Call Quality in a Cloud-based and Mobile-empowered World
As we all know, the business world is experiencing seismic shifts when it comes to technology and communications.
A corporate world once dominated by enterprise applications on dedicated servers and people talking on deskphones via landlines, is now firmly entrenched in a cloud-based, wireless, mobility-centric reality. And when it comes to unified communications, the options for businesses have exploded. One thing that hasn’t changed however, is the need for interpersonal communication and collaboration. Whether it is via voice or video calls, business people need and expect to connect and communicate wherever and whenever they want, on whatever device they have handy and in the manner they prefer. And, oh yeah, they expect it to sound perfect, every time.
Challenges to Call Quality Facing Businesses and End Users
Since we were little, we’ve all learned to expect flawless sounding phone calls – and more and more we expect seamless video calls as well. However, the trends towards cloud and mobility can cause challenges for businesses looking delivering this experience for colleagues, customers and partners.
We’ve talked about the network challenges here in the past, but add on the fact that it seems as if we are constantly interacting across multiple voice and UC applications and with colleagues scattered around the country or the globe (see some of the stats about how quickly teleworking is growing, for example). But one thing that hasn’t changed is that voice is still the dominant communications method. Whether it’s a one-on-one phone call, conference call, UC collaboration session or video conference, when we need to get stuff done, we talk.
All of these changes are driving the need for reliable, high quality voice and audio endpoints, both headsets and speakerphones. To get into more detail on why voice endpoints have taken on even more significance, we caught up with Urban Gillis, the VP of Channel Sales, North America at Jabra.
Voice and Audio Performance in a UC World
“With the challenges of being on the road, connecting from an airport parking lot, or even as a home-based contact center rep connecting through your computer, the need for a high quality audio endpoint has never been greater,” says Gillis. “We’ve all experienced call jitter as the move towards IP phones and video calls has accelerated and these seem to be increasing as we’ve all been connecting through different types of networks. Eliminating the possibility of poor quality originating from your headset or mobile speakerphone just makes sense.”
Devices that incorporate technology that support a professional experience can make all the difference. For example, noise cancelling microphones to minimize the impact of that dog barking in the yard next door, or wind noise protection for that sales person on the road. “Having software-centric products that allow devices to react as environments change provides real benefits to a mobile workforce. The endpoints businesses and their employees choose deliver tangible results in terms of productivity and employee and customer satisfaction. There are few pieces of technology that you use as often as your voice endpoint and it needs to deliver and perform for you.”
We couldn’t agree more. I am never surprised anymore when there are call quality issues (connection / app issues, jitter, dropped participants, etc.) when interacting with customers and colleagues. My standing line is, “Remember the good old days when phone calls always sounded perfect? Isn’t progress great?” With all of the variables that can cause call quality issues in our hyper-connected communications environment, making sure that your endpoints aren’t one of them is a no brainer.
————————————————————– Have you checked out the new WhichVoIP.co.za website as yet? Benchmark your services against your peers, have a look at what your competitors are doing, get listed in the best Telecoms provider directory in South Africa, and advertise on the site to attract customers to your page where you can view page hits, respond to reviews, load adverts, and more.
Visit WhichVoIP.co.za or jump to a leading comparison section:
Sign up as a reseller for Fibre and Wireless Connectivity, VoIP/UCaaS and more
In addition to bringing the best news together, we have access to an extensive supplier network that makes it easy for any telecoms company looking to tap into new markets or enter the telecoms industry. Take advantage of our expertise and contact us today to line you up with the best supplier partner for your business.
