Expert discusses IP telephony solutions

Companies should get their IP telephony solutions running correctly before they think about more elaborate scenarios like unified communications, according to an expert.

Joe Frost, vice president of marketing for Psytechnics, believes that there has been a lot of hype around unified communications, but says that his customers always say they have to get their IP telephony solutions right "before they would even consider moving toward a unified messaging environment".

"So what that means is in all the deployments we have, all the customers have been really focused on expanding the use of IP telephony."

Mr Frost also believes that while for larger enterprises, adoption of IP telephony is fuelled by its cost-saving benefits, things are different in the world of SMBs.

"What we've found is that, particularly in the SMB market, these companies were using IP telephony primarily, for the advantages of the communications of staying in touch, so some of the most popular features are being able to take your calls no matter where you are," he said.

"But more importantly, being able to take your calls where it suited your context."