Subtitle. Business Phone Trends The Relentless March of Technology. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

Transcription

1 Subtitle Business Phone Trends 2015 The Relentless March of Technology Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

2 Contents The Trends That Will Define IPv6...3 The Cloud Will Prevail...4 (Even Better) Integration with Business Tools...5 Plug-ins and Apps...5 The Communication Value Pyramid...6 Support for Mobility...7 BYOD and Dual Identity Phones...8 BYOD...8 Dual Identity Phone...9 Conclusion References Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

3 The Trends That Will Define 2015 In 2020, when we look back, we will probably find 2015 to be a watershed year. Since the beginning of the century, many trends have been slowly taking shape and many of these are reaching an inflexion point. What was merely a developing story in 2013 or 2014 is now reaching maturity and will become mainstream soon. The cloud of course has become center stage and its maturity is visible by the simple fact that governments have begun to worry about controlling data and ensuring issues of data sovereignty. Many other trends have begun to move in similar directions. Understanding these trends well will ensure that your procurements are in the right direction and your business stays in tune with the future. IPv6 The Internet Protocol (communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the internet) that most people, and IT equipment, use is the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). While IPv4 has served the community well, it is now encountering the limitations of its address space and packet size. Using IPv4, we were able to provide unique IP addresses to 4.3 billion devices. Every computer, IP phone, softphone, cell phone with a data connection and a billion other switches, routers and PBXs all have individual IP addresses: it is easy to see how limited this pool of 4.3 billion addresses now is. IPv6 is designed to overcome this and provides an addressing scheme that is about times larger than IPv4. Even with the evolving Internet of things, where most equipment we work with will have an IP address, this should be enough for the foreseeable future. IPv4 and IP6 are not interoperable and require translators. Most high-end equipment is already being made IPv6-compliant and if you are going to buy or lease a new phone system, it should be a dual stack machine that can work with both IPv4 and IPv6 packets. The graph below, from Google, shows the rate at which IPv6 traffic is increasing. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

4 As of November 09, 2014, IPv6 use had crossed 4.73% of all Internet traffic. While this may appear small now, notice the slope of the graph after As legacy equipment gets replaced, this traffic will grow even more rapidly. Most (but not all) cloud-based hosting solutions support both IPv4 and IPv6, but many current PBXs may be supporting IPv4 only. While it does not make business sense to switch to an IPv6 PBX or service just to keep up with the trends, it is certainly something to keep in mind if a new purchase is being planned. As 2015 progresses, we will see larger numbers of IPv6 devices appear in the market. Eventually, probably within 5 years, the vast majority of traffic will be IPv6 and if you still retain an IPv4 device, you will incur a performance penalty and lose out on the many advanced features that IPv6 offers. Incompatibility issues could also arise in the next few years when new IP phones, etc... could be IPv6 compliant only. The Cloud Will Prevail For the last few years, cloud-based business communication solutions have slowly begun to take over the market will probably see more concrete moves in this direction. To begin with, the software and bandwidth are constantly getting better and performance has reached a level where it makes no business Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

5 sense to buy software and hardware when you can simply rent it and always work with the most current versions. It rarely makes sense to buy a lot of hardware and spend a considerable time setting it up and then troubleshooting and repairing it when options are available to simply rent it and leave all the problems to be handled by someone else. This trend is only going to strengthen. With quality manpower scarce and expensive, maintaining complex communications systems in house is getting more difficult. A hosted model solves this problem completely and results in one less thing to worry about. Many vendors are already moving their solutions completely to the cloud and 2015 will accentuate the trend further. However, so far, cloud-based communication systems do not have much leeway for any kind of customization. At best, you can change some minor features and report formats. Advances in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and a more active and flexible approach to software will change this. We will see hosted phone systems where the core or the kernel is common to all users, but there are many different kinds of customizations at the user interface and the functional level. Users will be able to customize their solutions to Greater flexibility in hosted phone systems could see a higher degree of customization by the end user. their specific needs. When this occurs, there will really be no reason left for anyone to buy an on-premises PBX. While this may not be achieved completely in 2015, there will be some movement in this direction and we will not be surprised to find an increasing level of customization in hosted systems. (Even Better) Integration with Business Tools Plug-ins and Apps Many business phone systems are already well integrated with business applications and tools. This is going to get better in the year ahead. Several business phone solutions have begun to offer a list of plugins for the desktop, which then becomes a powerful interface between the phone system and the company s information management systems. Some of these plug-ins are fairly straightforward, such as connectivity to the company s saleforce.com solution or to other enterprise applications. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

6 Other plug-ins are smaller in scope but still very useful: A plug-in offers new call capability such as displaying the location of your caller. Based on the location, the plug-in automatically displays the local time in the time zone the person is calling from and also gives you an update on the weather there! If you need to make small talk, you have an immediate input. A LinkedIn plug-in allows immediate connectivity to the caller s LinkedIn profile to give you information about her professional qualifications, title, company, job history and other background information. Other plug-ins will automatically open specified websites when a call comes so that the person answering the call does not have to search for the required information. A large number of plug-ins will improve the capability of the communication system. They will allow users to customize the way their phones interact with the business data systems. With a large directory of such plug-ins (expected to be increasing to about 150 by 2015), users will be able to customize their individual phone environment to match their specific needs. Employee effectiveness and efficiency will see a major improvement by the use of these plug-ins. The Communication Value Pyramid The value of a business communication system is measured in terms of reach and impact. For instance, you could have a message that reaches millions of people and yet has very low impact. Any modern business communication system will incorporate the impact/reach balance and ensure that as far as possible, both are optimized. The figure on the next page is instructive. It must also be noted that although the structure looks sequential from the bottom upwards, it really is not. You can choose to implement whichever communication system is best for your business. In the previous section, we showed the importance of desktop plug-ins and how they can help build a futuristic business communications system. Some applications and plug-ins are already available and add great value to phone systems and to the efficiency of the users. In the diagram below, the impact of these plug-ins is shown to be very high fifth place down from the top. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

7 Another technology that is already very prevalent and that will make a serious impact on the utility of business phone systems in 2015 is the desktop video. It is very easy to implement and provides much greater impact than many other modes of communication. Ever larger numbers of applications will be offered with enabled desktop video and users will simply be able to click a link in their applications to speak to the right person no matter where that person may be. The ability to use desktop video irrespective of where the other person reinforces the need for PBX Mobile integration. Support for Mobility While all hosted solutions are natively supportive of mobile devices, 2015 will take this to another level altogether. The workforce s mobility is increasing and unless mobile solutions support these workers, their business will lose efficiency. Smartphones and tablets will increase in numbers and besides just taking calls on these devices, users will be able to use a large number of specially created plug-ins. Using these plug-ins, mobile workers will get the same level of support and information management capabilities enjoyed by their colleagues in the office. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

8 The previous section touched on the importance of desktop video in calls and the fact that this connectivity needs to be extended to mobile devices. This is a huge improvement area, as less than 33% of businesses have fully integrated their PBXs with smartphones will see many more businesses complete this integration. Businesses that achieve this will see the following returns: - A single number for each employee - Control over business extensions reducing the impact of employee turnover - Lower costs - Voic access via an app - Connectivity to corporate directories thereby simplifying conferencing - Presence information Less than 33% of businesses have integrated their PBXs with Smartphones. Wainhouse Research A related benefit of this capability is that outsourcing a business task will become more powerful. Businesses will no longer be forced to outsource their activity to a single entity in a single physical location. Since mobile connectivity will be far better in quality and capability, outsourcing can become more decentralized. You can select a graphic designer from Korea, a writer from India, inputs from all over the world and an editor in Australia if that is what your business demands. BYOD and Dual Identity Phones BYOD The trend in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) will only continue to strengthen and it will be up to the business to ensure that any devices employees wish to use will be managed securely and in line with corporate policies. This can often be difficult to manage and many users may not be happy with their company dictating policies to be implemented on their smartphones. Why do companies accept BYOD? Are there any tangible benefits to a company if their employees are permitted to use their own devices? BYOD is not just managing two operating systems It s about what to do with the data produced in that corporate environment that s on the device Ron Perez Director AMD Security Architecture Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

9 It seems that merely allowing a worker to perform corporate work on his own phone can add up to two extra hours of work each day (see references). Employees using BYOD send an average of 20 extra company-related s every day as compared to employees who do not use their own devices. 33% of BYOD users check their business between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM and as many as 25% check it late at night. Businesses that are aware of this benefit encourage BYOD, even as they take steps to control the security issues involved. Companies are justifiably worried about the impact of the loss of a smartphone with its passwords, address books, call records, data files, and so on. If an employee using a personal smartphone in the BYOD format quits the company, the company will justifiably want to wipe his phone - something that the employee will surely resent and resist. A solution that was in development since the beginning of the decade is now robust enough to see mainstream use. This is the dual identity phone. Dual Identity Phone The dual identity phone is essentially a single smart phone running two different instances of its operating system one version for personal use and another one for business use. This is similar to having a dual boot PC where both operating systems run in their own protected space. Even though all the data is on the same device, the personal user account cannot access protected data. Different security and usage policies can be implemented across both phone instances and this will ensure that all corporate data including any business phone numbers can be remotely erased if the phone is lost or if the employee quits or is removed. The increasing processor power of modern smart phones is making it easy to develop dual identity phones. Uptake of the technology has been slow simply because many businesses do not understand the risk implications of BYOD or have begun to exploit BYOD fully. However, this is bound to change and we expect more businesses to make the transition to these phone systems in BYOD users send an extra 20 s per day. Nearly 30% of BYOD users also check their mails early in the day and late at night. An additional two hours of work are added per day due to use of BYOD in the workplace. This trend is unlikely to see a rapid or explosive growth in the sales of dual identity phones. Many businesses that take advantage of such a device may not choose to go public with it. Nevertheless, use of such phones will increase and become very prevalent in 2015 and the years to come. Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

10 Conclusion Here is what we can predict about 2015 and what we suggest you look out for to ensure that your business communications stay effective and efficient: The move to IPv6 is inevitable. If you are contemplating a fresh purchase, ensure that the hardware you are investing in is dual stack and can function with both the new and old versions of the Internet Protocol. If you are not already using a hosted system based in the Cloud, we strongly suggest you research such systems. The benefits are substantial and in the coming year, you will be able to make major customizations that will tailor the cloud-based system to your needs. Most business phone systems offer a large library of plug-ins that carry out specialized tasks. These must be studied and exploited fully. Many businesses have not yet fully integrated their PBXs with the smartphones of their employees. The benefits are enormous. Dual identity phones in the market allow strict corporate policies to be implemented in a smartphone. Employees who use such phones make it easy for companies to let them use their phone for work as well will see better integration, stronger migration towards IPv6 and easier customization of business phone systems. Will your business take advantage of these trends? Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products

11 References Statistics of IPv6 adoption Dual Identity Phones for data on the Complex Communication Pyramid BYOD Data from Business Phone Trends Compare Business Products