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Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) are underserved, with
multi-site SMBs needing choices appropriate to their more IP-centric
communications spending, according to a survey of more than 100
executives at small- and medium-sized businesses in Consumer Business,
Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Manufacturing,
Public Sector, Real Estate, and Telecom/Media/High Tech. The survey was
conducted by Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications
practice.

"SMBs are essentially being left out in the cold, despite their
relatively high communications spending; their unmet needs make them a
potentially very attractive market sector for VoIP services," said
Jan Woodcock, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

According to survey respondents, there is a lack of appropriately
scaled, affordable wireline service products for the SMB marketplace.
Woodcock added, "Many SMBs are too large to be satisfied with a T1
line and too small to afford or to manage a DS3 connection."

Among the survey's key findings:

* SMBs need tailored, scalable solutions that package voice, data,
and
managed services at a competitive price.

Pricing and the lack of service and tailored solutions are the key
disadvantages faced by SMBs. Because SMBs don't generate the same
volume
as large enterprises, it's difficult for them to negotiate better
rates.
Due to their size, they are also generally interested in tailored
solutions that package voice, data, and managed services. Finally,
they
need services that can be scaled to their needs.

* Multi-site SMBs are more IP centric, with more IP spend

Deloitte's survey looked at wireline spending by company size and
found
that a company with a single site that spends $100 on voice spends
an
additional $27 on data. However, when the number of sites increases
to
between two and five, a company that spends $100 on voice spends
$114 on
data. The data spending jumps to $140 for those with more than five
locations. Indeed, monthly spending per employee increases 40
percent
for companies with two or more locations.

* As the number of sites increases, SMBs are more likely to turn to
VoIP.

According to the survey, only 18 percent of single-site companies
use
VoIP, compared with more than 70 percent of multi-site companies
that
use the technology to some degree. Approximately 30 percent of
multi-
site companies use both VoIP and MPLS (multi-protocol label
switching)
or other VPN (virtual private network) technologies, reflecting the
SMB
market's sophistication with IP-based services.

* SMBs are less concerned with brand, more interested in customer
service,
product reliability, bundled offers, and complete service set.

SMBs tend to act more on recommendations by trusted sources than
focusing on brands. While pricing is obviously important to the
SMB, so
are bundled offers and a complete service set. Product reliability
and
good customer service are also key decision points.

* Tech, Media and Telecom SMBs pay more for communication services
than do
life sciences and healthcare businesses.

From an SMB industry standpoint, technology, media, and
telecommunications companies, along with consumer businesses, spend
the
most per employee on communications, while life sciences and
healthcare
business spend the least.

For further information about voip you can visit
http://www.knowingabout.com/voip