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As the migration to IP telephony systems continues, many businesses will needlessly spend $20.3 billion on expensive IP screen phones from 2005 through the beginning of 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, it will amount to more than €5 billion.
"Many companies are replacing old phones with fancy, screen-based IP phones and IP/PBXs with related hardware, however, most users continue to use the new phones like their old phones, only with a few new capabilities, such as viewing missed calls or for directory dialing," said Bob Hafner, managing vice president for Gartner. "Ironically, in most businesses, the IP screen phone is placed on the desk beside a PC that has a much bigger and higher-resolution screen."
During the next five years, Gartner estimates that businesses worldwide will buy more than150 million IP phones, whilst in EMEA they will buy more than 50 million IP phones. In both regions, for 75 percent of those purchases, companies are spending at least $150 (€117) more than they need to as they focus on purchasing IP screen phones when a better solution might be buying low-end IP phones without a screen and logically tying the PC to that phone with unified communications (UC) applications.
With the money saved on the lower-cost IP phones, Mr. Hafner said companies should purchase UC applications. This option enables the user to improve productivity integrating communications applications with services such as instant messaging, unified messaging, presence, personal agent, conferencing and mobility services to create a converged desktop with the voice communications on the phone. These applications are far more productive than the screen on an IP phone and are about the same cost.
Gartner analysts said IP screen phones can provide new and productive applications for users, but usually at a much greater cost than could be done on a PC. Companies with employees that do not have a PC on their desk, such as retail, healthcare and manufacturing are the sweet spot for these devices. If there is a PC on the desk, then companies should consider a low-cost IP phone.
"In the interim, companies must think about how they communicate and how this will change in the coming years," said Mr. Hafner. "We are not saying that you don’t need an IP phone on your desk, but with limited budgets, companies should immediately reset their priorities from having high-end IP screen phones to having a low-end IP phone and UC applications that improve productivity. They should only consider IP screen phones when they have the UC applications and there is still money left in the budget."
Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Don’t Purchase IP Screen Phones If You Have a PC on Your Desk." The report provides analysis on IP phone migration plans and unified communications options. The report is available on the Gartner Web site at www.gartner.com/.
More detailed analysis on the key technologies for IP telephony will be presented at the Gartner Enterprise Networking Summit, taking place November 14-16 at the JW Marriott Las Vegas. The inaugural Gartner Enterprise Networking Summit is a comprehensive event focusing on the migration of voice and data communications to IP networks. This 3-day forum will look at the technical migration to VoIP, and explain how to capitalize on the business benefits it promises, in the form of new and enhanced business applications and systems with unprecedented efficiencies and functionality. Drawing some 300 senior-level decision makers, the agenda's three tracks will focus on building the network of the future, managing that network, and solidly understanding the leading-edge technologies upon which the network will be founded.
For complete event details, please visit the Gartner Enterprise Networking Summit Web site at www.gartner.com/us/net1.
18.08.2006, Magda Brzakala
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