Forbes on the 'Value of VoIP'

Forbes ran a piece on "The Value of VoIP" Friday, spotlighting a small business owner deploying a VoIP system and examining the system's effects on the company's operations. Nikhila Rao, owner of a small consultancy firm called Graphet Inc., said the VoIP installation helped cut communications costs by a quarter, but added that the biggest benefit of the system was that her company appeared "bigger" when dealing with large customers.

She said she hadn't noticed an increase in dropped calls or call quality issues since switching from her Bell-era TDM equipment, and commented that a hotline offered by Cisco, whose gear was used in the installation, helped with any problems. She said her company "wouldn't be able to survive if we didn't make this investment." While VoIP has been increasingly prominent recently due to its lower costs, Rao's angle on the benefits of the solution highlights another form of ROI found in effective installations.

Anyone else have a story to tell about a mission-critical VoIP installation? Shoot me an email at pwylie@fiercemarkets.com.

For more:
- see the Forbes piece here