Another lesson learned: VoIP may be at the top of your to-do list, but it’s probably not at the top of your organization’s. Chances are, a CIO will be pulled in unexpected directions during a VoIP pilot. Benson, who of course has to respond to other, competing needs from within DirecTV, is no exception. If customer service wants a new call center built, Benson needs to pull people from the VoIP project for the duration of the call center project. This year he’s had to build a new call center for DirecTV and help his third-party providers open two other call centers.

Such dilemmas and diversions don’t dull Benson’s ardor for what he thinks will be hefty telecom savings. His centers stand completed, and he thinks by the end of 2007 all the third-party call centers will also be done, though since some of DirecTV’s outsourced call centers use Nortel equipment, DirecTV still needs to test IP calls between Avaya equipment and Nortel equipment.

Once this project is done, he’s got another VoIP pilot in mind, examining IP-enabled phones. He’s learned, though, to expect significantly longer planning time for VoIP projects, especially in a company where keeping the phones ringing is paramount.

Take the Cake

Despite the issues that come with VoIP, Forrester’s Pierce says companies do want to adopt it. "The percentage of companies that believe they will stay on old technology indefinitely goes down and down and down," Pierce says. For smart rollouts, she recommends the "chocolate layer-cake" approach.

By that, she means implementing VoIP in phases. Use new sites or places where aging equipment or a growing workforce create opportunities for upgrading equipment. That gives staffs a chance to gain experience with what remains an emerging technology.

And makes it more likely that if the phones don’t ring, you’ll know why.

Michael Fitzgerald is a freelance writer based in Millis, Mass.

He can be reached at michael@mffitzgerald.com