AMI defines confusion

SMBs are dazed and confused by VoIP options, according to the just-released AMI-Partners study entitled “Making the Move to Hosted VoIP or Premise-Based IP-PBX: Different Approaches to SMB VoIP Implementation.” They’re dazed from the “multiplicity of VoIP solutions” and the “complexity involved in understanding and evaluating the different solutions and vendors, coupled with a lack of voice-savvy IT resources.” They’re confused “by the multiple and complex range of VoIP solutions, despite all the hype about VoIP’s projected toll cost savings … and a more professional market presence.”

Access Markets International Partners, Inc. undertook the study involving an unnamed number of small- (those employing fewer than 100, for purposes of the survey) and medium-sized businesses (of 100-999 employees) and is the first in a series of studies under the AMI-Partners’ SMB Telecom/IP Communications Service plan.

Though in the opinion of AMI-Partners SMB infrastructure solutions vice president Sanjeev Aggarwal the “market opportunity for VoIP solutions is burgeoning for SMBs,” the established brand-name market leaders have an early and sizable advantage. Most SMBs, calculates study authors, look first to brand-name market leaders, such as Cisco Systems, Avaya, Nortel, and others for premise-based offerings. They also look to independent service providers like Covad and M5 Networks for hosted VoIP solutions.

“Whichever solutions or vendors SMBs choose, most companies will move to VoIP over the next five years—creating a huge opportunity for equipment vendors, service providers, and VARs,” stated Aggarwal.

According to AMI estimates, the global SMB market for VoIP solutions was worth about $3.26 billion in all of 2006, up 26 percent over 2005.

New York City-based AMI-Partners specializes in IT, internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence, with emphasis on global small- and medium-sized business enterprises.

On February 6, AMI released a major report analyzing IT trends, including naming the “Next Ten” emerging markets, as Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile.