IP Communications Featured Articles

Telecommunications is abundant with the “next best thing” when it comes to making how and when we engage each other more efficient and cost-effective. Small businesses are able to operate like big businesses, thanks to the many benefits that come with moving towards an IP-centric way of communicating. The future lies in the many spokes of the IP communications wheel: BYOD, the cloud and business phone systems.

We’ve become a mobile society, thanks to IP communications. Mobile workers now account for more than 75 percent of the workforce, so we’re seeing an increase in the BYOD trend. The proliferation of enterprise smartphones and tablets—both corporate and personally owned—makes security a top priority for IT organizations. Professionals will show an increase in productivity when they can choose which devices to use, as opposed to being forced to use one they may or may not be comfortable with.

So, what does a cloud-based PBX (News - Alert) have to do with the mobile worker taking advantage of a BYOD program? Everything. Cloud-based systems are designed to bring together multiple elements into one system. Therefore, mobile devices can be turned into an office phone.

Infonetics Research (News - Alert) noted that many organizations are adopting VoIP as a way to influence unified communications, as the number of VoIP and UC users will double between 2012 and 2016. The research firm adds that $377 billion will be spent on business and residential/SOHO VoIP services over the next five years from 2012 to 2016, driven primarily by SIP trunking and hosted VoIP/UC services.

Unified communications within any organization is an influence that's helping to drive the acceptance of VoIP, BYOD, cloud-based services and other connected systems.

At face value, unified communications could be the application of the decade given all its promises. It lets users access people and resources, no matter the location or communication channel, spurring productivity and boosting business processes at an economical cost.

UC, BYOD and VoIP are not just passing trends. These are the technologies driving the future.