[February 9, 2005]

CompTIA Poll Finds VoIP Offers Greatest Productivity Gains

BY JOHANNE TORRES

A new web poll released by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) reveals that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based telephony offers organizations the greatest opportunity for productivity gains.

The poll asked which of nine different converged applications would provide the greatest productivity gain for an organization. By a wide margin of 34.2 percent of the more than 500 respondents said VoIP will deliver the greatest productivity improvements.

Call center applications, such as automatic call distributors and screen pops, ranked second in the poll at 12 percent; followed by Web-based conferencing applications at 9.7 percent. Other converged applications mentioned in the poll results included IP phones and softphones at 8.5 percent; unified messaging systems at 8 percent; video phones at 6.8 percent; find-me/follow-me phone and messaging services at 4.4 percent; fax servers at 4 percent; and interactive voice response systems favored at 3.2 percent.

According to the poll results, organizations that have deployed VoIP networks and other IP-enabled converged services and applications are finding that they can significantly improve their communications, both internally among co-workers and externally with customers and business partners.

CompTIA says it’s working with leading organizations in the converged applications industry to promote the growth of convergent technologies in business and residential settings. The association currently focuses on developing new business best practices tools for solutions providers; skills development; and investigating the need for a vendor-neutral convergence certification.

Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)
www.comptia.org