One of my young colleagues at work, a girl aged just 27 years does a brilliant job of handling home, office, clients, hobbies and holidays. I often wondered how she manages to pull of all of them with such ease. Is it that she has professional education as a manager? Or does she have tricks up her sleeve that I don’t.
I decided the best way to know is to ask her. So I finally did. I asked her, how she manages so many aspects of her life. I was expecting her answer to be anything like, making lists, having reminders, a supportive spouse or even magic! Least was I expecting what she told me. She said, she manages most of her life through a smartphone!! Millennials, I say!!
I was a little taken aback at the answer. I guess it was showing on my face. She was kind enough to take the time out to explain a few apps – organizer, instant messaging, whatsapp and the likes. She also told me how she manages things on the go. She finishes most of her work on the go. So when she reaches home, she has quality family time.
Two things hit me in one go. First this girl has access to such amazing technology. Second, organizations have evolved so much to facilitate an employee to work from anywhere.
For me, another woman but from a previous generation, all this seemed very magical. In our days, a phone was just for calling. Balancing work and life with so much ease required more than just a smartphone!
The telecom sector itself meant for us a network of telephones that help us all over to talk to each other. Today’s telecom has evolved a lot. I keep hearing the word cloud telephony. Eventually I understood what it means too.
In layman terms, Cloud Telephony is a technology enabled movement of all your business into a virtual space, called the cloud. This means, there is no more need for physical infrastructure to host telephonic equipment. There is also no need to worry about something damaging the physical infrastructure and the long pause it can cause to your business. Plus you don’t need to hire a full team to manage your business telephone needs. In effect, cloud telephony is cost effective, scalable, reliable and is absolutely hassle free.
I did a little bit of reading to understand what all is happening in the space of telecom and cloud telephony. This post is all about what to expect in this fascinating industry in 2017.
Communication Apps to Grow Further
Calling someone overseas generally means buying calling cards. This scenario is changing rapidly as apps like Whatsapp, Viber, Google Voice, Skype, FB Messenger replace most part of the international calling. These apps work both for texts and videos. Smartphones further make it easier to use these apps.
The exponentially increasing trend of smartphone users globally will naturally gravitate towards apps.This will directly translate to app based calling and messaging. Data plans becoming affordable adds to the ease of doing so. Nobody wants to spend extra.
Migration from Conventional to Cloud Based Systems to Continue
The conventional PBX systems are a thing of the past. The cumbersome process of housing a PBX along with its servers and cables can be bid adieu. Solutions like cloud IVR, virtual voice mail numbers, toll-free will see a rise. They are easy to manage, provide flexibility at lesser cost.
Businesses today want to focus all their energies on primary business goals. Cloud based solutions for business communications facilitate it. The coming year will see more and more businesses migrating from conventional PBX systems to cloud based systems.
Increased Use of Mobile for Business
Mobile phone has long ago evolved from a mere calling device. Smart phones have taken the game one level up. A smart phone allows you to conduct your business on the move. Whether it is answering emails, updating complicated excel reports or joining a group business call. People can practically work from the North Pole with someone in the South Pole. Of course you will need robust data plans.
This is good news for the telecom and cloud telephony sector. More number of people would want to store their business related information on the cloud. This helps them deliver seamlessly from anywhere. 2017 is going to see a lot more of such businesses and workforce.
Backing up Globally Expanding Businesses
The global foot print of businesses today is widely spread. Even small and medium enterprises have global audience. Advanced technologies in telecom and cloud telephony have provided continuity for these global businesses. There is no more worry of a natural calamity or a man-made disaster shutting down your business. You can pick up the strings of your business where it paused and continue your work.
Your work spaces can be as widely spread as in Italy to Dominican Republic or Spain. You can still work with the same ease if you have virtual phone numbers for Spain or any of these locations.
2017 is a year that will look at more businesses being conducted on the mobile. Cloud telephony will play an important role in enabling it.
The telecom and cloud telephony services will become more cutting edge making work on the go even more seamless.
Last but not the least, 2017 will see me using various apps on my newly acquired smart phone to conduct business, review my team, present new ideas to my counterparts on the other side of the globe. I am sure I′ll have a thing or two to teach my young colleague.
These are predictions with sincere prayers. After all, we all deserve a balanced work life. If cloud telephony can help, then why not!