VoIP News: July 2007

Large office-based call centres are being replaced by VoIP virtual call centres where agents are split across a number of bases or even working from home or abroad. And the benefits are not simply practical, as an Aberdeen Group survey of 150 companies found that in the best-performing 35 per cent of firms, these distributed agent practices resulted in at least a ten per cent boost in customer satisfaction following their implementation.

The NHS is set to cut costs after upgrading it N3 broadband network to include VoIP. BT infrastructure has recently been used to create fast data links between systems across the health organisation, but voice connections were not thought originally to be part of the plan. But the programme director for the N3 network, Len Chard, said VoIP will now be included to allow calls to be made between sites for free.

Businesses which sign up to switch over to VoIP may not see its full potential benefits realised as staff do not take advantage of all available features, it has been suggested. Sean Barkley, a regional manager for advanced voice solutions at Verizon Business, said that staff are often found to be only using the voice aspects of the communications solution and ignoring features like remote office or web interfaces.

Manufacturer of the BlackBerry communications handset, Research In Motion, has announced it is developing a version of the popular business networking device with VoIP capabilities. The BlackBerry 8820 will be the first handset to have full Wi-Fi connectivity and so allows users to access VoIP networks which will give them the opportunity to make savings on their calls. This ability will be further utilised by technology called unlicensed mobile access which will be built into the handset and let it switch between normal cellular networks and VoIP when it is in range of a Wi-Fi access point.

German VoIP manufacturer Cruise intends to integrate its Asterisk-based system with Microsoft Exchange 2007 server. The merging of the product will mean users can launch VoIP calls by clicking on clients in their Outlook email address book, as well as have their emails read out to them electronically through their mobile phone. Further to this, the system will announce events entered onto the Exchange server calendar sent to a user's mobile phone to remind them, while users will be able to access the calendar in the opposite direction to cancel or postpone appointments.