Report Finds That Desk Phones Face Extinction in Small Businesses, While Voicemail Remains an Essential Function

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Small businesses are increasingly abandoning desk phones, but are still reliant on voicemail, according to a recent survey by AccessDirect, a small business provider of virtual phone systems.

AccessDirect's survey of 100 small businesses of 10 employees or less in North America shows 42% of small businesses use their mobile phone as their primary business phone, nearly equal to those who prioritize the desk phone (48%). A breakdown by generation forecasts that mobile will eventually eclipse desk phone as the primary phone for small businesses: 61% of respondents in the 45-50 year old bracket want to keep their desk phone, while only 38% in the 30-44 year old bracket want to keep their desk phone, indicating a large generational downswing for the desk hardware.

Voicemail, a function associated primarily with desk phones that has transferred over to mobile, remains relevant for small businesses. The report reveals that 56% of respondents state that voicemail is valuable and that they use it frequently, with another 24% stating that it is still necessary for their daily communications.

John Kinskey, President and Founder of AccessDirect predicts, "the desk phone faces extinction with upcoming generations, but voice messaging will remain a staple in small business communications."

Kinskey conducted the survey using SurveyMonkey's targeted audience feature because he wanted to understand the unique phone system needs of his small business client.

"Fortune 500 funded reports on the future of telephony focus on mega trends and large enterprise needs, they don't reveal much about the day-day needs of small business, so we designed a survey that would speak to the future of telecommunications for small businesses like the ones we serve."

AccessDirect's small business phone system survey found that while small enterprises increasingly depend on mobile phones, 40% percent still employ legacy phone systems in their office. There is a lack of virtual PBX adoption within the small business market, with only 5% utilizing a business phone system that would allow integration with mobile phones.

Affordability reigns as the primary consideration for small businesses when choosing a phone system, with 58% choosing affordability over function. After price point, respondents prioritized mobile integration (18%), user interface (15%), voicemail to email (14%), fax integration (11%), mobile application (10%) and transcribed voicemail (9%).

Two dozen providers of phone systems were represented among the 100 small businesses surveyed.

To learn more about the survey, please visit: The Future of the Telephone for Small Business.

About AccessDirect
Since 1997, AccessDirect has been providing affordable Virtual PBX phone systems from our offices in Kansas City to businesses of all sizes across the country. Cloud-hosted phone systems with multiple extensions, call routing, voicemail, fax and a professional voicemail greeting allow you to connect with your customers, no matter where you are.

http://www.messagingservice.com/

Media Contact:
John Kinskey, President
913-599-6500 ext. 14
Email

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SOURCE AccessDirect