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VoIP market reaching new heights
Companies are no longer restricted by outdated communication solutions, thanks to innovative services such as Voice over Internet Protocol suites. Businesses using VoIP no longer have to spend money on managing hundreds or thousands of landline telephones, and instead can take advantage of a platform that allows personnel to collaborate anywhere at anytime via the Internet.
A recent Infonetics Research report indicated that the global VoIP and Unified Communications industry expanded 8 percent between 2012 and 2013. By 2018, this figure is projected to total $88 billion.
Diane Myers, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, said major advancements in SIP Trunking and cloud computing are driving the VoIP and UC industry.
SIP trunking revenue increased 50 percent between 2012 and 2013, with much of this growth coming from North America. The research firm expects Europe, Middle East and Africa to generate strong profits in 2014. Revenue from Hosted PBX and UC services expanded 13 percent from 2012 to 2013.
“Hosted unified communications are seeing strong interest up market as mid-market and larger enterprises evaluate and move more applications to the cloud, and this is positively impacting the market,” Myers said.
VoIP advancing unlike older equipment
Unlike legacy solutions, which are not flexible in meeting ever-changing IT demands, VoIP services are constantly evolving to help businesses keep pace with a fluid market. In an interview with Smart Business, Alex Desberg, sales and marketing director at Ohio.net, said landlines have hardly changed in decades. He believes more organizations will implement cloud-based VoIP suites to better integrate mobile devices.
Technology is not the only trend influencing the VoIP space, though, according to Desberg.
“Most VoIP systems are driven by the software and platform that they were built with. That has been the limiting factor of early versions of VoIP. Now, customers are dictating how they want the system to work and how quickly the evolution curve is. In essence, the customer’s input is impacting the direction of VoIP,” Desberg told the news source.
The Internet is a beautiful thing for employee productivity. Workers can now use their smartphones and tablets to stay connected with the office, communicate with coworkers and complete tasks anywhere at any time. This capability is a major competitive advantage – one that should not be overlooked by companies trying to stay relevant and efficient in their respective markets. Desberg asserted that the evolution of VoIP is very much in line with that of the Internet itself, which shifts much faster than any other historical trend.
If your business is still relying on antiquated equipment and wants to give VoIP tools a try but is unsure of the right approach, contact an IT solutions provider such as Beringer Associates today to get started on this exciting transition.
VoIP Business Telephone Systems: Bring your phone systems up-to-date with hosted, managed or on-premise VoIP deployments, supported by Beringer Associates.