The past couple of years has seen a lot of uncertainty – it has seemed at times like every moment of optimism can be dashed in the blink of an eye. However, the new year is incoming, and with it a fresh sense of hope that we might be able to regain some normality.
But that isn’t the only thing that 2022 will bring – here are 5 things we can expect to shake up the world of business telephony in the new year.
1. Movement away from traditional PSTN
BT announced back in 2015 that it was planning to switch off the old copper wires of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in 2025. However, many providers have only begun switching over to alternative telecommunications software in the past couple of years.
As 2025 becomes another year closer, we can expect the popularity of PSTN replacement options such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to increase significantly throughout 2022, and the next couple of years that follow.
VoIP services offer a more reliable connection, and allow you to call from any device that has access to the internet. It also boasts a range of other features and applications, which brings us to the next expected shake up of business telephony in 2022: unified communications.
2. Unified communications
Customers will all have a preferred way to get in touch with your business, be it live chat, email, social media, text messaging, or, of course, a telephone call. With continued emphasis on streamlined processes, we can expect the popularity of unified communications to increase in 2022.
Unified communication combines VoIP, email, text messaging, and much more, into one, easy to use application. This means you don’t have to check multiple devices or applications to see who has called you – everything will be available to you in one, single place.
3. Increased emphasis on security
In 2021, it has been reported that the risk of cyber security threats increased exponentially. Due to this, we can predict that there will be an increased awareness of cyber hacking and cyber attacks, emphasising online security more than ever before.
With phone lines likely to move online, this means that business telephony will have more focussed cyber security in 2022, in order to reduce the risk of any data leaks.
4. Foldable telephones
We all know about those flip phones that were all the rage in the early noughties. Well, flip phones are back – this time with touchscreen capabilities. These smartphones can either fold horizontally or vertically, allowing you to have a larger surface area screen, but in a more compact design.
Foldable telephones have the potential to revolutionise business telephony, unfolding to create a tablet computer. Just imagine the applications of having a tablet computer in your back pocket! And once you’re done, just fold it away, and continue your phone call using the external screen.
5. Growing popularity of 5G
On average, download speeds of a 5G network is between 1.4 and 14.3 times faster than 4G. Thus, it goes without saying that more business telephones will opt for 5G where possible, allowing for faster and more reliable communications.
In addition to higher download speeds, 5G networks also have higher transfer speeds, increased bandwidth, and reduced latency. This can give devices a huge boost in performance.
