Editor’s Note: With 2013 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from leading industry analysts and executives on what they expect to see in the new year.
It’s always fun this time of year for our team at Acme Packet to gaze into the crystal ball and come up with our best bets for what we think will happen in 2013 (and beyond).
It’s no surprise that the telecom industry has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last few years, and we don’t see this slowing down in 2013. The two biggest things that have happened in our lives, from any type of communications perspective, are the Internet and the mobile phone, and these two items are now converging – the way we communicate is being revolutionized by advanced devices, activation of LTE wireless services and the expansion of Wi-Fi access areas. As such, telecom providers must evolve business models and service offerings to meet consumer demand.
Because of all of this, there are several major themes that have emerged that I feel will shift the communications landscape in 2013.
The focus on BYOD will expand from just data to voice and video: Since the dawn of the now-famous (and perhaps overused) BYOD acronym, one of the main concerns of the bring-your-own-device phenomenon has been about sensitive e-mail or documents being exposed. Moving into 2013, companies will realize that unmanaged and unsecured real-time communications with BYOD could pose additional challenges as it relates to not only data, but also voice and video communications. Companies of all sizes will work to develop and enforce BYOD policies that include voice and video threats and will need infrastructure to support it.
We’re nearing the end of desk phone purchases: Traditional desk phones are costing enterprises a lot to keep and manage, yet they are rarely used nowadays – mobile devices and desktop unified communications applications are quickly replacing the utility of the desk phone. In fact, according to a recent by Atlantic-ACM, nearly three-fourth of respondents noted that the death of the office desk phone will be the single most disruptive force in voice services. And as smartphones go all-IP, they will become the hub for UC communications. This will be the year companies stop investing in desk phone systems and start looking for solutions that support how business communications are done today.
Click-to-call from Web browsers and apps will take off: Thanks to the advances in WebRTC and other technologies that enable communications-rich applications, consumers and business alike will benefit from voice- and video-enabled applications. This will range from “happy buttons” on Web pages that allow an instant connection to a customer service call center, all the way to CRM systems with voice integration capabilities that support auditing and recording. While WebRTC won’t be the massive disruptor that many are predicting, it will certainly gain a seat at the technology table in the coming year, and will ultimately make it easier for consumers and businesses to seamlessly connect with one another.
A major enterprise communications fraud event is inevitable: In 2013, there will be an occurrence of a massive fraud resulting from a security breach occurring via an over-the-top, unsecured real-time communication service. The focus on over-the-top communications services has been on the ease of use and the cost, and not on the security of the network. While employees might think they’re doing their company a favor by conducting business calls on over-the-top services like Skype, they’re actually putting the company at risk. It’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when something will happen. While unfortunate, a data fraud will serve as an opportunity for service providers to demonstrate the advantage of being closer to the network for security and identity purposes.
Device manufacturers will continue to increasingly add more value for consumers, putting pressure on service providers: As device manufacturers up the ante on the services they provide to customers with over-the-top services, they’re taking away value from service providers. As a result, carriers will need to create more branded services to stay in the game and keep their market share. This will force service providers to shift their business models and bring services to market faster than they ever have in the past to compete with over-the-top services developed by device manufacturers.
IMS 2.0: Initial IP multimedia subsystem projects were costly, complex and not effective, and as a result a number of them are going to crash and burn in 2013. Fortunately, they will be replaced with next-generation IMS solutions that are less complex and can be deployed faster and at a lower cost. For many, this will mean deploying architectures that will resemble those that underpin cloud-like services.
Wi-Fi and small cells will complement LTE: Although more and more people are starting to use LTE-enabled devices, the networks are not yet fully in place to effectively support them in a comprehensive or cost-effective manner. That’s why the opportunity for Wi-Fi and small cells will be huge in 2012: carriers will turn to them to complement LTE networks in another effort to move to an all-IP world.
