VoIP Cost Efficacy Data

VoIP is an exciting technology that is becoming commonplace among businesses and consumers alike. It has been around for a while in some form or the other for most of the 21st century. But market growth in adoption has increased substantially over this decade. The first customers for VoIP phones were individuals and households but businesses have embraced the change as well.

What makes VoIP so attractive to everyone? The first answer that comes to mind is cost savings. The price of a new technology plays a huge role in how quickly it grows in the market. Almost every new invention launches ate a high price point and then gradually becomes cheaper as it becomes commoditized. VoIP may be the exception to the rule. Most companies see immediate savings right from the moment they make the switch. That’s one of the biggest advantages in upgrading to VoIP for everyone.

Return on Investment

Lower prices and cost savings are all very well but finance managers need more convincing numbers. They want to know the ROI of any new technology before investing in it. ROI stands for return on investment. On the face of it, it’s a very simple concept. You calculate the total benefits of the new system including price cuts, monthly cost savings, productivity improvements and so on. Then you add up the total cost of implementing VoIP.

ROI = benefits/total cost *100

This will give the ROI in terms of percentage. We can also calculate the break even point which is the time it takes for a new system to recover all its costs. For instance, suppose an item costs $100 and provides a savings of $10 per month. Then the break even point is 10 months, after which the savings all go under the benefits column. The item has paid for itself within a short while. Bigger projects generally have much longer break even points.

For most businesses however, VoIP pays for itself in a year or two. Smaller businesses often find that they break even in a few months!

VoIP Cost Efficacy

So how come VoIP is different to most other innovations? The answer lies in the technology itself. VoIP allows companies to consolidate all their communication and data needs into one network. You don’t have to maintain two networks with different hardware, software and specialized expertise. There’s not much equipment you need for VoIP either. If you opt for hosted VoIP services, all you really need are some SIP compatible phones in the office.

There is no universal rule to calculate the cost efficiency of VoIP for a business. Every installation is different and every enterprise has unique requirements. Do you need digital faxing capabilities or unlimited calling? How many international or long distance calls do you make in a week? Is your network ready and able to handle additional voice traffic? All of these considerations will impact the final cost and savings you’ll see from VoIP.

This is why you won’t get a hard number as to how much you can save by moving away from the PSTN. But you can form a general idea of the cost savings and make rough calculations for yourself.

Cost Savings of VoIP

Some of the immediate benefits you can get from VoIP is the reduced cost of maintenance. Many businesses have the PBX somewhere in the office and spend some amount each month for repairs. If you were spending $100 a month, that’s an immediate savings of $1000 per year!

The next item is the cost of IP hardware. The good thing about VoIP is that you don’t have to buy a new phone for every employee in your office. A business with say 25 employees can easily get by with a dozen or so phones. You can use VoIP on mobile devices and from computers as long as they have a microphone headset.

If you make a lot of international or long-distance calls, you will see dramatic savings in your monthly bills. This is because VoIP makes all calls between employees completely free. International calls cost a fraction of the price charged by traditional operators. All of this doesn’t even take into account the benefits of consolidating all your communication needs in one place!

If you opt for hosted VoIP services, you don’t have to dedicate space to a PBX system within the office. The vendor provides all PBX services over the cloud through an easy to use web based dashboard. The only other expense you will incur is the cost of upgrading the Internet connection to support the additional voice traffic.

VoIP offers a very high return on investment and is very cost efficient. But as with any technology, you can always spend more for better plans or higher quality. The actual numbers will vary with your business requirements but you’re almost guaranteed to save money with VoIP!