Does a Hosted VoIP Solution Make Sense for Your Business?

Hosted VoIP is going to save you lots of money, reduce the stress on your internal operational resources and give you more value added services, right? Well, hold the phone (Pun Intended). Does it even make sense for your business to be looking at a Hosted VoIP solution?  

In this article I am going to show you a few easy steps to determine if it even makes sense to entertain the idea of a Hosted VoIP solution for your business. Keep in mind this is the initial look, if you decide yes, there is a project waiting to really find out if Hosted VoIP is a viable business solution.

First and foremost you need to determine you are looking at a Hosted VoIP solution for the right reason.  

Here are a few legit examples:

• Cost Savings
• Legacy Upgrade Needed
• More Unified Communications
• Want/Need to use an operational budget, instead of CAPX
• Office location move

A couple of non legit examples are (there are way more):

• Everyone's talking about it
• Its Sexy

If you believe a Hosted VoIP can make business sense for your organization, continue reading on.  If you can't, table the idea and go do something productive.

You have decided (in theory) that a Hosted VoIP solution could add benefits to your organization and you are willing to take an initial crack at determining if you really want to explore this option.

Here are three steps to help you with this decision:

1.  Look at your phone bills.  Does your organization currently have enough outbound usage to warrant the per seat cost of a Hosted VoIP?  Hosted VoIP is a license scenario, traditional phone services are per line, plus usage.  This look will be similar the evaluation your organization did a few a years ago when the phone companies started offering unlimited calling for business.  The difference now is Hosted VoIP gives you additional services, so this can't be your only determining factor.  This may not give you the absolute "Yes, VoIP worth looking at", but it may give you the absolute "No, VoIP is too cost prohibitive now".  A simplified example would be if you have 30 employees and the average monthly per seat cost of a Hosted VoIP is $39.99 then your current phone bills (monthly recurring, local & long distance usage) should be more than $1199.70.  If you are not a heavy outbound phone usage company, you will need to find other value adds to justify your decision to the Executive Team or Owner.  Remember to take good notes on price points, so that if the time is not now, you will have this information readily accessible when the same Executive Team / Owner brings the idea to you in the future.  

2.  Look at your internet.  Do you have enough bandwidth?  Per call bandwidth can be anywhere from 30k-90k on average per call, depending on compression technology.  So if those same 30 people are on the phone at one time then you will need 900k - 2700k (Full T1's are 1.544 Mbps or 1544k) just for your voice traffic.  If you don't have enough bandwidth, what are your upgrade costs for the bandwidth and routers you may need?

3.  Look at your infrastructure. Do you have (minimum) CAT5e cabling? Do you have an IP Data drop and electric power outlet at every location that a phone station is currently and/or will be needed in the future? Do you have switches that can manage Quality of Service (QOS) or Power over Ethernet (POE), if needed? Are your data jacks labeled correctly with the patch panels? Do you have an up to date electronic "as built" of your facility(s)? The infrastructure is the "last three inches to the jack" that is most often forgotten during the evaluation planning. Trust me when I tell you that if this is not done, any savings realized or ROI projections will be lost when your infrastructure has to be upgraded last minute to make your solution work properly. Plan appropriately to avoid business impacting consequences.  

If you can answer these questions with a certainty then it might make sense to look deeper into whether a Hosted VoIP solution is a viable technology for your organizational needs. Your "real" evaluation  process will be a much more in-depth look at the above items in addition to evaluating service providers, Hosted VoIP packages, comparing value adds (auto attendant, voice mail to email, follow me options, etc), network requirements, number portability, infrastructure testing, potential CAPEX costs for upgrades...you get my point.

Moving to a Hosted VoIP solution is not as easy decision, but if you determine a Hosted VoIP solution could be a benefit for your business you should have a real implementation plan (article for another day) in place prior to moving forward with any contractual obligations.

Hosted VoIP is happening and will (probably) be a mainstream product option in the next 2-5 years for business. However, letting the natural "S" curve mature the technology and B2B market is not a bad idea. Making a change coincide with a planned upgrade or new location requirement may be a more prudent way to roll this technology out.

This article is meant to to be an aid with your business decision process regarding if your organization should even be looking at Hosted VoIP solution, at this point in time. Expect a lot more time in your evaluation project if you think Hosted VoIP is your solution.

My advice...become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) or hire one to assist you before jumping on the Hosted VoIP wagon to ensure your deployment is a success! Don't rush - there will be another train coming down the line.