Mitchell Ashley just did an update post on his Network World blog about the Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 release and what this means for the enterprise. This one is a text post and covers some of the ground we covered in the podcast, particularly around the cost savings I’m experiencing in my own business by eliminating voice conferencing costs. He also touches on the costs I expect to save when all of my communications channels are via the Internet.
In the early days of Gold Systems, Jim and I would agonize about adding the expense of each new phone line. When we bought our first real phone system, we thought we were finally a “real business” even though we cheaped out and wrote our own voicemail system. (That’s harder than it looks by the way. The guy who did it still works with us and I’m always amazed when I think back on what he accomplished. We used it for many years before buying a commercial voicemail system.)
When we started buying phone lines by the T1, the expenses really started racking up. I’m going to see the day very soon I think where we have no phone lines, and our communications expenses will be less than it was our first few years in business. Amazing. I may not see the day of “electricity too cheap to meter” but we’re getting pretty close in the world of communications.