To state the obvious, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and organizations probably are going to be looking for ways to save a little money for a little while. Predictably, that is going to have service and application providers making "money-saving" pitches to these customers.

 

In many cases, it will be a tough sell. Providers will have a tough time asking customers to forklift out a legacy phone system for an IP-enabled system, even if there are potential productivity gains over the long term, since the upfront cost must be borne. One also has to wonder about growth rates for new smartphones, unified communications (UC) systems or even PCs; anything that can be postponed, will be.

 

Obviously, hosted PBX (News - Alert) services — indeed, hosted services of every sort — should now have advantages. That might mean users substituting an online meeting application for travel, or hosted messaging and e-mail rather than a server-based alternative. The time is ripe for hosted solutions.