With Internet calls, for example, agents need to be trained to speak in short phrases and to pause in between, waiting for customers to respond. Users will learn to adjust to differences in delay times and change the length of the pauses to match, said Barnwell. Public IP Networks Managers who want the improved performance of a managed IP network but don't want to maintain their own wide-area links are gaining access to a wider array of premium IP infrastructures. Vendors providing Internet access and backbone services are ramping up their equipment to support new applications requirements. Tapping into these premium networks frees the manager from worrying about issues such as equipment interoperability and capital investments.
Managers can also broaden the reach of IP-based voice be yond the range of their corporate intranet.
The use of public IP networks to send voice, however, raises the specter of government regulation. Managers anticipating the benefits of combining voice and data over the same Internet link should focus on how the technology can improve services more than on ways it can save money. Phone companies will continue to badger the government to regulate and place tariffs on voice traffic over the Internet, say industry observers, so the free calls will eventually end. Managers who have used the opportunity to develop better customer-service applications will continue to see benefits, however, and those who have deployed systems over private IP links will also be able to maintain their cost savings. If you don't get going, you 'll be left behind.