The future of voice is something no company can afford to overlook. While it's true that the way we communicate has evolved in recent years, leading to new trends for video, messaging, and SMS, voice is still our go-to method of communication. It's how we interact with colleagues daily. Plus, it's also how 61% of consumers prefer to contact companies.
But the business voice landscape is evolving. Traditional enterprise telephony options are disappearing as we shift towards a new era of scalable, agile, and reliable cloud-based interactions. In fact, by 2032, the market for cloud telephony will be worth an incredible $51.5 billion.
Here's why companies need to invest in the future of voice to enable collaboration, customer service, and productivity in 2024 and beyond.
1. Voice is Still the Top Way to Communicate
As mentioned above, today's employees and consumers have endless ways to communicate, from interacting through messenger and social media apps to leveraging video conferencing. However, voice is still the go-to solution for many interactions. 77% of consumers even believe a phone call is the fastest way to get an answer from a company.
It's not just consumers that appreciate voice communication options. Employees also like to interact via voice, particularly in today's hybrid and remote work world. RingCentral found that 43% of employees think voice communications help to combat loneliness at work.
A further 68% say voice is crucial for productivity, and 69% say it leads to better workplace relationships. Ultimately, voice is still essential to the communication stack.
2. Preparing for the PSTN Switch Off
The future of voice is moving beyond the traditional and somewhat outdated technologies we once used for connectivity. While the PSTN and ISDN networks have been a mainstay of the voice landscape for decades, that's beginning to change with the arrival of the "PSTN switch-off.”
BT will turn the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) system off for all customers in the UK by December 2025. By then, every phone line within the UK must have moved to a fully digital network, leveraging internet protocol technology.
The UK isn't the first country to take this step. Countless other countries are already well on their way to eliminating old-fashioned voice networks in favor of more flexible solutions. Investing in the future of voice ensures you can stay connected in the years ahead.
3. The Future of Voice Delivers Cost Savings
One of the significant facets of the future of voice is the transition to cloud-based telephony. The cloud offers companies many benefits over traditional voice solutions, from increased flexibility and scalability to opportunities for rapid innovation.
Perhaps most importantly, it can help companies reduce operating costs, allowing more control over expenses in a challenging economy. VoIP and cloud-based phone systems minimize the cost of paying for expensive global communication solutions and reduce the costs of managing and maintaining distributed technologies. Plus, they reduce hardware costs by allowing companies to leverage "softphones" for communication through computers and smartphones.
Many cloud voice providers offer bundled services, allowing companies to access everything from video conferencing to instant messaging in one cost-effective package. Moreover, with the cloud, you can scale your cloud systems more easily without needing extensive configuration support.
4. Unlock Flexibility and Innovation
Switching to the cloud for the future of voice also helps companies consolidate complex technology stacks. For instance, companies can work with cloud voice providers to add advanced voice capabilities to their existing tools, like Microsoft Teams. They can also leverage CPaaS solutions to add real-time communications into other apps and systems.
The cloud can also empower businesses to take advantage of new and innovative solutions to enhance communications with speed. Adding new functionality, like voice AI bots, assistants, and automation capabilities, to traditional telephony systems would be expensive and complex.
