Top 3 VoIP Troublemakers

What’s most likely to slow down your VoIP project, or even leave it in pilot testing never-never land? Forrester Research’s Lisa Pierce cites three big culprits:

1. Organizational Mess

VoIP works across wide area and local area networks, which many companies handle through different budgets and departments, when IT and telecom groups are separate.

TIP: Companies may have to reorganize internally before developing a companywide VoIP strategy.

2. Network Traffic Trouble

It’s not unusual for performance problems to creep in as you add VoIP users or sites. “The most important decision anyone who is considering implementing VoIP can make is how they will ’live’ with it after the installation is completed,” Pierce says.

TIP: Make sure you have comprehensive VoIP monitoring and management tools, and staff expertise before rollout. If you can’t afford these, consider managed or hosted services, she advises.

3. Tough Business Case

Moving to VoIP typically means network upgrades. But VoIP may not be top on the list of networking upgrades, especially with telecom budgets growing more slowly than IT budgets. Meanwhile, conventional long-distance rates are plummeting, undercutting what has been VoIP’s biggest advantage.

TIP: Piggybacking on a network

redesign may help. Keep a close eye on the VoIP dollars and sense as phone rates change.