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All talk, no action
2007-05-29
The survey, conducted by the Australian Telecommunictions Users Group, the Small Enterprise Telecommunications Centre and telco wholesaler Telcoinabox, found that the needs of small operations are largely ignored by the telecommunications industry.
Yet according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, SMEs represent 97 per cent of private sector businesses and employ almost 3.6million people.
The survey found that SME's telecommunications needs are being ignored because they are too small, it is difficult to keep up with their changing circumstances, they cannot be "put in a box", are hard to find and are difficult to please.
The aim of the survey was to identify how SMEs use telecommunications in running their businesses.
It also aimed to identify what their preferred medium of communication is with their customers, what they like and dislike about service providers, what influences SMEs in choosing a service provider and how and when they plan to integrate new telecommunications technology in the future.
The survey looked at general communication usage, fixed line usage, mobile phone usage, internet usage, views about VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and integration plans and choosing or changing providers patterns and trends.
Among the findings to come out of the survey were that SMEs felt that they were being harassed by telcos with offers of how they could improve their businesses, with 72 per cent saying they are cold-called at least one a month.
For all the money spent on advertising by telcos, the most common influencing factor when choosing a new provider was word of mouth, based on what their family, friends or colleagues say.
For 85 per cent of SMEs, price was the factor when choosing a provider for fixed line and mobile services. Fixed line call quality was also important, as was network coverage for mobile services.
For internet services, the download speed was important to 35 per cent of SMEs.
If SMEs don't choose Telstra first, they will choose a reseller because they offer better deals based on price, call quality and coverage.
On top of that, SMEs got value-added features from the independents that larger telcos don't offer, such as quality technical support, dedicated and knowledgeable account managers, quick fault resolutions and shorter holding times before they speak to a real person.
Only 1 per cent of SMEs thought that the fact a provider was well established for many years was important.
What is important is the quality of the deal and the call connection. While most SMEs were happy with their fixed, mobile and internet services, they were unhappier with the mobile providers' service because of uncompetitive pricing, call quality and general customer service apathy.
SMEs indicated they were unsure whether they would switch to VoIP for their day-to-day business, although 25 per cent are already using it for all their business needs.
Of those who were familiar with VoIP, 47 per cent said they would remove their fixed line completely.
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VoIP Providers List Information |
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About VoIP Providers List
VoIP Providers List services save time for companies searching both for information and interconnection partners, interested in voice minutes exchange, i.e. VoIP minutes termination and origination, as well as hardware and software trade. We provide information on interconnection services, VoIP hardware solutions and VoIP software , as well as overall situation in the VoIP industry.
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VoIP Providers Statistics |
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Providers in database: 3315
Users Online: 298
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