The ROI of VoIP

In terms of videoconferencing, companies are spending from 25 cents to $1.25 per minute, per participant. It's easy to see how the savings could quickly add up. For example, a manufacturer had been paying Sprint $317,000 per year for service. It then spent about $170,000 on video equipment and ran the traffic over the data network, realizing a five-month payback.

Cost details for audio conferencing savings
VoIP can bring significant cost savings on audio and video conferencing.

Step 6. Factor in moves, adds and changes

One of the best-known benefits of VoIP is the savings that result from moves, adds and changes. On average, companies spend $105 on moves, adds and changes, but the range is from $60 to $250. Companies save anywhere from 89% to 98% on moves, adds and changes, depending on the company size and number of moves, adds and changes per year.

The savings aren't as great when companies already perform their own moves, adds and changes for TDM PBXs. They're still dropping their overall costs, but the dollar amounts are not as great. Internal moves, adds and changes for TDM PBXs typically take about 45 minutes, while moves, adds and changes for IP PBXs take up to 10 minutes. The average cost for an internal TDM move, add and change is $32.52, and $5 for an IP PBX - for about an 85% cost savings.

Step 7. Personnel savings

Personnel savings are no longer the big draw they were during the boom years. Most organizations have fairly lean IT and network staff to begin with. Where we see most of the value here is in cost avoidance. IT executives say they had planned to hire one or two more people and then did not have to because they were able to cross-train current staff, reduce workload and make do with the status quo.

On average, companies were able to cut $76,839, or an average of 0.74 positions, from the IT budget because of convergence projects. It's not a make-or-break number for a given project, but it certainly adds further justification to the ROI.

In addition to the IT staff, some companies have been able to reduce their receptionist staffs by using the automated attendant features of some of the IP phone systems from companies such as Cisco and ShoreTel. Rather than having 10 receptionists answering phones at 10 locations, companies have reduced the number to five receptionists, each handling two locations (or in some cases, even greater ratios). They can transfer the calls over the IP network so they're not incurring long-distance charges.