By Darach Beirne, Vice President of Customer Success at Flowroute, now part of Intrado

As businesses across the globe continue to adapt to the ongoing pandemic, many have migrated to cloud-based communication systems and workplace tools to maintain business continuity, and improve remote collaboration within teams and interactions with customers. But the shift to remote work was sudden and many businesses made quick decisions and swift migrations to cloud-based telecom providers without a long-term plan.

Looking ahead, while some businesses will embrace remote work long-term, other will begin the task of planning for a shift to a hybrid system of remote and in-person operations. In either case, IT decision makers will look to better understand and improve their cloud communication investments to maximize their return on investment.

A growing trend in the cloud telecom market is likely to gain even more traction as a result: Adopting a be-your-own-carrier (BYOC) communications model.

BYOC Communications Strategies

In summary, the BYOC model provides enterprises or third-party software developers with direct access to public carrier-level telephony services through partnerships with cloud-based communications providers. By using APIs, enterprises can build custom communications offerings into their existing services. Another version of BYOC exists where businesses can adopt a bring-your-own carrier model. Bringing your own carrier simply means businesses have the flexibility to take their own carrier to their platform of choice rather than being forced into a single carrier or a bundled approach. This is similar, but distinct from the be-your-own-carrier model.

Benefits of Being Your Own Carrier

The BYOC model is an appealing solution because it gives the business or third-party developer the control to design and deploy services that meet the unique needs of their operations and customers. This control creates new ways for enterprises to innovate and differentiate products and services by incorporating tailored communications capabilities. Examples include masked phone numbers to maintain privacy of contract workers for companies like Uber and Rover, or dynamic location tracking of a phone number for emergency services.

Flexibility is another advantage of the BYOC model. In today's marketplace, customers' needs are constantly changing, and businesses must be flexible and adapt to their needs. The BYOC model allows enterprises to make changes without having to invest in new equipment or engage with a new service provider. For example, if data shows that customers prefer texting vs. calling when communicating with a company, the business can adjust offerings to match that change in preference and engagement.

The Role of Telecom Providers

In response to this trend, cloud communication providers are tailoring services for enterprise customers by offering BYOC solutions that deliver greater transparency and allow the business to take control of their telecom. While it may seem that this shift would displace telecom providers, industry experts expect it will open new revenue streams and channels to market existing services. And given the strict and complex FCC regulations, there will continue to be an important role for telecom companies to manage the direct connection to the telephone network and bear this regulatory burden - something that most companies are not equipped to handle.

Communications solutions encompassing a variety of telecom APIs create the most robust BYOC models. Businesses that adopt the BYOC model may choose to work with multiple telecom providers, which will increase competition between providers and lead to more innovation in the telecom industry. Those that offer the greatest access and control will emerge victorious.

As businesses recalibrate and plan for the future, they'll take stock of the new technologies they implemented in the early days of the pandemic and seek opportunities to maximize the investment. Cloud-based communications technology and the BYOC model present the perfect opportunity to crop up stronger and nimbler in the quickly evolving business world.

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About the Author

Darach Beirne is vice president of customer success at Flowroute, now part of Intrado. With more than 25 years of experience building and leading B2B customer success, Darach leads Flowroute's dedicated customer support team, driving strategy for customer success and improved customer satisfaction. Prior to joining Flowroute, Darach lead professional service and sales engineering teams for providers such as Contenix, Huawei/3Leafsytems, InQuira, Siebel/Scopus and Ingres. He also has assisted high-tech companies develop strategies to improve the customer experience and increase scalability.