Is Voice a Dying App for Phones?

Is Voice a Dying App for Phones? Is the question just hyperbole? Perhaps. But consider this. Two distinct but related trends are developing in the telephony world. First, voice minutes and voicemail messages are declining. Mobile carriers like Verizon are increasing their  data prices to offset voice revenue losses. And Vonage saw an 8% reduction in the number of voicemails left in July compared with one year earlier. Second, text messaging is growing at a healthy pace with no end in sight. About 10 trillion SMS text messages will be sent in 2012, up from 7.8 trillion in 2011. Together, these two trends point to a gradual evolution in the way we use our phones.

Durn Youngsters!

Both of these trends are being driven by younger users who eschew voice calls and voicemails for the convenience, non-intrusiveness and immediate gratification of text messaging. As we currently see the trend of mobility and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) infiltrating the corporate communications environment, it seems logical that it is only a matter of time before text makes similar inroads on business telephone systems. Does this mean we are likely to see QWERTY keyboards on our desk phones soon? Maybe, maybe not. But it does bode well for system designers who include some form of text capability in their business telephone systems. It might be relatively easy to add an SMS gateway to an existing IPPBX design, but I doubt that’s what the market wants. My guess is that will take the form of Instant Messaging (IM). Instant Messaging is recognized as a critical piece of the Unified Communications (UC) puzzle.

The Evolution of IM

Of course, IM has been around a long time. It is interesting to note that IM began as a corporate application running on multi-user computer systems. With the rise of the Internet, IM became a popular consumer-oriented ‘social’ application.   Many corporate IT departments fought the battles early on to control or eliminate these social  IM apps (like AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo Messenger) on their internal networks. These were considered rogue apps as they were outside the control of the IT department and infamous as sources of computer viruses. Today, we are coming full circle with IM systems that are corporate-friendly and revolve around the business telephone system rather than multi-user computer systems. These phone system-centric applications provide the security needed for IM in the workplace.

IM for Business

Examples include the Microsoft Lync Server (formerly MOCS) and Cisco Jabber.  Another example is from Vertical Communications who include the Wave IMpulse application in the box with their Wave IP IPPBX. IMpulse enables one-to-one or multi-user messaging in a secure, controlled environment. The application can be accessed from the Wave ViewPoint desktop app or from a mobile device using either the IOS or Android version of ViewPoint Mobile. This seems to meet the needs of both the corporate IT department and users. Users like the ability to access the app, whether they are at their desk or on the go with their smartphone. IT managers like the fact messages are SSL encrypted (say for HIPAA compliance), they can use policy-based content management to control what topics are discussed (or banned) and they have a secure archive for compliance (e.g., with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or Sarbanes–Oxley) . Of course, logging IMs is only the start and IMpulse includes a complete set of tools for searching and reporting.

IM Conferencing

Wave IMpulse has some cool capabilities you might not see in other enterprise IM apps. You can set up IM sessions with parties in other organizations running on a Wave, provided the security settings allow it. You can also initiate an IM ‘conference’. Try that with your mobile SMS app!

Another very nice thing about Wave Impulse is that there are no licensing fees. IMpulse is integrated into the ViewPoint client so you can use it right out of the box.

Is your organization using a business-class IM solution? What benefits do you see from IM? Share your thoughts in the comments.