IT managers now also handling telecoms in over half of cases

A new industry survey has charted the rapidly changing landscape of the telecoms profession, with over half of respondents admitting that responsibility for voice communications now falls under the umbrella of the IT manager.

The study, conducted by Timico, the business internet, hosting and communications service provider, showed that 52% of those deemed telecoms the domain of the IT manager. Of those surveyed, a shocking 35% answered ‘don’t know’ when asked whether their company used a single network for voice and data.

Charlie Whelpton, Director of Unified Communications at Timico, said: “In times gone by, telecoms was a responsibility which needed the dedicated support of specific staff members. Now the line between IT and telecoms has become so blurred that telecoms management is often falling onto the shoulders of IT managers, especially in SMBs.

“In many cases, IT managers are already facing demanding and complex workloads, so adding telecoms is an added strain on resources. This not only means that IT managers could be missing out on the best deals – like migrating to SIP instead of relying on IDSN lines – but could also open businesses up to dangerous and costly mistakes, like PBX phone hacking. “

The same Timico survey found that a staggering 54% of IT managers were unaware that PBX phone fraud existed, exposing businesses up to the risk of costly phone calls made by illegal hackers.

Charlie added: “Savvy businesses should recognise the importance of telecoms and should be providing the resource for their IT managers to explore new trends such as SIP technology, which has been heralded as the next big shift in telecoms. As well as offering greater resilience, flexibility and cost savings – SIP models can now incorporate the use of business smartphones, by rerouting personal extension numbers directly to mobile devices, for example.”