Businesses which sign up to switch over to VoIP may not see its full potential benefits realised as staff do not take advantage of all available features, it has been suggested.

Sean Barkley, a regional manager for advanced voice solutions at Verizon Business, said that staff are often found to be only using the voice aspects of the communications solution and ignoring features like remote office or web interfaces.

By training up staff on all the features available to them and encouraging their use, businesses will be far more likely to meet their expected returns on their investment.

However, another issue that should be concentrated on by businesses when implementing VoIP is carrying out an audit of their network, according to Mr Barkley.

This should help to minimise security risks and make sure the VoIP network remains a reliable service.

Calling for businesses to conduct a thorough analysis of their networks, Mr Barkley said: "The audit is critical to see what your network is built on and what applications are running to factor in what may need to change - the audit for one site can go for 17 or 18 pages."