Thanks to the events over the last few years, the growth of the global VoIP market has remained exponential. The fact is, the importance of VoIP and CX (Customer Experience) solutions has been highlighted because of the advent of flexible work arrangements as a response to the disturbance brought on by the pandemic.   

Our heavy reliance on technology has also urged companies to continuously innovate the way they conduct their day-to-day operations, how customers can communicate with them and how they can allow staff to continue to work remotely as well as augmenting staff with offshore resources. 

Regardless of your size or industry, your business should be able to maximise its investment in this technology.  

In a report published by Finances Online, security, reliability and price are among the top three expectations of customers from VoIP service providers.  While most businesses surveyed have positive perceptions of VoIP and cloud technology, it is imperative to understand the trends that could either be a boon or bane for the businesses who use them. 

 Here are our top 10 trends to consider when choosing a VoIP solution for your business

1. The 5G Rollout is Well Underway

According to Verizon Media’s 5G Revolution Study, 5G networks aka fifth generation wireless networks technology is seen as an advantage in terms of: 

• Faster data transfer speeds 
• Higher definition video content 
• Consistent and better-quality video streaming 
• Better and faster connectivity for wearables and IoT 
• Fewer or no dropped calls 

While VoIP has certainly proven its worth in terms of a 30 – 90% reduction on international calls, local calls, teleconferencing costs, and phone bills, businesses using these services have more reasons to rejoice as the roll out of 5G technology is poised to significantly improve some of the challenges we’ve faced in the past, especially for users accessing VoIP technology on mobile devices. 

2. Smarter Customer Service via AI

AI or Artificial Intelligence is the technology behind the movie suggestions on your Netflix account or the algorithm in the updates you see from your friends on social media.   

 VoIP is set to be transformed when AI starts to be integrated. The insatiable desire of businesses wanting to improve customer satisfaction and service is driving the push to embed AI into VoIP technologies.  

 With 95% of customer interactions predicted to be handled without humans by 2025, (Finance Online) AI integration is expected to sprawl from automated customer service agents, sales process automation, and threat prevention (IDC).  

 Will this trend eradicate human intervention? Probably not. This AI innovation would want to enable call centre agents to focus on more challenging issues, as well as give businesses more advantages in terms of understanding more about their customers’ behaviour and servicing their ever-growing needs and expectations. 

3. Operational Efficiency: Rise of the UCaaS market

The UCaaS market is expected to reach USD$311.6 Billion by 2032. UCaaS or Unified Communications as a Service is a cloud-delivered unified communications model that supports several communications functions, including enterprise telephony, meetings and conferencing, unified messaging, instant messaging, mobility, and communications-enabled business processes. 

Cost and scalability are two of the driving forces as to why more and more businesses are turning to this solution, while the operational efficiency of these services is expected to be improved through the use of this technology.  

The benefits of this technology is that it is hosted in the cloud, so customers are always in control in terms of scaling up or down, having access to administrator portals, as well as improved security because disaster recovery and business continuity is easier. 

4. IoT: Interconnectivity at its finest

Another major trend is the marriage of VoIP and the Internet of Things. 

IoT is simply the interconnectivity of internet-capable devices with the goal of simplifying the data exchange. IoT enables many business applications, including the creation of smart offices where workspaces are voice-activated. 

How does IoT impact businesses positively? VoIP systems with support for IoT enables a work environment that is void of compatibility and connectivity issues, and information can easily be shared by multiple systems. 

5. Demise of Analog Telephone Systems

We have seen the numbers of people that read newspapers decline massively because of the advent of digital access. The same has happened to analogue telephone systems.  

As the copper network is gradually phased out, customers have no choice but to move to digital phone system technologies i.e., VoIP. The demanding digital lives we lead, dictates that almost all technologies used by businesses be innovated.  

As customer behaviour, expectations and work arrangements change, technology manufacturers are required to produce tools that offer more power to their stakeholders, leaving analogue telephone systems, the copper network and ISDN services as relics of the past. 

6. Number Portability:  Continuity of customer communication, guaranteed

Switching to different phone service providers has traditionally been a challenge. However, in the not-too-distant future, with the adoption of blockchain; a global repository of information stored permanently online. Providers will have more access to customer information, and these complex transitions will become smoother and easier.  

Thanks to the integration and adoption of this technology, customers will be guaranteed better continuity in their telecommunication services whether it be via mobile, local phone, or VoIP phones. 

7. Mobility via VoIP adoption

The pandemic made everyone realise the need to be ready for business disruption and the importance of having the right tools and systems on demand in the event that staff are not able to commute to the office or are forced to work from home. 

VoIP adoption gives business the flexibility to maintain a collaborative working environment and retain communication among staff, customers, and stakeholders regardless of where users are located. 

Telephony endpoints are now available via desk phones, desktop applications, tablets, and smartphones. 

8. VoIP vs  Video Chat Services

While the VoIP industry is continuously improving technology-wise, video chat services are on the rise. With more and more video chat services coming onto the market, offering greater feature sets and better integration into business systems they are a legitimate threat to traditional VoIP services.  

The competition will ensure that innovation in VoIP continues to improve and serves to drive down costs, meaning that undertaking a telecommunications technology review every few years can only benefit your business and get you better bang for your buck on your telco spend. 

9. Stronger VoIP because of WebRTC

Another interesting trend to watch for is the emergence of Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC). This is a free and open-source project providing web browsers and mobile apps the ability to facilitate real time communication between other browsers and devices.  

Merging WebRTC with the core strengths of VoIP platforms, will facilitate easy to access, instant calls and live video support, which could drastically improve company communication and accessibility. 

10. Potential for Data Breach

The internet can be a minefield when it comes to security issues. Cybercrime will cost companies worldwide an estimated USD$10.5 annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015. (Embroker.com) 

Given that VoIP technology is hosted in the cloud, in data centres and is connected to the internet, the threat of hacks and security breaches is ever present. VoIP providers will need to continually invest in new security measures, and business owners will need to be more vigilant around the security of their data and having protocols in place to manage their cybersecurity. 

Summary

These trends highlight some of the key technology and changes we will see integrating into VoIP solutions, and should be taken into considerations when making telecommunications decisions, now and in the future. 

Whether it be upgrading your old or legacy systems to benefit from improved features and functionality, cutting costs off your telco bills or technology transformations where your VoIP environment is required to be more deeply integrated into your other business systems. 

Doing your research and being across the latest industry trends is important to ensure you make informed business decisions and that you are getting the most value out of your technology spend. With technology changing so fast it can be hard to keep up, and you could be missing out on cost savings or operational efficiency.