VoIP has been growing for the past two decades, and with technological improvements, support from various sectors, and adoption across different spheres, it does not seem like this market will be slowing down any time soon. In fact, various papers have pointed out that VoIP’s usage, revenue, and market share are all growing at exponential rates, and will continue to do so. As more people and businesses adopt and increasingly rely on VoIP, it is interesting to explore and follow the trends in this market segment to ensure you and your business are leveraging its full use.
Adoption of 5G
It is almost impossible to talk about any internet-based service without talking about it in the context of 5G. 5G is the fifth-generation wireless network technology that is touted to radically change internet connectivity. Its main advantages include faster internet speeds and shorter response times, all while eliminating packet loss and jitter during data transfer.
What this means for the industry is that VoIP users will see improved call quality, faster connections when calls are being made and received, and increased capacities. That last point is especially important as VoIP starts to integrate video and other forms of communication, as we will see later.
Artificial Intelligence Integration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. It can be found on your favorite brand’s Facebook page answering frequently asked questions or even inside your car powering driverless experiences. Now, companies are looking to leverage AI for customer service. In fact, some companies are making huge investments in the development of automated customer service agents, threat prevention systems, and sales processes automation, all powered by AI.
Because of the huge leaps that are being made in the improvement and adoption of AI, it is predicted to reach and touch every industry, and the VoIP industry is no different. For example, call centers that rely on humans to make and pick calls will see improvements in service delivery. This can be done by providing users with self-help solutions and options that are served by AI, which leaves human agents to handle only issues that are a lot more challenging.
AI can also analyze call center interactions between agents and customers and predict customer behavior, and the issues users inquire about the most. Once all this data is distilled down into an understandable format, human agents can better serve customers as they can easily predict what the customers need and solve their issues in less time.
Increased Demand for Communications as a Service
For the past few years, communication channels have been continuously consolidated into a single service. This practice has given birth to what is known as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). These services use VoIP as the underlying technology, but they offer much more than voice calls. Other services that can be bundled into one service platform include web and video conferencing, faxing, instant messaging, and team collaboration features.
One of the biggest advantages of using UCaaS is that it can save businesses both time and money when setting up their communications networks because companies would no longer have to purchase and install separate video and audio equipment, instant messaging software, and voice solutions.
Another major advantage of using UCaaS, and why businesses should keep an eye on it is that it is cloud-based. This means that users can access it or log in from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection, which is where 5G ties into all this. Being cloud-based also makes it easy to integrate UCaaS with other marketing tools.
Unified Mobile Communications
UCaaS is a good solution, but it suffers from one major flaw; if the service provided is too convoluted, it will not work for mobile users. So, developers are working on similar solutions that work fantastically well on mobile devices.
These developers, businesses, and companies are banking on the fact that a lot more people are no longer using their mobile phones as just mobile phones. Our mobile devices are now mini-computers that can do a lot more.
Because of this, companies are looking to add solutions that cater to mobile users, including VoIP systems for mobile devices. The combination of 5G, the increased power of mobile devices, and their mobility makes them a viable option for businesses that need VoIP services on the go. VoIP solutions like RingCentral and Aircall take advantage of all these features and more, and that is why they are highly sought-after VoIP solutions for small businesses.
If you do not know which of the two to choose, have a look at this Aircall vs. RingCentral comparison. It is a detailed analysis of the two solutions and makes a great case for why each of them would be a great fit for your business. The guide is written by PieSync, which provides data sync services that help businesses keep their customer data synced across all their marketing software and apps. Through their real-time, two-way data sync between different software and apps, Piesync saves businesses time and effort, and helps streamline and automate their business processes.
The Death of Traditional Telephone Services and Systems
Traditional landlines and other telephone systems have been dying for decades now, first due to the rise of the use of hand-held devices, and now due to the increasing use of VoIP. It is estimated that close to 50% of landlines in the world are gone, and those remaining are rarely used.
This trend will continue as the internet remains easily accessible and the continuing advancement in smartphone technology. We now have so many different ways of communication that keeping a landline alive seems to defeat the purpose. The demand for new ways to communicate with businesses due to our own ability to do so between ourselves is also paving the way for more sophisticated VoIP solutions and leaving behind traditional telephone services and systems.
Number Porting
Businesses want to remain accessible to their customers at all times. This becomes impossible if they change their phone numbers. There are new initiatives, most of them powered by blockchain, that can help businesses remain accessible. They enable businesses to have one permanent phone number, and if the businesses decide to change network providers or even switch to a VoIP service, they move with their numbers.
What this means is that as more businesses adopt VoIP due to its advantages, we are going to see an increase in the number of porting requests across the world.
There is no doubt that VoIP has massive benefits to businesses that choose to adopt it. Small businesses can use it to save telephone costs and to make their communication systems more robust while large businesses can use it to optimize the way they handle their sales and marketing processes. Because of this and more, businesses would do well to keep an eye on VoIP trends for the coming years because this landscape is poised to continue changing the way businesses handle communication and other tasks.
