Hardphones, Softphones, And Next-Gen Systems
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(0)Overview: The demise of the desk phone has been predicted for several years now, but there’s little evidence of even much of a decline in desk phone deployments. In the current economic downturn, should there be a reassessment of the 30% to 40% of a new system’ cost that’s devoted to desktop instruments? What’s the case for deploying a desk phone to non-customer-facing employees? In this presentation, Stephen Leaden debates whether budget cuts should finally force enterprises to revisit the expense of desk phones. He also considers the features and functions that are most appealing in desk phones in this environment. Important questions include: With some vendors bundling UC functionality with IP-PBXs, is it worthwhile to forgo hard phones altogether? What is the price/performance of the latest phone sets? Are vendors cutting prices to stimulate continued demand? What are the lifecycle expectations for hard phones? Will the cost of vendor-proprietary desk phones drive increased adoption of: SIP phones? Softphones? Mobility features in call control platforms? What quality and security challenges need to be overcome before softphones/UC portals go more mainstream?
