maintenance were becoming a significant overhead to the business and, as we had plans to double the number of outlets within two years, this was an appropriate time to review our overall telecoms strategy,”
“We expect the system to pay for itself within two years, and believe that we have only scratched the surface of what we think the telephony system can do for us in the future.”
