Governmental VoIP Adoption Missing the Mark

Finally, here it is my first “official” blog entry. For those who are more experienced than I in this medium, feel free to critique, comment, criticize and add to the conversation. We are entering this with eyes wide open.

The focus of this blog will be centered around Voice over Internet Protocol, but with an emphasis on Government, (domestic and international) and Educational, (also worldwide), installs, intentions, forecasts and opportunities and I’ll spice it up with some plain old Arlyn based thoughts and comments.

Look, my real job, (you know – the one that semi pays the bills), is to sell VoIP systems and solutions to those two market segments. I’ll try my best to keep the postings unbiased and non sales focused, but if I slip from time to time, don’t forgive me, call me on it! Let’s discuss the contrasting opinions.

Well now that we know who is in the Super Bowl and in two short weeks we get to see those multi-million dollar commercials, let’s turn our thoughts to cost savings – and I’m talking about cost savings in the millions, in the multi millions, heck even billions of dollars. Two and one-half years ago, Kenneth Brown, from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, published a study and estimated that savings from, “federal, state, and local savings from VoIP deployment would equal $4.5 billion annually.” He adds “This is a conservative estimate.”

Conservative!? (a nice oxymoron for the current political climate in the US).

Two years later, ITAA published a listing that’s reads. “Savings could eventually reach $3-10 billion a year, according to Kohlenberger. “The federal government is the largest telecom user in the world, it stands to gain the most significant benefits in the world.” In addition to the savings, government customers will gain power and speed in telecom administration.” http://www.itaa.org/isec/headline.cfm?ID=2277

Now, it’s 2007, average inflation rate for 2006 was 3.24%, adding in some additional “fudge” factors and Arlyn’s estimate is that the US federal Government, State and Local Agencies could save a combined $ 12 Billion Dollars a year from VoIP acceptance and implementation. They could buy 2400 minutes of Super Bowl Ads or they could send every US Citizen a $ 40.00 refund check! (right before the next election).

Next time, we’ll discuss some of the reasons why the implementation hasn’t progressed as rapidly as it could have/should have.