Editor's note: Welcome to our first Talking Technology. Each week, the SMB experts from CDW will discuss key issues for small business networks.

Although the self-anointed tech-savvy often deride them, late adopters of technology sometimes have a distinct advantage in that they are working with proven, mature technologies. The key step for late adopters is knowing when the pendulum has swung from business risk to lost advantage and cost savings. For organizations yet to consider VoIP, please note that in this area, the pendulum is moving toward the latter very quickly.

Now in its later generations, VoIP continues to mature steadily, offering attractive cost savings and features to organizations of all sizes. VoIP can help small and midsize businesses (SMB) compete with larger enterprises not only on cost but also on level of service. For example, VoIP can enable collaboration over long distances with customers and partners, or it can increase personnel mobility and accessibility through such features as the smart routing of calls to the office, home, a remote location or cell phone. Softphones on PCs let VoIP users log on and make or receive phone calls anywhere they have a broadband Internet connection, as if the call were at their own desk.

For SMBs, however, capturing those benefits can be much more complicated than just plugging phones into computers or loading applications. Let’s take a look at what’s new in VoIP and what it offers SMBs -- with associated caveats.

As widely perceived, VoIP can lower monthly and total costs for voice and data services. Certainly it will reduce monthly usage fees, as well as help new or expanding businesses avoid some cabling and wiring costs. IP telephony also enables some services -- unified messaging, video teleconferencing, CRM, least-cost call outing and IP Centrex, for example --that are harder or more expensive to run over telecom carriers’ high-speed digital networks.

However, embracing VoIP requires thought and planning. Companies need to be sure their system will provide adequate quality and reliability. VoIP, in general, still hasn’t reached the high, uniform service standards traditionally applied to analog PBX systems. Your system can achieve these standards if you learn the unique language of IP telephony and do your homework before starting to spend. Important things to consider include: