It really depends on how much talent you have on site and the skill level they possess. For example, we use a hosted VoIP service versus hosting our own. That way we don't need house any servers or do the regular upkeep and patching of them. Instead, I just buy the phones, pay a fee per month and my vendor handles it all. If we were a bigger district I might have someone who could specialize in VoIP, but being a one man shop this fits better into our model.
RE: Actual Rate of Return