Maintenance 'critical' for VoIP service satisfaction

Ensuring VoIP telephony systems are well maintained and providing good customer support have been described as "critical" to the success of service providers.

The latest InfoTrack report examining the quality of maintenance and the level of customer satisfaction in the VoIP industry concluded that these two issues were having the largest impact on the success of an installation.

Warren Williams, the senior program director for InfoTrack for Enterprise Services and the author of the report, said that decision-makers in firms may pay attention to the features on offer, but assurances of reliability and low levels of risk were most likely to drive a VoIP systems purchase.

Such findings show that the relative youth of VoIP telephony systems compared to traditional communications is still making some companies wary of making the switch, despite many firms - ranging from the large to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - already signing up.

However, this attitude is set to change as VoIP becomes more mainstream and firms continue to transfer to internet telephony to make call-cost savings and gain greater flexibility with their communications.

Earlier this month, the chairman of the Internet Telephony Services Providers Association, Eli Katz, said that VoIP had seen strong growth in the UK and its penetration in the telephony market had increased by "two to three times".