“SMBs shouldn’t limit what they would like to do by simply thinking of a network migration as a straightforward move to VoIP. A move to a converged IP network platform will enable much greater functionality and flexibility and should be viewed as an opportunity to align your IT Strategy to your Business Strategy.
Firstly, consider your business processes and applications and your lines of communication. Think about what applications, functionality and services are used. Then assess who needs access to what information or applications, where they are and how they will connect to the network and what levels of security will be required. Overlay onto this the number of users, the number of sites and how the network will need to be built and serviced. This due diligence process will give you visibility of what you need to work towards.
Once you have established what your environment, network structure and strategy consists of, you can consider a roadmap to migrate from where you are today to where you would like to be. This approach allows you to ensure that business value is maximised for existing asset and a migration plan is fully leveraged against business objectives. Without this broad vision, SMBs risk migrating and consolidating for short term gains without the necessary support from the business principles or investors.”