How Unified Communication Will Change The VoIP Industry
VoIP is the best thing that ever happened to the communications sector so far. Organizations don’t really care about the name a product carries but what it has to offer in relation to what was. Something that would make their work easier and faster. Well, Unified communication is the best bet to make that a lot more effective. VoIP offers this and it is no surprise that organizations are storming in with this technological change. But how is this need for unified communications really affecting the VoIP industry? Is it good or bad?
Before we move further, it is only fair that we are on the same page.
Voice Over Internet Protocol known as VoIP is a great way to make calls with your internet as opposed to using your local phone service. You can also make a call using your phone service but at a cheaper rate. This budget cut is one of the reasons why there was a shift from 60% to only 6% of American organizations using landlines in the last four years.
Although VoIP can now be enabled on the phone, it is not like a mobile phone. Unlike the phone’s signal which is analog, VoIP converts it to a digital signal which enables it to be sent over your internet. VoIP does not just offer internet calls but can also interact with computers with certain applications.
Imagine all your organizational work functions merged into one app. No need to move from one application to the next or dealing with a certain application’s crash. Unified communication is that integration. You can send your mails, fax, chat, call, print, manage your phone, make video calls and many more functions. All of these in one platform. It is a no-brainer. This means an increase in work speed, efficiency, and organization. It is the tool needed to grow your business faster than you imagined.
Now that we are clear on these concepts, how about we see how these two are correlated.
How Unified Communications is Changing the VoIP Industry.
Years ago, Unified Communication was just a myth. VoIP flew in like a superhero and offered a solution to this much needed unified system. Now, with VoIP, it is possible to integrate communication to all your applications thereby improving the productivity of your workers. VoIP offers a lot of things but most important to organizations, are the cost and time efficiency it offers.
Let’s compare the time before VoIP and after VoIP shall we?
Without a system that offers unified communication, your employees would spend time trying to track down information from other employees while moving from one application to the other. They were subjected to time log, application backlogs and possible error in communication and function. These problems were eliminated with the advent of VoIP. VoIP comes with a certain level of efficiency and time-saving. Also, when you compare the cost of running both systems, call tariffs and infrastructure costs are significantly reduced with VoIP.
The goal of any business is to increase productivity with reduced cost and time. It means more profit and we like profit! It is now clear why organizations may be gunning for VoIP.
How Has the VoIP Industry Grown Since Its Offer of Unified Communication?
From the inception of VoIP in 1998, the climb was honestly not as fast as you would expect. The application started out with just free calls that were intercepted by too many ads. They were only able to penetrate just 1% of the market. Their big growth started in 2003 when they began adding other features that seemed tempting to organizations. Statistically, there was a 90% cut in start-up cost due to VoIP. This is probably the reason why as of 2017, they recorded a whopping sum of 1 billion mobile VoIP users. It also had to do with the fact that the system was upgraded and offered Unified communication between applications.
TheVoiPreport estimated that each employee saves about 34minutes in a whole working day while working with VoIP. This is a significant time safe for a company offering constant services. It also means that there is less need to employ more people to get work done faster. It is no surprise that the number is about to move from 60% to 75% in the coming years.
How Relevant Would VoIP be in Coming Years?
Things are changing quickly in the world and it is best to keep up. It is no lie that some programs that seemed like they were here to stay in the former years didn’t stand the test of time when future demands hit. As we speak, there are other communication software that are in the market to rival VoIP. So, what does the future really look like for VoIP?
VocalTech did keep trying to meet up with demands along the line and we see no reason why they would choose to stop eventually. Well, so long as they want to remain at the top of the communication industry. It is no secret that the future is calling for more automation in functions and VoIP has to meet those demands or the numbers would eventually drop. If they meet these demands, experts have foreseen their numbers going up to an estimated 3million mobile VoIP users as of 2021. It does look like a bright future for the VoIP industry.
Conclusion
From a humble beginning to taking over the communication market, VoIP has sure gone through lots of evolution. Well, they finally gave the business world away to increases their revenue and there’s no saying any to that. Since their upgrade and offer of Unified Communications which did profit the businesses using them, they have experienced positive reviews and market acceptance. The time and cost-efficiency that comes with its Unified Communications feature is a great magnet to companies.
VoIP is estimated to have further growth as the years go by, just as long as they keep updating their features to fit into future communication needs.
Originally published at https://nextplane.net on November 20, 2019.
