According to a recent research program by Wainhouse Research, 70% of panelists who had used Skype in the last six months found the service acceptable for business calls. Of this group, 17% used it often for business purposes, 27% used it occasionally for business and 27% found it acceptable while not actually using it for business themselves. Only 5% found the service unacceptable for business or personal use.

The numbers aren’t quite as overwhelming as they seem, though. Of all the panelists surveyed, only ¼ had ever used Skype, so the 70% who responded favorably represent a small part of the overall population.

As much as anything, the results are indicative of what the future has in store. Web conferencing vendors are already tripping over each other in a race to provide VoIP offerings. This survey affirms the direction of their efforts and almost guarantees that the use of VoIP for business purposes will only grow in the future.

“While these results may be astounding to some, they are a strong indication that Skype is routinely delivering excellent VoIP service and helping to drive acceptance of VoIP in the business community,” said Andy Nilssen, Senior Analyst and Partner, Wainhouse Research. “While we’re not likely to see enterprises adopt Skype per se, Skype will lead to VoIP adoption among both enterprise and small-medium business markets sooner rather than later.”