Enterprise communications in 2012

As 2012 comes to a close, many analysts are beginning to look back on the year that was and try to identify the main revolutions and evolutions in enterprise operations that will likely signify the direction the business world will go in going into 2013. Communications capabilities have been among the most rapidly advancing segments of enterprise IT.

Video conferencing, mobility, presence and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) all experienced massive growth in 2012, illustrating the need for the implementation of effective unified communications (UC) solutions going into the new year. To keep communications affordable and productive, UC is crucial.

Fierce Enterprise Communications recently published its list of the most influential advances in UC and other technology entering the workplace this year. According to the news provider, the bring your own device (BYOD) trend was unavoidable for most enterprises this year, as more consumers continue to purchase smartphones at a breathtaking pace.

These devices are also becoming increasingly useful for enterprise functions, leading more employees to use them for enterprise functions. The source noted that the use of mobile over-the-top (OTT) VoIP started to gain steam this year, and is expected to skyrocket to 1 billion users by 2017, which would represent nearly one-third of all mobile device users.