It’s been a few weeks now since the Enterprise Connect event, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still on our minds, here at UC Today. During our time at the conference, we saw plenty of keynotes, announcements, and presentations that have gotten our minds buzzing about the future of Enterprise Communications.
Although the event itself might not have been filled with surprises (except for the new Amazon Connect launch), it covered a lot of important insights into the future, including a focus on the Cloud, and the presence of UX when it comes to developing new solutions for business. Today, it seems as though disruption is becoming the standard state for the enterprise world. The industry of enterprise communications as we knew it is over, or at least ending, and it’s time to prepare for the future.
The Truth Behind Predictions for Enterprise Future
During Enterprise Connect, we saw some pretty dire predictions taking place. There’s nothing new there, but it’s worth making sure that we all know what’s really going on. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the truth behind some of the latest predictions.
1: TDM systems will give way to IP communications
Most people believe that TDM systems are likely to immediately be replaced by IP communications. In fact, forecasts suggested line licence shipments to be completely IP-based by the end of the first decade of 2000. However, although licence shipments are almost 100% IP based today, it’s worth noting that many businesses are continuing to use key systems and legacy PBXs. What’s more, they’re even renewing their contracts for Centrex.
2: Desktop phones will be decommissioned
Many pessimistic forecasts for the future felt that desktop phones would be gone by now – replaced with soft clients and mobile phones. However, many vendors are still seeing growth in their shipments of desktop phones. In fact, SIP phone manufacturers have seen double-digit growth in phones for SIP.
3: Premises-based systems will be extinct
By now, some experts believed that premise-based systems would be completely replaced with cloud services. However, though businesses have begun to move their communications to the cloud over recent years, many customers are still sticking to premise-based assets.
Learning from History
If we can take anything from the predictions of the past, it’s that change isn’t an instant process. Disruptive trends in the industry of enterprise communications can emerge almost constantly, but the effect that they create materialises over a number of decades – not weeks.
With that in mind, it’s also worth noting that accelerated technology development is shortening innovation solutions. Change is becoming more normal than ever, we all expect disruption. It’s hard to argue with the fact that we might be seeing an industry that’s begun to slowly die when it comes to standalone solutions for communications. Whether UC services, or point products, within a matter of decades, siloed communications solutions will begin to shrink. The trend for this started long ago, but now we’re seeing more evidence that enterprise solutions are going to change in brand new ways.
Right now, the industry is in a state of serious transformation. The world that we knew it is evolving and adapting to allow for new value propositions. As external and internal disruptive forces continue to apply pressure, the industry is falling back on a long-lasting trend for making communications solutions more sophisticated. New business models and technologies are transforming the communication experience, and reducing capabilities to features that can now be accessed in a range of exciting new ways.
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