Making the switch in phone systems can be a challenging task for any organization, no matter the size. Companies rely on their business phone systems to ensure they can stay connected to customers, partners, employees and the like to drive effective communication, productivity and efficiency.

Those decision makers within the enterprise can take comfort in the fact that they do not have to make the selection alone.

Infonetics uses in-depth interviews with 240 companies and studies estimate that 36 percent of large, 23 percent of medium and 14 percent of small North American organizations interviewed were using Voice Over IP products and services in 2005.

Infonetics has forecasted significant increases in the use of VoIP phones systems across all segments and small business use is expected to triple by 2010. Companies of all sizes are showing a growing interest and prevalence of VoIP, demonstrating that this phone system is coming of age. It is also becoming a growing necessity for all companies that want to keep their competitive edge.

Tara Moynihan, managing producer of VendorGuru.com, shared in a company statement: "We understand how valuable time is. That's why we've done exhaustive research on IP Telephony, as well as customer relationship management (CRM) and call center operations vendors, to provide the VendorGuru.com user with targeted information.”

“Our guided questions help users determine which vendors can give them the phone systems solutions that they need to keep up with the changing demands of business," Moynihan added.

VoIP is also proving to be a profitable endeavor for providers. According to Infonetics surveys, in 2005, organizations spend on average $47,667 on hosted VoIP. This figure was expected to increase 34 percent by 2007. When considering managed customer premises equipment during the same period, expenditures were expected to increase more than 160 percent.

Matthias Machowinski, Directing Analyst at Infonetics Research (News - Alert), noted: "When companies buy a new phone system, they generally invest in the latest technology, which happens to be VoIP-based now."

Machowinski continued, "Our forecasts show continued steady uptake of VoIP over the next few years, with adoption following a relative straight line, not the S-shaped curve typically seen in the adoption of emerging technologies."

VoIP phone systems work very similarly to traditional systems, the one difference is that it transmits voice calls over an existing Internet line. At the same time, these systems provide much of the same features as traditional landlines, including caller ID, voice mail, and call waiting.

The system also offers added benefits like unlimited long-distance and local calling, scalability, multiple location integration, and merging voice and data systems.