VoIP solutions could help SMEs in economic downturn

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) may start deploying VoIP solutions to cut communication costs as the economy continues to slow down, an expert has said.

However, many are businesses turning to VoIP solutions because of their additional functionality and flexibility, rather than cost-cutting, said Adrian Walmsley, manager of the British Computer Society (BCS) engineering and technology forum.

Mr Walmsley said that his own business was interested in VoIP because of these other features, not primarily because of the cost.

"My own company invested in VoIP technology long before the current downturn because of the additional functionality and flexibility it can provide and not primarily to reduce costs," he said.

"However, VoIP call costs are certainly cheaper so the economic downturn may encourage more SMEs to investigate VoIP."

Recent research by T-Mobile has found that 42 per cent of SMEs think they pay too much for their mobile communications plan and 65 per cent do not have the ability to control the cost of international calls from their mobiles.