Microsoft Enables Do-It-Yourself VOIP - Big ROI for SMBs (
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By allowing customers to use VOIP, Response Point with SP1 can save customers that have between 10 to 19 employees an average of $8,000 in their first year after installing VOIP, according to AMI Partners, in New York. Businesses with between 25 to 49 employees will save on average about $25,000 in the first year, according to Sanjeev Aggarwal, vice president of infrastructure solutions at AMI Partners.
"The one-time upfront savings was about $4,000 from a systems cost point of view to buy a TDM or Response Point VOIP system. The rest of the savings were based on annual operating cost reductions in monthly service fees, connecting fees, calling charges and so on," Aggarwal said.
With the list price of the system at $2,500, small business users can achieve a return on investment of 300 percent in the first year, Brauer said.
By adding these features, Microsoft is doing what it must do to keep up with its competitors in the growing small business VOIP market, said Alan Weckel, a senior analyst at the Dell'Oro Group, of Redwood City, Calif. There are more than 40 vendors targeting this space with none except Nortel, Avaya and Cisco having more than a 10 percent share in 2007, he said, adding that much of this has to do with Microsoft's lack of channel partners in this space.
eWEEK Labs' Andrew Garcia says Response Point has fewer features but gives customers more management self-reliance for less money than does similar Cisco products. Click here for the blog.
"SP1 is a natural progression for Microsoft in terms of adding features and functionality but isn't a monumental release," Weckel said. "They really need to help grow the channel space for SMBs in order to gain significant share."
Karen D. Schwartz contributed to this story.
