Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. who have deployed VoIP systems are saying their new converged voice and data infrastructure has met or exceeded expectations, but not for the reasons VoIP providers have been touting. While providers continue to promote features, SMBs ranked system management capabilities at the top of their list when asked how well their system performed.

For those SMBs considering VoIP, their perceptions of the technology are clear: they want lower total cost of ownership and better system management. But providers trying to sell to these SMBs are still delivering confusing messages about feature sets that the SMBs don't understand.

Gap in Reality Versus Perception of VoIP Benefits

A study of 560 SMB decision makers, and an analysis of the product and pricing strategies of major VoIP providers, conducted by the Boston, Mass.-based consulting firm Savatar and presented at the Spring VON 2006 Conference this week in San Jose, Calif., reveals a stark contrast in SMB's perception versus reality of the benefits of VoIP.

Seventy-one percent of the 84 SMBs surveyed that had deployed VoIP said their system met their expectations; 22 percent said their system exceeded their initial expectations. SMBs say their VoIP system performed "very well" or "well" for routing (76 percent), capacity (69 percent), moves, adds and changes (68 percent), multi-location management capabilities (61 percent), and cost (60 percent).



In contrast, those companies who have not deployed VoIP (476 companies surveyed) don't perceive its value nor do they have a strong imperative to implement the technology. Fifty-five percent of companies expected the cost of VoIP to be "about the same" or "worse," while 56 percent said the same about features. These numbers jump dramatically for system management (74 percent) and migration (77 percent) issues.

No Single Category of VoIP Providers Winning SMBs

As in the three previous studies of the SMB market conducted by Savatar since January 2005, no one category of VoIP provider has gained a foothold in capturing the SMB market. SMB decision makers are unclear where to turn for the best VoIP options and the market is still wide open for providers who want to seize their share of this growing segment.

The study shows that SMBs who have already deployed VoIP are buying from equipment providers (39 percent), VARs (20 percent) and, to a lesser extent, traditional telcos (14 percent).

More Choices in SMB VoIP Deployment

One element of the study was an in-depth analysis of product, pricing and service offerings by leading VoIP providers. The analysis revealed that providers are closing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) gap between IP Hosted versus IP PBX offerings by providing new leasing options for IP PBXs and creating more choices for SMBs.

"The small and medium business VoIP market is starting to heat up, yet it is still up for grabs. SMB decision makers still don't know which providers to turn to for services," said John Macario, president of Savatar. "The good news for providers is that we're seeing a 'TIVO effect' once SMBs deploy VoIP; once they have it, they are using a range of capabilities and features and now can't seem to live without them. There's still plenty of work to be done to win in the SMB VoIP market. Providers need to improve their sales pitches and deliver the right messages crisply to win this important segment."

This study, the fourth in a series conducted by Savatar, offers the only definitive, detailed view of the SMB VoIP market and the product, positioning and total cost-of-ownership factors that are driving this industry segment.