After realizing the advantages that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can bring through, especially associated with budgets, an ever-increasing number of organizations and companies are shifting to Internet telephony services. With VoIP technology advancing at full speed, the industry is expected to grow even more this year. In view of that, providers and consumers should wisely take into consideration the following 5 VoIP trends that will define the industry in 2017.
1) 5G is around the corner
Even though the imminent move from 4G to 5G technology is unlikely to occur before 2020, providers will surely start talking and making noise about it in 2017. The incorporation of 5G will bring far more benefits than just an upgrade to faster speeds. It will completely revolutionize how carriers deliver communications.
Although this may not affect the speed and safety of VoIP in the office, it will bring many benefits for people that use internet telephone systems from their smartphones, and to the increasing telecommuters and to some Americans already using the technology to work, 5G will surely and positively transform VoIP.
2) Security as a priority
According to Forbes, security is one of the three main priorities for businesses in 2017. Even with VoIP providers on alert and taking strong built-in security measures, Internet telephony services are still much easier to crack than traditional landlines. In fact, this year “the cloud” is expected to face even heavier attacks, which means that VoIP providers will have to spend extra time and money on security.
3) One billion mobile VoIP users
This is the most interesting of all VoIP trends for entrepreneurs that are on the way to adopting VoIP technology: the number of people using mobile VoIP is expected to exceed 1 billion by the end of 2017. This high demand will most certainly bring positive changes to the industry, which will become more competitive, thus leading to better services, improved features, and lower prices.
4) Possible Network Strain
The use of VoIP is not the only thing increasing this year and not the only technology gliding around on the web. More than 12 billion devices are already connected to the ‘Internet of Thing‘ or IoT- a term that refers to the connection of devices, vehicles, and other items to the Internet. It has been predicted that by 2020, the number of devices on the IoT will rise to 21 billion.
This giant leap can cause severe network strain for next years to come, and the future success of VoIP in the business world will depend, among other things, on the technological innovations aimed to reduce this strain and guarantee solid and secure connections.
5) Integration Tendency Continues
In the past few years, VoIP has been one of the few business solutions that most companies have turned to or at least considered turning to. However, more companies begin to use other enterprise software. Consequently, VoIP sellers will undoubtedly seek ways of integrating their services with customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other enterprise software systems that can help drive a business forward. The more executives are aware of the value of these software programs, the more VoIP vendors will try and move towards integration.
Voice over Internet Protocol is here to stay. It offers much more benefits than traditional phone systems as it combines and stores data in a single network, increasing the cost-effectiveness, execution, and efficiency of companies. This is why VoIP will most likely extinguish other older systems and professionals in the industry should pay close attention to these 5 VoIP trends.
