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Goldman Sachs Reports Rationales For VoIP Investments Are Changing By CommWeb
Goldman Sachs has released the results of its October IT Spending Survey. The investment banking firm surveys a panel of 100 CIOs and other high-level IT managers at Fortune 1000 firms regarding their spending plans in April and October of each year. Of particular interest to telecom managers and vendors are the results relating to VoIP installation. 29% of respondents reported that they plan to install VoIP in the next 12 months, a decline from 35% in the April survey. Because of the relatively small number of persons surveyed, turnover on the panel in the last six months, and changes in the phrasing of questions from survey to survey, the decline appears to be within the survey's margin of error. Goldman Sachs concluded that "the results overall are similar, with 30%-35% planning to implement VoIP." Among the respondents who said they plan to install VoIP in the next year, 52% cited the need to replace obsolete equipment as the primary justification for the investment, up from three percent in April. Conversely, only 3% of the October respondents cited return on investment or total cost of ownership as their primary reason for a VoIP implementation; at 60%, ROI/TCO was the rationale most often cited in the April survey. Goldman Sachs views RIO/TCO as an "early adopter rationale," and therefore sees the change as a sign that VoIP is moving into the mainstream. They interpret the difference as a positive sign for VoIP equipment vendors. The report also noted that the availability of advanced features not available with traditional PBXs was cited by only three percent of October respondents who said they plan to install VoIP, falling from 29% in April. The VoIP results are reported in Goldman Sachs' report Cisco takeaways from the Oct. IT Spending Survey, issued on November 16. |