VoIP migration in full swing for European and US firms

An increasing number of European and North American companies are migrating their telephony solutions from the Public Switched Telephone Network over to VoIP phones, a new survey has found.

Forrester Research polled 516 companies across the two continents, enquiring about their current telephony solutions and plans to upgrade in the near future.

Some 35 per cent of respondents said they expected to complete migration to IP telephony solutions by next year, while nine out of ten companies said the switch would be completed within five years.

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of the businesses polled had already completed the switch to VoIP software, up from just 14 per cent last year.

And the study also found that 54 per cent of all companies are planning to increase their spending on IP telephony hardware and services, compared with just 51 per cent in 2006.

The report concluded that demand for VoIP services will "continue to evolve beyond basic telephony upgrades as enterprises demand increased flexibility and mobile solutions for their workers".