Trends for VoIP and SIP Trunk deployment in business are expected to continue to grow dramatically over the next several years, as companies evolve to the new technology standards. According to a recent report from the research firm Frost and Sullivan, VoIP and SIP revenues are expected to grow from $717.3 million in 2009 to $3.9 billion by 2016. Certainly, a driving piece of this is from the conversion of large enterprises’ traditional PBX to SIP technology.
The small and medium business market is also participating in this shift. sipVine, a business digital phone service provider based in Kansas City, services the SMB market and has begun to notice some slight changes in buyer dynamics during 2010. Examining the main drivers for new customer installations, during 2008 and 2009, price was the primary factor given by customers as the reason for moving to a VoIP service. The recession provided a business opportunity for VoIP service providers to find willing participants to convert from their existing phone service provider. However, in 2010, again according to internal statistics, an increasing percentage of new customers are coming on for feature enhancement or phone system replacement.
What does this tell us? Price and cost savings are still important decision factors for companies not too far removed from the impacts of the recession on their business. The increasing mix of feature enhancements as a driver in the decision may also be a signal that companies are investing again, particularly on items that can produce an ROI. Replacing or upgrading phone systems traditionally have not had a return, but VoIP has produced a savings opportunity over traditional service deployment. Therefore, the opportunity to go digital, enhance features and customer communications, streamline communication patterns, and create virtual office environments while generating a return has had appeal to customers in 2010.
With such a dramatic increase in VoIP and SIP Trunking revenues projected over the next several years, most companies, large and small, will be evaluating digital phone service. There are many tips to selecting the right provider posted on the internet, including a previous blog post by sipVine. There are many great reasons to examine making this change for your business, and the market research indicates that you would not be alone in beginning this evaluation.
