Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2020. Read them in this 12th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Joe White, Chief Technology Officer,
Brightlink
Answering the Call for Change: 2020 Communications Tech Predictions
Consumer trust and the increasing desire
for engagement on native channels will drive communications industry changes in
2020. It will be a big year for technology advancements as artificial
intelligence and blockchain adoption finally become a reality and businesses
get savvy about delivering on what consumers and business customers really
want. Here are our top five communications predictions for the year ahead.
1.
Consumer trust in voice communications
will see a resurgence as robocalling, scams and spam get stamped out: More people will answer their phones than
they have in the past five years thanks to massive efforts by wireless and
traditional carriers to crack down on
robocalling and verify that "trusted" parties are on the other end of the line.
The FCC has also mandated that carriers and handset providers be able to
implement SHAKEN/STIR which is a method of signing phone calls with attestation
levels and certificates that identify the source of the traffic as well as it
legitimacy. In the future, calls without
this signature or ones that have a low level of attestation (likely calls from
overseas and from untrusted organizations) will be blocked at the network level
from reaching consumers.
2.
Apps usage will decline in business communications as
consumers increasingly prefer native communications channels: Consumers will be less accepting of apps as a way to
communicate with businesses, preferring the convenience of native channels. The
impacts for businesses will be two-fold: they will need to employ new
strategies for handling communications over native SMS and they will need to
implement functionality that allows for greater personalization of services via
native applications. One branding opportunity is that as short code begins to
disappear, companies will leverage opportunities like Rich Call Data (RCD) to
do things such as send their logos and colors to handsets to reinforce their
unique brand experience when calling customers. RCD - when coupled with RCS on
the messaging side - allows for completely unique experiences that are 100%
native in the handset with no need for company-specific apps.
3.
AI usage in communications will increase
thanks to APIs: In the
same way that APIs have democratized access to communications networks and data
services, APIs will begin to be used to inject AI into all sorts of
platforms and programs that on their own would not warrant such technology.
First, APIs will unlock AI to the developer community that didn't have access
to this technology before. In addition, new APIs on the market will go far
beyond the traditional machine learning APIs that have been commercially
available up to this point. What will this look like? Think companies gaining
the ability to create amazing customer experiences by tapping into the best
voice recognitions from Amazon APIs and machine learning from Google ML APIs
and coupling those with information sources like weather, flight and road closure
information that are now accessible via APIs. For example, now if a consumer is
purchasing tickets to a concert through an automated attendant, they could ask
more complicated questions such as "Do they have RV parking at the arena?" and still have those questions answered by the
automated attendant versus having to transfer to a live person. This type of AI
can understand exactly what the customer is looking for and even anticipate
their next question.
4.
Blockchain will finally see adoption in communications:
Blockchain technologies
and use cases have been highly pushed through the media and tech industries,
but actual implementation has been limited. Heavy investments from large firms
like IBM and Facebook will finally see companies understanding the advantages
of using this encrypted and decentralized technology. So how will blockchain be
used in communications? One big way blockchain can be applied is to help with
the huge industry issue of call verification to help eliminate spam calling and
spam texting. Another use for blockchain in communications is phone number
portability, which has become an outdated and unreliable process. We are now
seeing patents get submitted around using blockchain for porting of phone
numbers from network to network both domestically and globally. There are many
uses for blockchain in communications, and 2020 will see the first ones come to
fruition.
5.
The Education industry will secure its
communications and lead the way for other industries: The Education industry comes with a lot of
inherent sensitivities in communications needs between teachers, students and
parents. In 2020, we'll see the industry get on board and lead the adoption of
secure communications technologies. Two issues are really driving the increased
adoption of communications technologies in schools: the need to engage multiple
parties via appropriate and secure channels and the need for better emergency
response systems for everything from increasingly frequent school lockdown
situations to natural disasters. The impacts will go beyond the Education
industry, as several other industries will stand to benefit from schools'
"lessons learned" including the Financial, Legal and Government industries.
2020 promises to be an
exciting year in communications. Make sure your business is ready to answer the
call for change.
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About the Author
Joe White is the Chief Technology Officer, and has been with
Brightlink since its inception in 2009. Joe built the original Brightlink
network, and his organization is responsible for sales engineering, network
engineering, information technology, and product development.
Prior to Brightlink,
Joe spent 10 years in other lead technology roles, including Commvault, CTS/Agilysis, and Troutman Sanders, where he
was a senior systems engineer and a Microsoft certified consultant. Under Joe's leadership, Brightlink products
have garnered numerous technology industry awards including TMC 2018 Customer
Product of the Year, CIO Applications 2017 Top 25 Unified Communications
Solutions Providers, and TMC 2017 Tech Culture Award.