Business is war, there is no doubt about that. But in the commerce conflict, small businesses often find themselves fighting an uphill battle, struggling against massive conglomerates and gigantic corporations with bottomless budgets and endless allies. But small businesses, just like small armies, have their advantages. Small businesses are able to mobilize quicker, initiate ideas faster, and provide more rapid turn-around than their large business counterparts.

Part of this is due to the fact that small businesses are notoriously early adopters when it comes to technology. One need only look at the internet and the tremendous success small businesses have had through marketing, distribution, and online sales efforts. While large corporations were still relying on outdated channels, small businesses were making a killing, establishing online reputations and customer databases with their newfound online weapon.

Recent advances in the voice over internet protocol market have given small businesses yet another weapon to use in the battle against corporate giants, Hosted VoIP.

But before we get into hosted VoIP, what exactly is VoIP? More or less, VoIP involves using your internet connection to place and receive phone calls, lowering your telecommunications costs, and often, through the use of VoIP's advanced features, increasing worker productivity. Hosted VoIP simply outsources the above mentioned service to a third party.

A recent study conducted by Infonetic Research, found that 36% of large companies already use VoIP, but only 14% of small businesses have adopted the solution. It's clear that small businesses all over the world are discovering the benefits of VoIP, but why aren't more small business adopting the cost saving technologies larger companies are already using?

The reasons for this are simple, VoIP is costly, quite often far costlier than most small businesses can afford. Heavy initial investments are required, both in time, and hardware. But once you've ponied up thousands of dollars and countless hours for hardware installation, your costs have only begun. It is estimated that a VoIP network requires 10-15% above the purchase price, just for annual maintenance, a cost that is cheaper than maintaining a traditional network, but still extremely expensive.

So let us examine a hypothetical example, as a small business owner, you understand that new technology has initial expenses, so you decide to go ahead with traditional VoIP. After an intensive installation period, your VoIP is finally installed, new employees have been hired to maintain it, and you are pleased with your service and amazed with its results. A few months go by, and then you are told a new technology has come out and that if it isn't installed on your VoIP network, the costly solution you have invested so much time and money into, will no longer work. Now you must pay thousands of dollars more, just to get your VoIP to continue to work.

You should be starting to grasp why small businesses aren't flocking to VoIP solutions, but as mentioned earlier, there is an alternative. Hosted VoIP solutions provide all the cost saving benefits of VoIP, without the above mentioned drawbacks.

With a hosted solution, your business has less upfront costs, plain and simple. You aren't responsible for any new hardware, or any new hires to maintain the system. As new technology emerges, your hosted provider automatically implements it, saving you time that would have traditionally been spent researching and investing. If a problem occurs in the system or the network goes down, the hosted provider instantly fixes it. You receive all of that, at prices that have often been quoted 50% lower than traditional phone services.

As the knowledge of hosted VoIP services disseminate to small business owners nationwide, ensure your small business isn't left behind in the commerce conflict. Upgrade your phone system to hosted VoIP today, and stop fighting guns and bullets with bows and arrows.