Over 65% of Irish Businesses believe they are paying too much for Telephony – Blueface Survey.
60% of Businesses are Still Paying Costly Line Rental
73.2% of Businesses are looking for ways to reduce their mobile phone bills
Dublin, Ireland – 13th February, 2014: New research finds that over 65% of businesses in Ireland believe they are paying too much for Telephony, according to a Blueface nationwide survey of business owners. 60% of businesses are still paying for traditional landline line rental from their telecoms provider and a further 73.2% of businesses are actively looking for ways to reduce their mobile phone bills.
The Blueface ICT Insight Report uncovers insights into existing business telecoms usage across Ireland while the research team shortlisted seven predictions in ICT that will likely impact Irish businesses in the coming years.
Research among business owners found that while mobile phones are acknowledged by 96% to be an important business tool, only 18% supplied mobile phones to ALL employees. 70.4% of businesses supply some key staff with mobile phones, however over 80% of these businesses did not charge employees for their personal usage. Representing a recent trend, 59.5% of businesses had a Bring Your Own Device policy in the workplace for staff.
Despite landline being traditionally seen as a more professional means of contact and adopted by over 80% of businesses; 55.6% of respondents were more likely to call someone on a mobile first given a choice of a mobile or landline number due to the ease and speed of access to the person being called.
Other highlights include:
60% of businesses believed it would be useful to combine landline and mobile costs on one bill
30% of businesses continue to use a traditional fax solution
Over 27% are interested in deploying some form of Unified Communications solution in the near future
Lead Researcher of the Blueface ICT Insight Report 2014, Janelle Eagleton, commented
While advancements in technology are enabling greater workforce mobility and productivity, many businesses aren’t taking full advantage of the features and functionality available.Among the predictions put forward by the Blueface research team, it is forecast that LTE/4G will drive the ‘Internet of Things’ with 16 million devices set to be connected in Ireland by 2020. Pervasive high-speed Internet access will support an interconnectedness between digital devices. As this proliferation of devices continues, the Blueface Research predicts that the mobile device will replace the PC/laptop as the central business tool by 2025.
Traditional phone system manufacturers are also set for a shake-up with hosted voice moving to the ‘Early majority’. Blueface predicts that over 75,000 Irish businesses will move to Hosted Voice solutions by 2020. Voice is also set to permeate through collaboration tools and SaaS services such as online CRM, accounts and office productivity solutions – this integrated Voice as a Service (VaaS) market will grow to be a €700m market in Ireland by 2025.
Alan Foy, CEO of Blueface, stated:
Our research team found that over 75,000 Irish companies will have adopted hosted voice solutions by 2020 and remove their on-site infrastructure to the cloud. From our research, it is evident that the majority of Irish businesses are not satisfied with their current landline and mobile telephony costs and want offerings that boost their business’ ICT functionality.He continued:
Next generation LTE/4G networks will enable a whole new era of device inter-connectedness in Irish businesses. Our Blueface report forecasts that 16 million devices in Ireland will be connected to the ‘Internet of Things’ by 2020. Furthermore, we forecast that the mobile device will replace the PC and Laptop as the central business tool by 2025.Blueface launched their ICT Insight Report this morning in the Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin 4 to an audience of 300 business leaders and IT professionals. The report is available here.
