UK companies get FMC savvy

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More than half of businesses in the UK are tuned in to the potential benefits of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), with one in 10 actively using the technology and a further seven per cent with plans to deploy it within two years, according to research published today.

The ability to reduce costs and increase productivity are the two main drivers behind the increasing popularity of FMC, with 75 per cent and 63 per cent respectively of companies citing these benefits as their main motivation.

Other sought-after benefits include greater cost control, enhanced mobile working and more transparent billing, according to a survey of 100 business with more than 500 employees by Vanson Bourne on behalf of telecoms software specialist Martin Dawes Systems.

"2006 was the year FMC became a real contender in the industry with the first commercial products and services brought to market," said Tom Hodgson, sales and marketing director at Martin Dawes Systems.

"Whilst it is still early days for this concept, our survey suggests FMC is very much on the business agenda and developments like the latest WiFi version of BT Fusion will further stimulate the market."

Leeds City Council has been using BT's FMC offering Corporate Fusion since last year and has already seen a number of benefits.

"We see BT's Corporate Fusion service as an extension of that approach, and an important part of our future overall voice strategy," Adrian Fegan, head of ICT operations at the council said at the start of the trials.

"It allows us to operate more efficiently, by reducing our telecoms spend, which is critically important for an organisation spending public funds. And it also gives us the opportunity to be more responsive - our employees can be more mobile and contactable - and as result, they can serve the City of Leeds to best effect."

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