Factors for IP telephony ROI calculations |
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By Carrie Higbie
20 Mar 2006 | SearchEnterpriseVoice.com |
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When can you afford to install IP telephony or VoIP services? Or better yet, when can you afford not to install it? The first thought that comes to mind is the obvious cost of long distance savings from one location to another, but you should be aware of other areas involved in these calculations. On the savings side, the things to consider are as follows:
- Annual cost for moves, adds and changes
These charges are eliminated with IP telephony; phones can be moved or added to any port on the data network as easy as any PC.
- Annual cost for inter-office long distance charges
With Voice over IP between offices, voice traffic rides on the existing corporate WAN, eliminating toll charges.
- Annual cost for long distance charges originating from any office to an area that is local to any remote office
For instance, a call originating in New York bound for a Miami number that is not local to the system would be routed through the system to the Miami PBX and become a local call.
- Estimated annual cost of long distance charges associated with mobile workers dialing in to retrieve voice mail (if voice mail is located at headquarters)
This is a benefit of unified messaging (think of all the toll charges that are paid to check voice mail). With unified messaging, the e-mail message would be routed to their e-mail client or could be retrieved through the Internet.
- Annual maintenance cost for headquarters PBX (equipment plus personnel and maintenance; not including moves, adds, changes)
- Annual maintenance cost for remote site PBXs and voice mail (includes equipment plus personnel)
- Annual spending for audioconferencing/Webex
The newer systems incorporate these features.
- Depreciation schedule of PBX and LAN switching infrastructure
If not already fully depreciated.
- Buy back or trade in programs for older infrastructure
This can be a huge savings – especially if you are doing a competitive upgrade.
- Savings afforded by telecommuting and elimination of local phone bills
Softphones allow remote users to be part of the PBX so remote offices will not need a local phone.
- Lower to no calling card calls
These can be routed through a softphone anywhere an Internet connection exists. This allows for much lower per call fees.
- Lower cell phone bills
With softphones, users can make phone calls through the network rather than costly cell phone expenses whenever they are connected to the Internet.
Soft dollar savings input requirements
These factors are more difficult to quantify, but they deliver at least as much business value as the ROI factors listed above.
Figure out your real costs and real savings. Check out the vendor completely. I recommend looking at their press releases and find a company that implemented the solution twelve months ago. Call the person in the press release and ask them how the last year has been. See how their predictions compare to actual cost savings. And don't be afraid to look at complementary products. If the hardware upgrade is scaring you, look at adding a bandwidth manager and supplement with virtual LANs where benefits can be seen. If you plan to power the phones via the data cabling, Power over Ethernet, I recommend end-span solutions (where the power is in the switch). Remember to add additional points of administration in your cost calculations for troubleshooting. Finally, and most important, don't add or subtract savings that you will not realize or that don't apply to your solution.
Don't be afraid to solicit your prospective vendors to assist in these calculations. They should have lots of models to use as starting points and most will be happy to assist in your calculations.
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