A five-year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis of three different telephony options indicates that Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises (SMEs) should adopt VoIP telephony instead of traditional Centrex. While both of the VoIP options yielded 35-45% savings in TCO over traditional Centrex, the choice of which VoIP option to adopt ultimately depends on factors other than cost.

The Telephony Landscape

Many SMEs pay their local telephone companies to host voicemail and telephony services. These traditional Centrex customers are now looking at lower-cost VoIP alternatives. Two different VoIP options have emerged: organizations can either purchase their own VoIP hardware or they use IP Centrex. Our model analysis compares the relative advantages and costs of each of these options for a hypothetical mid-sized manufacturing company called Generico.

Generico's Telephony Options

Generico is replacing...