Brian Metherell, vice president and general manager of Toshiba Telecom, presents six top trends for SMB business communications.
The start of a new year is time to take stock, look ahead and plan for what the coming months will hold for business communications systems. Maybe we’re glass-half-full types, but we see a lot of good news ahead — and we’re working hard to create some of that good news. Here are the top six trends that should interest our small to mid-sized business (SMB) customers.
1. This is the year for unified communications.
When most people hear the term “unified communications,” they often just think of voice, email and fax. That’s what we call unified messaging. Unified communications is much more. It’s about converging desktop phones, cell phones, voice mail, email, video conferencing, Web-based collaboration, presence, chat and more. It’s about extending this capability to everybody, not just to call center agents and power users.
In 2012, SMBs will realize that unified communications are truly within reach — and are simple to deploy, simple to use and affordable.
2. Small business will think big.
According to U.S. census data, 99.9 percent of the 27.5 million U.S. companies have fewer than 500 employees. Fewer than 20,000 companies have more than 500 employees. SMB remains a very big market!
Representing such a huge force in commerce, small to mid-sized businesses won’t compromise in their business communications in 2012. They won’t accept stripped-down versions of enterprise phone systems.
In 2012, we’ll see more SMBs — even those with only 10 or 20 lines — adopting phone systems that give them all the features, power and control of enterprise-class systems, scaled and priced for small business.
3. The forecast for cloud services will be mostly sunny.
Large enterprises and the federal government have long been taking advantage of cloud computing, in which business data and applications are hosted on remote servers and securely accessed via IP networks. Cloud computing makes high-end applications — such as telephony — affordable, easy to deploy, easy to manage and flexible enough to adapt to changing business demands.
In 2012, the concept of applications as a service will gain favor with more SMBs as well. A March 2011 Microsoft survey indicates that 39 percent of SMBs (2–250 employees) will be using one or more cloud services within three years, an increase of 34 percent.
4. Mobility will seize the day.
According to Nielsen, 77 percent of Americans have a mobile phone of some sort, and 43 percent of them have smart phones. Those percentages are even higher for the ages 25–34 crowd, your up-and-coming employees. So it is no surprise that mobile phones will become commonplace as the lifeline to the communications system back at the office.
Mobility gives you one phone number with all associated privileges, preferences and features and can follow you anywhere within reach of an IP connection, wired or wireless, intranet or Internet. You can empower your smart phone to function as an office extension via the office wireless LAN while in the office and via a cellular network when out of the office. You can also have incoming calls ring at your desk phone and cell phone simultaneously.
In 2012, the growing use of these features will boost productivity and make business users’ physical locations quite seamless to colleagues and customers.
5. IP and TDM will continue to coexist.
IP telephony is king for many companies, but digital is not a dinosaur yet. Even today, many small to mid-sized businesses are still buying digital phones, especially for systems with fewer than 100 lines. Digital might be all those businesses need for now, such as for static users who don’t need IP’s new features and for traditional businesses such as retail outlets.
The market in 2012 and beyond demands both IP and digital platforms — and that both work together.
6. Regulatory compliance will be a growing consideration.
From healthcare organizations that must comply with HIPAA privacy protections to life sciences companies reporting to the FDA to financial institutions accountable to federal regulators, more and more organizations are held to regulatory scrutiny. Does anybody see this regulatory ecosystem becoming simpler and more lax in 2012? We certainly don’t. Even in industries that are not as heavily regulated, companies still must behave as good citizens in protecting customer data, privacy and care.
As a result, 2012 will bring greater adoption of communications systems that support business integrity and regulatory compliance. That can mean call recording systems that support supervisory oversight, quality control and an audit trail of verbal exchanges.
These six trends are not big leaps of faith. The stages have been set over the past few years, and the technologies are here already. The elements are in place for 2012 to be the year when more SMBs claim their rights to perform on par with the big players and have communications without compromise. At Toshiba, we work to ensure that our customers are able to take advantage of these technologies, helping them continue to grow and improve their businesses.
