Users find VOIP hard going: Avaya

14.03.2006
Voice over IP's popularity may be surging, but incorrect implementations challenge many companies which are running into bigger problems than ever.

So said an Avaya executive at a company-sponsored breakfast in Melbourne last week for more than 150 partners and prospective customers.

Trends in Avaya support calls confirmed the broad capabilities of new telephony technology were proving to be a double-edged sword for many customers, with many implementations going smoothly, but more complex projects running into some real show-stoppers.

"We have seen a change in terms of the nature of support," said Raymond Daly, general manager for professional services with Avaya South Pacific.

Support volumes "are reducing, but we're finding it's taking longer to solve the problems customers have because of the complexity of the implementations".

That complexity is coming as more and more customers move beyond phase one of VOIP deployments, known as the telephony replacement phase, and look towards complex applications linking VOIP systems with back-end call center and corporate information systems.