The results show that there is considerable uptake of VoIP within the channel with over 65% of companies offering some form of VoIP solution to their customers. Of the 35% who were not currently selling VoIP solutions, a small number (5%) were not planning to offer them at all and 90% were planning to offer them within the next 12 months.
Of those who were selling VoIP solutions, the leading types of hardware being offered were IP Phones (promoted by 71% of companies), VoIP Gateways (58%), Hardware IP PBXs (48%) and Software IP PBXs (44%).
However, the survey also revealed that there are concerns about awareness of VoIP in the market and education of the channel; over 58% of companies responding believed that there is still a lack of awareness of the benefits of VoIP in the market and 55% believed that there has been insufficient education available within the channel. Following closely behind these was the belief that there is still confusion in the market over the types of VoIP solutions available.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Conor McCann, EFL’s General Manager, said ‘This makes very interesting reading. I am encouraged to see the growth in resellers embracing VoIP – this certainly reflects the trends we are seeing – but also concerned to see that there are still such high levels of concern. At EFL, we have been working hard to train, support and generally educate our customers reselling our VoIP solutions. We also continue to introduce new services, such as VoIP Provisioning, to help our customers offer a complete range of services.”