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The way we live and work today looks very different than it did just 10 short years ago. While we did enjoy the flexibility that mobile solutions provided, they still often fell short of meeting our needs while on the go. We could make phone calls and that was about it.

Blackberry did a great job of allowing the mobile professional to access the corporate network, but that only tended to happen with a corporate-initiated mobile strategy was in place. Those of us without one had to wait to get back to the office to check email or access documents on the server.

Today, mobility looks very different. We can do more on our smartphones today than we could accomplish on a PC not that long ago. Much of our activity is managed through this device and it’s integrated into nearly everything we do. Plus, now that we know we can use the Internet for just about everything, mobile VoIP is also getting a lot of attention.

In fact, the cloud itself is exploding. Infonetics Research (News - Alert) published excerpts from its Business Cloud VoIP and UC Services report. Findings are a result of tracking revenues and seats for hosted PBX and unified communications. One key finding worth noting – revenue is on track to grow 13 percent this year and positive activity is anticipated in every major geographic region.

“While sales of premises-based PBX (News - Alert) systems have been stagnant to declining over the past few years, the market for cloud services continues to expand with businesses worldwide seeking out hosted alternatives,” noted Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics Research in a press release. “Hosted services seats grew more than 20 percent worldwide in 2013.”

Hosted VoIP services especially have really found their place in the market as broad adoption is happening throughout small, medium and even large enterprises. In fact, interest from large enterprises is escalating especially as an increasing number of companies are evaluating and selecting providers. As the competitive landscape in this space is highly fragmented, vendors, agents, resellers and systems integrators are rapidly expanding into the market.

Strong growth is expected in this space over the next five years. Infonetics projects the market will hit $12 billion in 2018 with 62.6 million seats in service. As for mobile VoIP, its growth is likely to follow suit. Why? The adoption of hosted VoIP and unified communications within the corporate landscape readily supports the adoption of mobile VoIP.

Professionals in the field will more easily sync with corporate solutions when leveraged through hosted options. And, given the demand we’re seeing across the market, don’t be surprised if the next report focuses on the mobile VoIP options and the rapid pace of development and adoption.