- A TCO Guide for SMBs
- 8x8
- Updated February 10, 2012
A challenge for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) is the cost of scaling their communications systems to rival the rich functionality and flexibility of bigger competitors with dedicated IT staffs. Upfront capital costs and the requirement for on-site staff to manage equipment and applications have fueled interest in hosted unified communications (UC) services, which allow smaller organizations to use a third-party provider's UC infrastructure in the cloud and enjoy the economies of scale of very large organizations.
This paper offers a full total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison between using a hosted UC service and buying/maintaining an on-site UC system for a 55-employee company distributed across three sites. The paper also offers a UC-in-a-box primer to put the landscape into context for those in SMBs new to unified communications.
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There's a lot being written about unified communications (UC) these days. You'll frequently see IP PBX/call server vendors comparing their own features and pricing with other on-premises equipment vendors, for example, as well as direct feature/cost comparisons of hosted UC services. This paper is engaging because it contrasts the TCO and management complexity of the two different options: buying and maintaining on-site equipment versus using a cloud service. The paper presents a sample configuration and compares the service costs of one hosted UC provider (the sponsor, 8x8) and that of one aggressively priced IP PBX vendor (ShoreTel). Savings calculations would differ depending on who's being compared, the features desired and the size of your installation, of course, but this paper gives you some helpful ballpark numbers with which to start your TCO evaluation.