IT leaders face the challenge of delivering improved collaboration capabilities while also minimizing cost of operations. Consequently, understanding the ability of IP Telephony (IPT) and Unified Communications(UC) solutions to provide robust technology affordably is critical for overall IT success. Nemertes recently conducted a study of 189 organizations to gather real-‐world cost data for seven leading IPT and UC vendors: Alcatel-‐Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, and ShoreTel.
We then used this data to develop a first -‐ year TCO analysis comparing each vendor to overall aggregate costs, and comparing 2014 TCO data to data gathered for last year’s TCO study. Overall, IP telephony costs have dropped by 28% in the last year, while integrated UC costs have increased by 83%. Costs still vary based on size of deployment and product, meaning that no single vendor is the most cost -‐ effective (defined as offering the lowest TCO) for every situation.
