FUTURE OF VOIP INDUSTRY: 5 VOIP TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Marketing Manager

Anastasia Shevchuk

The global VoIP industry has experienced exponential growth over the last 20 years. With continuous technological improvements and commercial adoption, the industry appears to be moving faster than ever in terms of usage, market share, and revenue.

State of the art technology and rapidly spreading high-speed internet are replacing the inconvenient wire equipment traditionally used in the telecommunication sector.

Communication is becoming faster and cheaper every year. Before the internet it was very costly to make long distance calls, but with the advent of VoIP technology it is now possible to make long-distance phone calls without compromising quality.

Nowadays, people need cheap solutions for sending messages, making phone calls and video calls, and sending photos.

However, for people and businesses to both adopt and increasingly rely on VoIP telephony, it's important to first understand the meaning of VoIP and keep abreast of the latest trends in this market segment so you can ensure you and your business use it to its full potential. The future of VoIP is now, and you don't want to get left behind!

So, what is VoIP?

Let's take a deep dive into the ins and outs of the VoIP industry and analyze the latest and greatest VoIP trends in business and beyond!

VoIP (voice over IP), in simple terms, is a way of making phone calls over the internet as opposed to traditional phone lines and a local phone company. It lets users accept incoming and place outgoing calls via a desktop app, mobile phone, or desk phone.

Unlike traditional phone systems that only work in one location, you can use your existing hardware to make calls from anywhere. If you have an internet connection you can make and receive phone calls. For instance, making a call through Skype or Whatsapp counts as VoIP.

The biggest reason companies move their phone system to the cloud is so they can take advantage of the advanced features only a virtual phone system can provide. It enables companies of all sizes to enhance their productivity and grow their team by giving them access to customers and employees in other countries.

Virtual phone system providers maintain a scalable communications infrastructure for users. They implement advanced features like SMS text messaging, business phone numbers, and voicemail transcription. This is one of the top VoIP trends in business at the moment.

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VoIP and 5G technology go hand in hand, especially as 5G is expected to radically change internet connectivity by improving the quality of video chats and internet-based voice calls, and increasing communications speeds. 5G technology reduces, and comes quite close to completely eliminating, instances of bad call quality due to poor internet connection. Faster, clearer, and more productive communications are important for any business organization, and 5G can provide companies with it.

5G technology is expected to significantly improve video conferencing.

Nowadays, the major issue facing web and video conferencing is how fast current networks can transmit data. Fortunately, innovations like Web Real-Time-Communications (WebRTC) and 5G networks will enhance VoIP for businesses by providing open and stable streaming as well as sufficient transfer speeds, which will soon allow businesses to accommodate high-quality videos.

Beyond improved streaming quality, 5G networks will also be able to support video calls with an increased number of participants, enabling businesses to serve more customers and conduct larger video meetings, which will save a significant amount of time and resources.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere you look. From Netflix offering you shows chosen specifically for you to your social media feed making sure you are getting relevant updates, more and more companies are looking to integrate Artificial Intelligence into their businesses to improve customer service and provide a more personalized service.

VoIP and artificial intelligence are inextricably linked, and the improvement and adoption of AI are predicted to reach and touch every industry, and the VoIP industry is no exception.

Artificial Intelligence can already perform speech recognition and analyze call data, and what's more, artificial intelligence will also be able to identify relevant information about correspondents. For instance, it could bring up details from an order management system (the process of getting a product from the point of initial order to delivery to the customer) once it recognizes a caller's name or number.

Your agent will then be able to see all of a caller's order details as soon as they pick up their call, placing them in a better position to deliver better answers and solutions and an overall superior service.

What's more, VoIP and artificial intelligence could be combined within a system to help prepare responses, significantly reducing call handling times.

Bots will also help speed up employees' performance through automation. They will be able to manage schedules and arrange events, meetings, and repetitive tasks. For instance, imagine a customer service department in a vast corporation taking care of millions of calls, events, and meetings every day. Bots will be able to help them organize all their tasks much more efficiently.

AI pattern recognition will also enable businesses to analyze their customers' behavior and improve future interactions by learning from previous experiences.

The Internet of Things connects loads of everyday appliances, providing a better, smarter world. Most IoT devices use the Internet Protocol (IP) to provide better functionality and information.

With the Internet of Things, the value proposition of VoIP services will only broaden. It is making an impact on the world of VoIP by providing businesses with even more functionality for their phone networks.

VoIP can serve as a part of the IoT mechanism to control remote devices. The technology's great capacity to transmit information from one point to another reliably and securely will only expand the data flow of an Internet of Things system, and bring immense upside to VoIP users by adding a level of digital intelligence to devices that would otherwise essentially be inanimate.

Let's look at some major VoIP & IoT Integration opportunities and examples, set to be the future of VoIP:

Smart Home

Smart Home is one of the first technology arenas where an IoT and VoIP combination could make a real difference. The comprehensive interconnectedness of VoIP devices and other household devices will facilitate the control of home security, lighting, and many other things.

Let's take a look at some examples of how IoT can work in the background using a VoIP phone system to automate smart home services:

A refrigerator takes an inventory of all its current items. The connected appliance then sends a list to a shopper's VoIP phone to inform them of what they need from the grocery store.

When connected to VoIP numbers and devices, cars can notify their owners when they require a mechanic service.

Smart Office

VoIP allows businesses to work at any location and from any device. When connected to IoT, this ability will be maximized by connecting IoT and VoIP, so businesses can build smart offices that allow them to significantly improve their efficiency and performance.

For example, your on-the-go workers can connect their VoIP softphone with office equipment like printers, fax machines, and desk phones, so they can utilize office resources from anywhere to remain productive.

Security and Access

VoIP can keep any location secure and control access to the facility in question.

IoT imaging devices, like IP security cameras and door access systems, can be configured as VoIP endpoints and be called from any internet-connected device.

These security devices can also be set to automatically call and notify IP phones when any security events occur.

For example, when visitors arrive, a door access system connected to the VoIP network can initiate a call to notify users to decide whether to allow or restrict access.

UCaaS is a system which allows companies to access the tools they need for communication through a single application or service. This means companies can use instant messaging, email, faxing, VoIP, and video collaboration all from the same UI (User Interface).

The need for an omnichannel, seamless customer experience is a recurring trend which continues to evolve.

UCaaS solutions (Unified Communication as a Service) allow businesses to manage and organize their communication process so they can offer an omnichannel service experience to customers.

Voice services are continuing to be integrated with other digital communication channels, including messaging, video conferencing and meetings, fax services, team collaboration features (like screen sharing), and more.

Unified Communication as a Service even offers cloud-based communications which enable users to access it or log in from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection.

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The functionalities of VoIP systems go beyond office and business purposes. More and more schools are beginning to see the value of VoIP technology in managing unified communications within its structure and with their customers (students and parents).

For starters, institutions now use them to enhance online learning as it can serve very well as a platform for class collaboration.

Moreover, it can be used for conducting seminars and other supplementary classes without having to meet physically.

Summing up, VoIP telephony is a technology with great potential. It has already influenced and enhanced various industries worldwide and continues to do so.

VoIP is evolving, optimizing work processes, and improving employee performance. Due to its integration with disruptive technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT, the development of the telecommunication industry will be much better and faster.

If you'd been wondering: What is VoIP? We sincerely hope this article helped answer your question! There are loads of VoIP trends to watch out for and IOT VoIP has endless applicability! The future of VoIP is very bright, will you be involved?

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