Voice, Video and Vice Versa

Face-to-face interaction – albeit virtual – has kept the world feeling connected since the pandemic struck. 

Visions of us all in our improvised and variously-appropriate (or not) home office environments have become so familiar that it’s easy to make a case for a ‘video first’ comms approach. 

However, it’s equally easy to see that not all forms of interaction either warrant or benefit from the ability to look someone in the eye or check out their background.  

After all, pre-pandemic we rarely turned to video. 

We called or emailed or sent an SMS. 

Depending on the context of our comms, we perhaps made use of a neat chat function too: getting help with our online banking maybe, or trouble-shooting a temperamental wi-fi router. 

All of that past experience – coupled with the demands of today’s (permanently) changed landscape – should help us as we consider the next iteration of truly unified communications: a fully-integrated, user-friendly choice of voice OR video. 

A backward step? 

Well, to the post-pandemic purists maybe. 

But when was the last time you engaged with a customer service team, your doctor’s office or your gas and electricity provider and felt somehow disappointed that you hadn’t been able to actually see the person you were talking with? 

Global voice and video comms giant Sangoma is assuming the answer is never – and has tweaked the functionality of its video meeting platform Sangoma Meet to suit. 

“Many of us in the workplace have multiple video meetings every single day – the invites are in our calendars and we just go to them” says Jim Machi, Sangoma’s Senior Vice President of Product Management and Marketing. 

“The audio calls we used to make are becoming a thing of the past. We start in video and end in video. I’m on our own video meeting platform Sangoma Meet all the time. It’s like my best friend.  I know its personality. 

“That’s great for internal employee team calls or calls with your channel partners but, for many businesses and many functions, video is not the right medium. 

“For making an appointment or to place an order for something, calling or texting or using a self service portal is more efficient. That means any organisation with a sole focus on video meetings or video calling is unlikely to be able to service a small or medium-sized business.” 

To provide that voice/video/chat flexibility via a fully-integrated, features-rich, single-interface, the video meeting platform Sangoma Meet has been incorporated into the mobile and desktop app Sangoma Connect – providing a talk aspect, a collaborate aspect, and a video meeting aspect. 

“You’ll be able to move seamlessly between all three,” says Machi. 

“For example, you can turn a voice call into a video call and you can launch a video call from the collaboration app. 

“We believe it’s critical that we offer customers the ability to communicate in all three ways – but it’s more critical that they are able to choose which one without having to switch out of one application and into another.  

“To me, this is just the latest evolution of what we used to know as the PBX. Originally, PBX was very voice–centric, but UC features such as mobility and the ability for the office phone number to ring on your smartphone or desktop meant the PBX had to evolve. 

“Integrating video and chat as if it is native voice is just the next step.” 

All of that said, there’s no question that voice calling – in volume terms at least – IS waning in popularity. 

But for those organisations for which it remains the primary method of communication, voice-centric functionality such as call control, call routing and external call or text scheduling is mission-critical. 

“That functionality cannot be processed by scheduling a meeting on a calendar,” says Machi. 

“You need a real IVR, you need contact center features, you need voice mail, you need find me/follow me. In those circumstances, a video first comms platform just won’t cut it” 

So, nothing like a backward step: whether you’re a purist or not. 

Just intuitive, unified, fully-integrated flexibility. 

And THAT’S about as next gen as it gets…! 

For more information on Sangoma Connect, visit www.sangoma.com