Can small businesses rely on VoIP?
<<<...And yet the tiniest of companies want the features and flexibility that IP technology provides. Skype claims that nearly 30 percent of the 220 million people who have downloaded its peer-to-peer calling software client around the globe use the service for business purposes. In January, the company developed a special product called Skype for Business, which builds upon its existing calling features, such as Skype-to-Skype, Video Calling, SkypeOut, SkypeIn, conference calling, file transfer and chat. But even though Skype is going after the "business" market, the company says it's only addressing the very low end of the market. "Skype is not intended for enterprise-level needs," said Skype spokeswoman Jennifer Caukin. "Small businesses, however, should find it a very useful tool that complements their existing communications methods, and helps them reduce communication costs and increase productivity." Caukin said last week's outage was regrettable, and she added that the company has always encouraged customers to have backup communications. "It is important to remember that Skype is not a replacement telephony service," she said. "While Skype is extremely resilient, users, especially businesses, are advised to have alternatives in place for the unlikely event that Skype access is disrupted, either because of internet access problems or other reasons."