VoIP Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
You don’t have to go far to collide with breathless prose describing the expected capabilities of VoIP technologies and tools. The hype machine is at it again. Internet telephony has become the next shiny new thing. But wait! A brief pause (and maybe a few cups of coffee) make it clear that VoIP technologies aren’t new. Most of the services and delivery models that enable VoIP are more than 10 years old. It’s the combinations of these enabling technologies—and the business value they create—that are new.
Here’s a list of these combinations. In each case, we start with past capabilities and then give a nod to what’s happening now. Finally, we look ahead to capabilities that might make future business operations less costly and more efficient.
Unified Communications—The Ultimate in Integrated Services
UC describes the integration of evolving technologies and tools that combine real-time and other communications services. From a business point of view, the role of UC services is to help people exchange ideas and do their jobs more effectively.
UC improvements emerged from the limitations of legacy technology and the need to streamline collaboration and enhance productivity. Development of VoIP merged telephony with other types of data, all of which could be moved along standard IP networks. Developers designed VoIP to transmit voice along networks instead of telephone circuits.
Currently, UC includes instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (such as extension mobility and single number reach), audio, web and video conferencing and fixed-mobile services.
These technologies and tools provide the diverse capabilities that enterprise CIOs crave. And, they all can operate in VoIP-based systems.
In addition to the cloud (which gets its own section below), the following technologies and tools are likely to have a bigger role in future UC development:
- Live streaming. With its sense of familiarity and connection, live streaming video is expected to become increasingly important in business collaboration and training tasks.
- APIs. Although commercial collaboration platforms have their fans, many companies want more customized, flexible tools. They want to create their own UC apps with application programming interfaces (APIs). Developers embed these bits of specialty software into existing workspaces, Intranet sites and even customer-facing websites.
- WRTC stands for Web real-time communications. This set of communications protocols embeds real-time voice, text and video into web browsers, including those of mobile devices.
SIP technology makes WebRTC much more practical, easier and safer to use. Some WebRTC products are available now. But, major software developers such as Apple and Microsoft haven’t yet merged it with their standard browsers. For early adopters, open source versions of WebRTC are available. Some of these early users report that WebRTC is easy to use, deploys without IT assistance and saves IT costs.
Unified Communications in the Cloud
According to InformationWeek, 70 percent of companies responding to a recent survey indicated they have deployed UC in the cloud or plan to do so. This is a strong endorsement of cloud UC. What exactly makes companies want to sign up for this service?
Although UC technologies have been around a long time, the UC concept isn’t standardized. Now, a new definition of UC, which adds the cloud as an enabling delivery model, is making the rounds.
Since the commercialization of cloud services in 2006, one thing has remained the same. The cost savings and vendor services you get depend on the type of cloud service you choose. The following table summarizes who does and pays for what.
| Cloud Service | Who Owns Hardware | System Maintence | Lease/Buy Phones | Payment Type |
|
| Hosted | Vendor | Vendor | Your business | Subscription | |
| Managed | Your business | Vendor | Your business | Subscription | |
| On-Premises | Your business | Your business | Your business | NA | |
There are three main types of VoIP systems available:
- Hosted System. Advantages include lower costs up-front and no maintenance. This combination of benefits works well for businesses without their own IT staff. And, businesses using this option enjoy less IT hassle, unlimited scalability, increased mobility and more reliable communications.However, these services are less customizable and rely on vendor responsiveness and service quality.
- Managed On-Premises System. This option provides advantages of on-premises and hosted solutions. You get better data control. Your end-point security risk and IT costs are higher. And downtime is more likely than if you used a hosted solution.
- On-Premises System. In this scenario, you’ll have higher initial costs. If you’re a larger business who wants the best options for customization and data control, this option could be a good choice.
Each of these options has its UC offering—hosted UC as a service (UCaaS), managed UC offerings or on-premises UC operations. The variety of choice, cost savings and flexible operations that each option delivers is why the move toward UC cloud solutions is on the rise.
In the future, expect:
- UC to continue moving to cloud solutions.
- The boundaries of unified communications as a Service (UCaaS) and communications platform as a service (CPaaS) to merge into a single service.
These trends will provide businesses with a broader range of business services offered in a secure, reliable environment. Programmers get a development space, in which they can create a wider range of apps that deliver a better customer experience.
Evolving UC Security
Not long ago, cloud skeptics cited weak security as the biggest obstacle to moving their IT operations to the cloud. Some still do, and with good reason. Spear phishing expeditions launched from Twitter accounts and attacks on CMS software have become grist for the trade press mill.
These and other security mishaps drive cloud service providers to develop innovative services, approaches and tools. Current developments include:
- Software-defined wide-area networks. SD-WAN applies software-defined networking technology used to connect enterprise networks. SD-WAN offerings use Internet broadband connections to improve and secure Internet connectivity.
- Secure Real-Time Protocol. Intended specifically for VoIP communications, the advanced encryption and authentication enabled by the Secure Real-time Transport Protocol improves existing security measures.
- Security as a service. Customers are more confident of cloud security and reliability. So, now security itself has become a cloud service (SEaas). In this subscription-based business model, a third-party provider integrates their security services into a corporate IT infrastructure.
- Select-your-own security tools. Market-conscious cloud service providers now offer tools, which customers select to customize their managed security operations.
In the future, watch for:
- Advanced SD-WAN applications. Applications such as more secure virtual private networks (VPNs), WAN optimization, networks as a service (NaaS), and application policy control.
- More sophisticated authentication profiles. Authentication profiles describe the method and parameters used to verify the identity of a network client. Expect profiles that harder to crack.
- Blockchain technology. Used to protect financial and legal transactions, blockchain security solutions are available now. But, institutional, technical and regulatory barriers are lining up. At best, this is a farther-out future trend, worth watching but not getting excited about.
Bringing VoIP to Your Smartphone
Annual sales of smartphones reached 2.4 billion in 2016, and mVoIP users are predicted to hit 1 billion in 2017. What’s behind the mobile VoIP explosion?
Mobile VoIP technology includes the hardware (handsets) and software needed for users to extend VoIP services to mobile devices. When configured properly, user smartphones can operate on a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G cellular network anywhere there’s a good connection.
Currently, VoIP apps are available to mobile device users. This extends benefits of today’s VoIP to mobile users:
- Users are never out of reach. It’s easy to route calls to mobile phones or remote team members, wherever they are.
- Advanced capabilities at no extra cost. mVoIP functionality of VoIP systems is software-based. That’s why mVoIP includes many advanced telephone features, which would carry an extra cost in a traditional landline system.
- Scaling up (or down) is a snap. There’s no installing extra lines or physical equipment. To scale up, you add a new handset and configure the new user’s connection by using the provider’s software.
In the future:
- 5G is coming but not soon. Everyone is waiting for the increased speed and network capacity promised by 5G technology. A few companies are testing early versions, but Verizon plans to launchfixed wireless 5G offerings in 2018 and mobile wireless in 2019 or 2020.
- UC in mVoIP will come. But it isn’t here yet. mVoIP apps are available, and UC apps are available in the cloud. But apps using the cloud, UC and mVoIP trifecta haven’t arrived yet.
VoIP Control for Your Home, Office and Factory Floor
If VoIP services married the Internet of Things, their children would be smart home and smart office systems. Secure, reliable cloud services and advanced application programming interfaces (APIs) provide the environment and glue needed to link these essential enablers.
The IoT and VoIP are based on the same communications infrastructure – namely, the Internet protocol (IP). So, they can easily be made to interact. APIs link user applications to cloud systems and communications hardware products.
This can involve linking CRM tools and contact center communications in the office or using communications tools to control security devices in your home. It’s worth noting that control extends to processes as well as communications. This implies development of multi-step process control in manufacturing.
Currently, VoIP devices and services are readily available for smart homes and smart offices. So far, though, commercial VoIP control products for smart factories haven’t arrived.
VoIP Business Value Is Easy to Find
VoIP is well known for its cost savings in enterprise as well as small-to-medium-sized businesses. But a quick look at recent survey results shows that VoIP provides other benefits, too. Some are measured easily, others not so much. No matter how you define and measure the business value of VoIP, there are plenty of reasons to adopt it.
Communications-Related Costs Reduced and Avoided
- Due to competition among VoIP providers for customers, VoIP implementation and SIP trunking costs are lower than ever.
- Landline phone systems typically cost businesses an average of $50 per line each month. This rate includes only local and domestic calls. Monthly VoIP plans are available for less than $25 dollars per line—a 50 percent
- SIP trunking eliminates the need for phone installation and its costs. VoIP phones connect callers and equipment from anywhere in the office via Ethernet cables or wireless routers.
- Small business that use VoIP for all their calls save up to 40 percent of their phone costs by avoiding long-distance calls.
- A recent case study featured in PC World found that a business with 30 phone users reaped $1,200 in monthly savings when they switched to VoIP.
- By letting US employees to telecommute, Dell saved $39.5 million in annual operations costs.
- Integrated voice and Web conferencing capabilities can reduce annual conferencing expenses by 30 percent.
- Organizations that use VoIP unified communications saved an average of 32 minutes per employee per day. VoIP find-them, call-them capabilities enabled staff members to reach one another on the first try.
Improved Employee Productivity
- Employees that use VoIP are always accessible, in or out of the office. VoIP technology makes sure that customers can always reach employees by phone or call forwarding to mobile devices.
- Investment in VoIP enables companies to let their employees work remotely. In a study, this privilege increased telecommuter productivity by almost 20%.
Better Customer Satisfaction
- VoIP quality of service protocols monitor ongoing call quality. In a recent study, more than 99.5% of survey respondents reported being satisfied with VoIP call quality.
- Less customer churn. Dissatisfied customers often prefer to switch businesses than complain about unsatisfactory service. So, businesses must be more sensitive to customer expectations than ever. VoIP avoids annoying, time-consuming games of phone tag.
Next Time: We take a detailed look at the innovations and business value of Internet security applications.