Recently, I’ve been working with a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of AT&T to learn more about what’s happening in the overall marketplace as it pertains to the evolution of voice transformation deployment initiatives.  This includes data and survey research of North American technology decision makers, and where they stand in their migration strategy.

The results and expectations of these decision makers make the case for the deployment of next-generation communications tools to power business.  I can’t say I was really surprised by this – but when you see the research that supports the topic, it really does solidify the belief that this is the future of communications, and the planning and implementation is happening now.

For example, “51% of large North American firms identify migrating more voice traffic to VoIP as a critical or high priority in the next 12 months, and 50% of firms give these same priority ratings to implementing or expanding unified communications solutions in the coming year.”  That means at least half of the decision makers that participated in the Forrester study are prioritizing their integration of voice and data to gain the business benefits of a more integrated experience.

What are some of these business benefits?  According to the research, “The leading category of benefits focuses on reducing costs, with 60% to 66% of enterprises identifying lowering overall costs or lowering the total cost of ownership as the benefits they have achieved or expect to achieve from deploying VoIP solutions.”

And, there are more benefits to be achieved with voice transformation, including, but certainly not limited to: employee productivity (more about this in my earlier post Voice Transformation – Is this just a fancy term for “major change?”) and providing a flexible work environment.

Interested in learning more?  The study that was developed is chalk-full of stats and facts that support the case for migration.  And, you can have access to the entire Forrester Consulting Technology Adoption Profile report published just this month, by clicking here.