Customer requirements for a truly ‘virtual’ office drive services and product innovation

Melbourne, 7th July 2010 – Expert IP phone systems provider M5 Networks Australia forecasts a significant expansion in the use of hosted VoIP over the next few years.

Nationally, the company has observed an increase in call activity with a 50 per cent increase in call volumes, 20 per cent increase in new customers, and a 30 per cent increase in mobile phones calls in the past year¹. Matthew Wilson, Managing Director, believes that these increases in call activity indicate a growth in VoIP as businesses opt for a more mobile, flexible structure of working.

“As Australia comes out of the economic slump, we see that customers are ramping up their business activities in a significant way, making more calls and doing more deals,” he commented. “To do this, businesses require the ability to operate anywhere, anytime, whether it is from a head office, home or an office in another state, which accounts for the increase in mobile phone calls. Changing business structures and requirements are driving the need for businesses to provide a seamless way for staff to work regardless of where they are physically located,” he added.

Research by IDC analyst David Cannon suggests that Wilson’s observations are not unfounded, concluding that “enterprises are continuing to leverage the next-generation communication technology to facilitate greater efficiencies and reduce the overall operational costs”².

The option to subscribe to hosted voice services such as M5’s allows small to medium businesses to provide both the benefits of mobility to their staff as well as these efficiencies and cost-savings without the huge costs that face larger competitors. Enterprise adopted VoIP a decade ago; however, it is only with the rise of hosted services such as M5’s and a fall in cost of quality data links that SMEs can realise the business advantages that VoIP offers.

The company is also committed to continually innovating in voice services to be able to provide further benefits to its customers.

“We have a dedicated research and development team based in Canberra working on improving our services and technology to our customers. For example, one of the projects they are currently working on will make call reporting more transparent. This improved interface can be accessed through an online web portal, and provide details like volume of both inbound and outbound calls being made, how much these cost, the numbers being called most frequently, and so on. They are then able to use these figures to ensure that they are resourcing their business most effectively – if most calls come in on Mondays, for example, customers can ensure that more staff are on hand on Mondays. This transparency is crucial for our customers particularly in the sales and marketing space, for tracking staff effectiveness and campaign success rates,” he added.

“We believe that the VoIP market in Australia is about four years behind the US, which we have insight into through our sister company. We are fortunate to be able to have that crystal ball, and from what we’ve observed, the market will expand quite significantly over the next few years. Infrastructure developments like the National Broadband Network will only accelerate this growth by bringing in new players and fostering innovation in business VoIP. It is an exciting time, and M5 Networks Australia looks forward to continued success and increased competition over the next few years,” he concluded.

^{1. State based figures}

^{2. Australian Telecommunications Usage and Preferences: IDC 2009 Telecommunications Survey}