VoIP phone equipment is just too expensive; why does it cost so much?
The way you look at VoIP devices like the Cisco 7960, pictured below, probably mirrors the way you look at other enabling technologies–things like operating systems, desktop applications, and your organization’s communications network itself. You’re either going to see these things as either as costly expenses ($300 used on eBay for a Cisco IP phone) or a bottom-line enhancement. Like other infrastructural technologies, VoIP has the ability to enhance productivity by increasing the performance yield of your network. When you look at it from all angles, VoIP has a very strong value proposition. Sure, an IP phone costs more than an old-fashioned digital business phone, but it enables enterprise transformation in a way the old phone cannot. Figure 1. The Cisco 7960 IP phone This is because VoIP provides a platform where you can shape voice applications to get a perfect fit for your business: a flexibility that was never possible with old-fashioned, monolithic phone systems. It’s like the
