With the internet becoming one of the most used facets of business today, VoIP has gained a huge foothold in the world of Internet. While there are always improvements to be made in all systems, and we see this with the evolution of Windows products, and Apples iTunes, voice is not to be left behind.
While the protocol for voice will not change much, it has become more secure, and with each passing day there are more and more applications written to enable extra functionality out of your VoIP systems.
Dig Deep with CDR:- From CDR (call detail recording) which can be as simple as utilizing the existing database the server uses, to creating and using an entirely different database, and importing data. Adding graphics, and a sleek interface to the data, this can be a simple tool to deploy with powerful data that can show the times of your highest call volume all the way down to what countries called you, or who is calling which country and when.
Extension Managers:- Extension managers give you more flexibility and ease in managing user extensions and can even allow you to associate specific users with specific extensions, and allow them levels of access to all or specific extensions.
IVR Trees :- IVR Trees have been in use since before VoIP, but with VoIP, we are able to do so much more with IVR Trees, as well as music on hold, or even a simple message or advertisement for callers sitting on hold, or in a queue waiting on their call to be answered. Now, while we can do all these things to an IVR, the power is not actually behind your VoIP system, but the server it runs on, and as we progress the market for applications to interface with VoIP systems increases, and your choices grow.
Just as when Apple decidedly changed the music industry with the release of the ipod, and expanded with the iphone, the movement within the VoIP industry, while not as high profile as Apple or Windows events, is always changing and evolving, and the room to create your own custom system from what we like to describe as modules is almost never ending
As more and more companies choose to utilize VoIP, the demand for utilizing aspects of the system like Voicemail to email, and faxes to PDF, will increase the demand for more robust software and reporting tools for business to track the ways in which the system is utilized, and I can foresee the future where portions may even be monetized into salable ad space to help generate revenue for the companies that use the system.
While SIP trunk providers are limited due to the finite numbers available, service providers and the offerings will continue to grow, offering companies who do not want to install, run and manage their own voice servers, all the services wrapped into a bundle right along with the DID’s for the company. The vast amount of data that can be gathered via VoIP, will be of great value to all companies in making marketing or financial decisions, and due to that the growth in how that data is gathered and displayed is going to provide a huge growth in the IT field as a whole, from programmers and developers to hosted solution providers and techs at all levels.
