It’s just one example of how consumer technology, from wikis and blogs to social networking and instant messaging, is increasingly creeping into the workplace and being adopted as a corporate tool. Free VoIP programs such as Skype have been particularly successful at this, and can offer sizeable cost savings. However, there can be unpredictable side effects.

‘Skype is a fine consumer application, but it’s a little bit naughty,’ claims Ettienne Reinecke, chief technology officer for South Africa-based network communications company Dimension Data.

‘Call quality, especially time delay, is still an issue, and [Skype’s] had to pull some tricks. What it does is give itself the highest priority on the network, meaning you will bump financial transactions [on your network] in favour of letting people use Skype,’ he explains. ‘That’s where it’s not a good idea.’

So although VoIP has its attractions for a company on the up, the call quality, while steadily improving, remains at the mercy of the internet.