Although no longer considered a new
trend, Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) technology is expected to gain even more widespread acceptance in 2008.
VoIP involves sending voice information in
digital form rather than using the analog
protocol of traditional telephone networks.
By converging voice and data systems into
an IP telephony solution, businesses can
streamline their operations, billings and
maintenance. In addition to increased efficiencies, VoIP can also help ensure business
continuity and provide numerous intangible
benefits to businesses.
“VoIP has invaluable business continuity
applications that provide an organization
with redundant service coverage. If you
were to have any kind of disruption, a secondary system would immediately compensate and continue communications as
usual. Your customers would never be
aware of any disruption, nor would your
daily operations be affected,” says Bill
Capraro, President & CEO of CIMCO
Communications. “VoIP fills that critical
need to stay up and running, to service
your customers and to remain connected
to the world.”
Smart Business spoke with Capraro
about technology trends for 2008, the benefits of VoIP and other advice he would like
to share with technology decision-makers.
What are the trends for technology in 2008?
We see VoIP being implemented at warp
speed given that it is well beyond the testing phase and is now valued as mainstream
technology. Aside from its obvious benefit
of unifying voice and data communication,
VoIP provides built-in business continuity
that protects against disruptive events like
power outages or flooding. Consequently, I
expect an upsurge in concentration on
VoIP’s business continuity applications and
also an increase in outsourcing to support
these applications.
How do emerging trends such as VoIP translate to tangible benefits for an organization?
With VoIP, the technology to transport
voice and data is less expensive than traditional circuit switching. Beyond the bottom-line savings, VoIP also provides productivity enhancements. One simple example is unifying communications, which
connects voice mail to e-mail, providing
one easy place to retrieve messages. This
increased accessibility is a tremendous
asset with very tangible benefits to both
large and small businesses.
Why is investing in new technology solutions
so important?
I can answer that question with one
word: customers. New technology solutions allow businesses to serve their customers better. We’ve been in business for
23 years and, even 10 years ago, if you
asked 100 businesses what their most
important communication vehicle was, a
majority would have said the phone. Today,
if you asked the same question, more than
50 percent would say data connectivity.
There is a paradigm shift that is happening,
and to keep customers happy and businesses profitable, investing in new technology is crucial.
Do these trends vary based on the size of the
business?
Every business can take advantage of the
benefits VoIP offers — size doesn’t matter.
VoIP technology can be implemented in
several different ways to positively affect
businesses of different sizes. And, it goes
without saying that every company needs a
business continuity plan. Having a plan in
place to back up and store data, and knowing how to restore it in the event of a business interruption, is critical to daily operations of any business.
What advice would you offer IT managers for
the upcoming year?
The four key words that strike me are
audit, prepare, practice and outsource.
With auditing, take stock of your current
communications. Who are the users? How
do you touch your customers? What are
the most important arteries in your organization? Run through disruption or disaster
scenarios and prepare your business for
recovery from interruptions. Next, practice
the recovery plans to ensure that you have
the right solutions in place to provide continuity to your business operations.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to outsource.
Whether it’s one small project or a major
initiative, outsourcing to other professionals in the industry will allow you time to
concentrate on core IT issues. By integrating VoIP into your business you can
address each of these four core areas.
BILL CAPRARO is President & CEO of CIMCO
Communications. Reach him at [email protected] or (630)
691-8080.