Only a small minority of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have embraced VoIP. In Europe, VoIP represents little more than cheap calls, whereas in the US there is growing interest in the technology but confusion about what solution to buy and from whom, the research from Savatar, an American telecommunications consultancy, shows.

Savatar's research found that VoIP adoption rates among SMEs in the US are ahead of those in Europe. Around two-thirds of European SMEs have very little or no interest in VoIP services because an overwhelming majority (79 percent) believe VoIP represents little more than cheap calls. A further 8 percent linked VoIP with poor call quality. Only 11 percent thought the technology offered innovative features and a mere 1 percent recognized the network management benefits.

In the US, the research indicates that key decision-makers are unclear about where to turn for the best VoIP options and have no clear preference for a particular type of service provider.

Added to this, although VoIP is well suited to SMEs, some operators do not have either a strong SME focus or the resources to offer VoIP solutions to meet their specific needs.

Ida La Spisa, head of Business Communications at Ericsson, says that for operators investing money in services such as VoIP, the next step is to build up sales support infrastructure for SME business. SMEs are unsure where to purchase services and this also provides a key opportunity for operators.

"Operators are getting active in this domain and we have had a lot of inquiries," La Spisa says. "We are seeing a strong trend, with operators increasingly moving to VoIP and they have a strong focus on the enterprise market; otherwise they have infrastructure they aren't using. Operators need to form a strategy now."

John Macario, president of Savatar, says: "Providers have a 'wait-and-see' attitude coupled with a quote process that takes more than a month, and that's not helping them capture the market. SMEs need to be educated about the benefits of VoIP; they'll buy from the provider that can help them make the decision on products that are economically advantageous for the SME business.

"The good news is once SMEs are converted, they tend to be highly satisfied with VoIP and would recommend it to their peers and are interested in buying complementary services, such as wireless."

La Spisa says: "There are misconceptions around VoIP. What SMEs don't realize is that VoIP can offer the same quality they have with a traditional fixed line and they shouldn't notice any difference.

"We are currently selling VoIP solutions to operators for residential and enterprise users. For example, for enterprise customers there are solutions with PBX-style functionality that don't need additional investment in a PBX."

The key is understanding the different markets educating SMEs and packaging cost-efficient solutions and sophisticated multimedia services. Operators can now combine fixed and mobile services for SMEs and also provide services such as virtual collaboration tools that enable conferencing, instant messaging, or conference calls.