Large scale VoIP switch-over took years

Top-level chemical company Lyondell Chemical took the decision to switch to VoIP ahead of many other large businesses.

But chief IT architect Sanjay Chadha wanted to make sure the system was first class, while financial constraints meant it had to be done on a cost-neutral or even profitable budget.

"The company was losing money at the time and there was neither a need nor a demand for these services," Mr Chadha told TechTarget.

However, Lyondell was supportive of his plans and saw the advantages that VoIP would bring to their international business - especially if the IT team could realise their hopes of a centralised system.

By starting with the multinational firms smallest offices of about 50 employees and installing VoIP alongside the landline system to start with, the project team gained experience and over a few years built up to sites with 2,600 connections.

Although the company took a risk by cancelling the maintenance of its traditional telephony lines to free up funds for the initial launch, the installation of VoIP has saved Lyondell several million dollars, according to Mr Chadha.

In addition, the company now has a fully centralised unified communications system which allows easy worldwide maintenance plus useful functions for employees such as being able to check their voicemail from their email inbox.

The example of Lyondell seems to show what benefits and savings may be achieved by the early adoption of VoIP systems, even among large multinational companies.