Ongoing transformations in the telecommunications landscape that began in 2012 will invariably carry into 2013, forcing companies to adapt if they wish to survive the oncoming year. In the past, the office phone system was it's own siloed platform that individuals could only access from their desk. This is no longer the case today, especially as the consumerization of IT continues to invade the private sector and drive the use of smartphones, tablets and other advanced mobile gadgets.
A recent report by Network World highlighted some of the telecom changes forecast to take place in 2013, largely driven by the use of advanced VoIP services and innovative unified communications platforms.
VoIP goes mobile
The mobile ecosystem will be a particularly disruptive force in 2013, as VoIP continues to make the transition to the mobile setting. In fact, Network World forecast that major mobile carriers will begin to offer native VoIP services on a large scale this year. Although there are a number of "over the top" solutions already in commission, the advent of mobile VoIP will be largely driven by proliferation of long-term evolution (LTE) technologies.
A separate report by Juniper Research highlighted similar findings, revealing that it expects the number of mobile VoIP users to reach 1 billion in 2017, which is the rough equivalent of one out of every seven mobile subscribers.
Unified communications gets commoditized
Network World noted that the evolving business phone system will continue to include tools like VoIP, video conferencing and even presence technologies – all of which will drive the demand to unify everything under a single platform. This ongoing need will inevitably play a significant role in the adoption of enterprise-grade unified communications for both small and large companies.
A separate report by Frost & Sullivan noted that the ongoing emergence of cloud technologies in the private sector is driving the demand for hosted unified communications. In fact, roughly 25 percent of companies are currently leveraging a cloud-based unified communications system, with more than half of these organizations planning to increase their use of the services in 2013. Approximately 42 percent of non-cloud unified communications users intend to deploy hosted phone systems in the future.
The business world is constantly evolving, driven by technological innovations and evolving customer demands. For this reason, among others, executives need to stay on their toes, do their homework and plan ahead so their organization can adapt and adopt next-generation solutions to remain competitive. If decision-makers neglect to pay attention to what is happening in the telecom landscape around them, they will only face an uphill battle in the coming years as they try to play catch up.
By deploying unified communications and VoIP services, firms may gain an advantage over rivals that have yet to do so, enabling them to innovate on a grander scale and enhance collaboration with collaboration with colleagues, customers and partners.
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