9 VoIP Trends: Future Predictions for Business Communications

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to save money, and VoIP phone systems offer exactly that: a cost-effective way to communicate with clients, customers, and employees. Integrations with new and upcoming tech stacks and tools have made businesses realize they should switch to a VoIP-powered business phone system.
 

Here are some of the rising VoIP trends that help you better understand how to leverage VoIP systems to facilitate better communication and streamline workflows in your business.

5G offers network improvements over 4G and has the potential to increase the capacity of VoIP systems. Lower latency, increase in speed, higher capacity and increased bandwidth are some of the primary features that will impact the way people do business and communicate.

5G over VoIP will likely solve call latency and quality of service problems on 4G networks, as latency is expected to drop from 50 ms to 1 ms. As the constraints on speeds and bandwidth lower, users can stream 4K and 8K resolution videos at high speeds and face fewer to no disruptions in call signals.

Integration of VoIP over 5G will change the landscape of communication for businesses and others alike as together they stand at providing a more reliable, faster and secure communication option.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced capabilities that, when integrated with VoIP, have the potential to change the way businesses operate and communicate. Its ability to detect patterns, process large datasets, and understand from experience can automate tasks, reduce operational costs, and improve efficiency.

AI is primarily used in VoIP communications to improve user experience, tackle security issues, and enhance call quality.

Virtual assistants, powered by AI, have become an indispensable part of VoIP and help improve the user experience by providing 24/7 support, quick response, automation, and personalization. AI also helps improve communication by recognizing customers' language and routing calls to the right personnel for a more personalized customer experience.

AI also enhances call quality by detecting and reducing noise in real-time, eliminating echoes, correcting packet loss, adjusting quality based on network strength, and correcting jitter.

Aside from call routing, it detects and prevents fraud and comes in handy when wanting to get insights into consumer behavior by analyzing patterns in conversations and generating reports. 

The factors that direct the upward shift can be attributed to smaller budgets and the growth of remote work as small businesses look for affordable telecommunications options. By using VoIP phone services over traditional telephone service, small businesses will save an average of 68%.

With more companies going remote in the wake of the pandemic, SMBs will likely choose cloud solutions to support their business. It is more secure, flexible, mobile, and scalable while also offering better call quality. 

The mobile VoIP (mVoIP) market is predicted to be valued at $327.5 billion by 2031, less than a decade from now. The growth in the market is attributed to reliable high-speed networks, the deployment of 4G/LTE, and the rise in the usage of smart devices.

It is a convenient and cheaper method of communicating via smart devices using the internet, whether you are messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, or simply calling.

mVoIP extends VoIP’s mobility and supports two types of communications: cordless protocols for short-range communications and 3G/4G protocols for wider-area communications.

With the rise in demand for mobile VoIP, smartphone manufacturers are launching phones with highly compatible features with VoIP services, and cloud telephony companies are partnering up to increase their capabilities.

IBM, Facebook, Skype, Viber, Cisco Systems, WeChat, and Zoom are the largest manufacturers in the mVoIP market worldwide.

With businesses turning to VoIP services for their communication needs and cybercrime at an all-time high, VoIP phone systems providers are adding security layers, like advanced authentication mechanisms and end-to-end encryption.
 

To protect against data breaches and prevent unauthorized access, VoIP service providers will need to employ many powerful multi-layer security methods, including offering customers Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption. In 2023, annual data breaches increased by more than 20%, and 82% of hacks involved data stored in the cloud. 

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected network-aware devices that can collect, send, and receive data. It connects devices (like phones, cameras, thermostats, lighting, refrigerators, and more) to the internet. WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular IoT make up nearly 78% of all IoT connections.

As VoIP and IoT share the same Internet Protocol network, they can be integrated to deliver more value in telecommunications and business settings. The integration will enable a smart office, richer information in real time, facility management, and presentation of presence notification. IoT’s potential was realized with the emergence of cellular IoT and AI.

An omnichannel VoIP solution offers businesses an all-in-one communication solution for internal and external communication. Having multiple communication channels (phone, SMS, online chat, social media, and email) in a single system leads to higher efficiency and productivity.

Few VoIP service providers offer an integration of Unified Communications, but that will change in the coming years as customers increasingly expect cohesive support across multiple channels. 

VoIP platforms offer a wide range of features that make improving customer experience a breeze. Most business phone systems offer call monitoring, call whispering, call analytics, and unified communications features. Call monitoring and call whispering allow managers to listen in on their employees' conversations and whisper suggestions to help them deal with customers in tricky situations. With the call analytics report, businesses can get ideas of customers' wants, and having different effective channels of communication in one platform helps provide a great customer experience.

VoIP integration with enterprise software syncs all necessary information, removing redundant tasks. It eliminates the disruption that comes from having to switch between a business phone system and other third-party software.

Each industry has its own unique workflow, but certain software and tech stacks are required for each business to ensure a smooth operation. A dental phone system might need a different set of features, and a phone system for restaurants might need a different set of features.
 

Customer relationship management (CRM), communications, sales, marketing, and PR software are some of the software that all businesses need, whether you have a small or large employee base.

Having all of the software and tools that you require integrated into one system will make business operations smooth and efficient.

To encourage more companies to choose their VoIP platform, many VoIP service providers are integrating more business applications and software. Software usually supported by VoIP platforms is directly related to sales and customer service, such as CRM.

If CRM software and the business phone system are integrated, agents are spared from manually loading details into CRM after a call with a customer. Rather, VoIP CRM integration automatically saves the call and customer details into the CRM software after the call ends. 

VoIP is undoubtedly the future of business communication, as indicated by the VoIP trends, but the many innovations in telecommunications will change the way VoIP technology prioritizes its features.

By integrating powerful tools like 5G and AI, VoIP providers will be able to offer a reliable platform that has exceptional call quality, less number of dropped calls, and nonexistent incorrect call routing.

In the future, VoIP technology will continuously evolve to be more mobile, scalable, and customizable to fit each organization’s unique needs.

Everyone is switching to VoIP phones because they allow you to make calls over the internet. With a good internet connection, this is an economical option compared to traditional telephone systems. Other reasons for the switch are its flexibility, reliability, mobility, scalability, and integration capabilities. 

The biggest benefit of VoIP is the ease of calling from any location, any device and any provider at a low cost. Other benefits are better call quality, extensive features, and first-rate integration with other systems and enterprise software.

VoIP is banned in the UAE, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, Israel, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, and Qatar, among other countries, primarily due to the protection of state-owned internet service providers and security reasons.