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Some 48 per cent of small businesses with staff between 20 and 100 admitted they had 'limited or no understanding of what a converged network actually is,' compared with 32 per cent of all SMEs.

However, 37 per cent of all SMEs have now moved to a converged network, meaning they can conduct all their data and communications across a single platform.

This contrasts with a recent Economist Intelligence Unit study of 236 executives worldwide, sponsored by AT&T, which revealed that only 25 per cent of businesses have made the convergence transition.

Some 60 per cent of businesses are expected to move to converged networks by 2008. BT's figures reckon that the UK SME sector will

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already have hit 42 per cent next year.

Yet for small businesses, moving to converged networks is still in the early stages. While 37 per cent had migrated to a converged network, 59 per cent of these had only done so in the last year. Many of those that had already moved to a converged platform quoted cost savings, such as using the Internet to make cheap calls, as a key boon to deploying the technology. Many also remained unsure, however, about both having the budget to start the transition and the actual cost-savings once they reached the other side.

Issues the SMEs didn't prioritise for converged networks were having the available skills and coping with the security risks.

Bill Murphy, MD of BT Business, said: 'What this research reveals is that converged technologies are becoming an essential part of business for many UK SMEs, and that they offer very real cost savings and business benefits, but there is still a job to do in raising awareness in the market. Regardless of whether they will adopt now or in the future, the time is right for UK businesses to become informed about how these technologies could improve their business... The findings highlight that smaller businesses need guidance in helping them to make the decision to embrace convergence.'