歐洲代管／經管理VoIP服務的成功因素

VoIP is now accepted by businesses as the way forward for voice infrastructure; whenever a new system is required, both in-house and hosted VoIP solutions will be considered. While a number of providers, notably BT, have been offering outsourced VoIP services for some time, the market is still getting established and there are a wide variety of providers and an even wider variety of types of offering. Customers range from large multinationals to the smallest start-up. Marketing strategies vary from those that boast the exciting new features of unified communications to those that emphasise a simple message about flexible phone systems.

The report looks at outsourced VoIP systems for medium and large businesses, the problems the systems aim to solve and how the offerings available succeed in providing solutions. It identifies nine success factors for service providers entering this market. The report also provides forecasts for spend on VoIP voice calls and connection, equipment and management services for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK and Western Europe from 2007 to 2012.

• What do businesses want from VoIP?
• What drives businesses to consider hosted or managed VoIP services?
• What types of problem can VoIP help businesses to solve?
• How are service providers offering VoIP solutions?
• How big is the market for hosted VoIP?
• Which customers want CPE-based services?
• What are the characteristics of a successful outsourced VoIP service?
• Will shared-platform IP Centrex or hosted iPBXs be the preferred model?
• Which types of business will prefer which solution?
• What is the best route to market - a distributed channel strategy or a centralised call-centre approach?
• Is it essential to include the IP access with the VoIP service?

• Fixed operators: that want to maintain their Centrex and PBX business as users move to VoIP.
• Non-facilities based service providers: that are offering hosted VoIP services directly to end users or to telecom service providers.
• Systems integrators: that are considering offering VoIP solutions as part of their corporate IT package.
• Vendors: that want to understand what will drive take-up of their VoIP products and which technologies are most likely to be deployed.
• Mobile operators: that want to maximise their share of the enterprise voice market and be prepared to counter encroachment by fixed operators offering FMC voice solutions.
• End users (corporate telecoms managers): telecoms managers and CIOs who want a concise overview of what hosted and managed VoIP technologies can offer them.
• Bankers: that want to understand the potential market for outsourced VoIP solutions and which are the most promising areas

0. Summary

1. VoIP is becoming a mainstream product

• 1.1 Hosted and managed VoIP services for businesses are available in many forms
• 1.2 Multinational corporations are leading the way with unified communications
• 1.3 Decisions to use VoIP are based on saving money, gaining more flexible voice systems and reducing complexity for end users
• 1.4 Adoption rates of hosted and managed VoIP are increasing

2. Demand for hosted and managed VoIP comes from many types of company

• 2.1 Hosting is not limited to small businesses
• 2.2 Larger user organisations may choose a hosted and managed solution if they have many small sites, many phones or employees who work regularly from temporary sites
• 2.3 Lack of expertise drives outsourcing
• 2.4 Companies planning for rapid growth favour centralised solutions
• 2.5 VoIP can improve ways of working, but is not often installed for that reason
• 2.6 Demand for FMC will be a driver for centralised services - companies find the mobile integration part difficult
• 2.7 Large companies will prefer hosted solutions, while medium companies will prefer IP Centrex
• 2.8 Internet VoIP is only really acceptable for small and medium businesses
• 2.9 Many businesses will not see any urgent need to adopt VoIP

3. Channels are key to the SME market

• 3.1 Many small IT companies are reselling hosted VoIP and IP Centrex
• 3.2 Many small telecoms VARs are adding VoIP to their PBX portfolios
• 3.3 Large telecoms service providers are developing VoIP solutions for resellers
• 3.4 Large service providers need to develop channel structures

4. Success factors for hosted and managed VoIP

• 4.1 Customer education is paramount, especially for small and medium businesses
• 4.2 Cost savings and flexibility are the main drivers
• 4.3 There is a need for integration with legacy systems
• 4.4 VoIP service providers should work through a trusted supplier
• 4.5 Access should be bundled with the hosting
• 4.6 Prices should be suited to the target market and the technology selected accordingly
• 4.7 Integrating mobiles is important for delivering real cost savings for user organisations
• 4.8 Users regard instant messaging as nice to have, but not essential
• 4.9 Unified communications and email integration will be important in the future

Actions

• Figure 1.1 VoIP architecture owned and managed in house by the user organisation
• Figure 1.2 VoIP architecture hosted by the service provider
• Figure 1.3 IP Centrex VoIP architecture
• Figure 1.4 Internet VoIP architecture
• Figure 1.5 Flowchart of forecasting methodology
• Figure 1.6 Spend on VoIP systems in Western Europe by type in 2007 and 2012
• Figure 1.7 Users of VoIP systems in Western Europe by type in 2007 and 2012
• Figure 1.8 Total spend by category for all medium and large organisations, 2007- 2012
• Figure 1.9 New users of outsourced and owned VoIP systems in Western Europe, 2007- 2012
• Figure 2.1 Penetration of hosted and managed VoIP in large and medium organisations in Western Europe, 2007- 2012
• Figure 2.2 Spend on hosted and managed VoIP in large and medium organisations in Western Europe, 2007- 2012
• Figure 2.3 Average spend per user for hosted and managed VoIP services versus user-owned/user-managed systems in large businesses 2007 and 2012
• Figure 2.4 Average spend per user on hosted and managed VoIP services versus user-owned/user-managed systems for medium businesses for 2007 and 2012
• Figure 2.5 Share of business spend on fixed-to-fixed, fixed-to-mobile and mobile calls
• Figure 2.6 Numbers of users of fixed VoIP and FMC VoIP in Western Europe, 2007 and 2012
• Figure 2.7 Share of VoIP users on user-owned/SP-hosted and IP Centrex systems for Western Europe in 2012
• Figure 2.8 Spend on Internet VoIP services by medium companies in Western Europe
• Figure 3.1 Medium organisation spend on hosted and managed VoIP systems by type, 2007- 2012