IT contractors may be required to help a rising number of companies incorporate voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services within their budget.

Larger companies have started to bring in VoIP solutions to take advantage of the additional services these systems provide, according to the editor-in-chief of VoIP Evolution Robert Poe.

However, small to medium-sized enterprises are starting to realise that VoIP systems are not necessarily more expensive than other telephony solutions, as had been previously thought.

"Going the hosted route means they don't need IT staff to run their phone systems," Mr Poe explains.

Consulting firm Infonetics Research recently claimed that increasing interest is developing in the adoption of VoIP systems, with outsourced hosted systems seeing a particular flurry of activity in recent months.

The company concludes that hosted services models such as VoIP are finally meeting corporate capacity and financial needs.