Eighty percent to use VoIP telephones
Research from LearningGuide Solutions, the workplace performance support provider, has shown that up to eighty percent of companies may soon be using VoIP telephones.
“This is in an increase on previous expectations of the growth of VoIP, signalling further change in the workplace,” said Cees Louwers, Managing Director, LearningGuide Solutions. “Users will be faced with changes in how to use the most fundamental piece of office equipment, as telephones become part of the office network.”
“The learning and support that organisations make available to workers will be a key factor in the successful adoption of VoIP telephones. Often, new technology implementations focus too much on the technology and don’t take sufficient account of end user support, yet it is here where the rate of user adoption will be determined.”
The poll, conducted between June and October 2006, surveyed the intentions of visitors to its web site, and found that 30% were already using IP telephones, 34% intended to in the next twelve months, 16% were considering it and 20% had no plans for IP telephones.
“VoIP telephones bring a whole host of new communications features to the workplace such as calling from anywhere with broadband Internet access and calling clients directly from CRM applications; and they make existing features more accessible such as conference calling and the ability to route incoming calls to other office locations,” added Louwers.
LearningGuide implemented its first VoIP support system at TNT Express in the Netherlands, providing TNT Express staff with just-in-time instructions on how to use the new system. LearningGuide has since developed standard support content, for Cisco IP Telephones and has installed VoIP support systems for a variety of clients across both the commercial and public sectors.
LearningGuide Solutions has developed VoIP support content for several VoIP manufacturers and builds custom VoIP support solutions for end user clients. “Our philosophy is to provide users with just the right amount of information so they can quickly find out what they need to use the VoIP technology to support the task in hand,” added Louwers.