Converging Communications Technologies are Driving the Communications Revolution

The news about Zoom’s plan to acquire Five9 comes as no surprise as the consolidation of communications channels continues to impact all industries across the globe. As this consolidation continues to accelerate, this is a smart move in a quickly evolving market.

In fact, this trend is many years in the making. Over the last several years, we have seen tremendous value and benefit for our customers of all sizes when it comes to the convergence of our unified communications and contact center solutions. And without the infrastructure and product portfolio to support it, it can be a challenge to deliver. 

We have seen the complexity of customer engagement needs multiply as a result of the global health crisis. As a result, companies have had to think beyond solutions and consider how they can deliver the needs of customers, employees, agents - all from a single platform. 

More and more, businesses want - and need - the option of a unified communications solution, seamlessly integrated with contact center capabilities, including access to CRM and business apps all within a single dashboard, that also provide the kind of fully programmable applications that enable them to transform how they communicate and operate from the office or anywhere.

We’re not seeing this as a need for the future but a very real need right here and now. This need has driven our strategy over the past several years to deliver this integration of solutions for our customers and we understand the depth of what is involved to help businesses create differentiated experiences for their customers and drive increased productivity within their organizations.

Custom Solutions Built from a Solid Foundation

We saw this need early on and developed our Vonage Communications Platform (VCP), a unique combination of UCaaS, CCaaS and communicatons APIs, to address this shift in the market driven by customer need. What is interesting, and so critical, about this model is that we enable any use cases in UCaaS,  whether it’s adding the conversation design or whether it’s leveraging Vonage APIs to add video collaboration and AI capabilities. Video, audio and text are seamlessly integrated as part of VCP, and a user can transition from chat to audio to video during the course of a single conversation. 

This is possible due to the underlying VCP platform, which is built on a microservices based architecture, allowing re-use of services across the various applications and use cases. Video collaboration solution Vonage Meetings is an excellent example where we were able to build a Video product for our UCaaS solution on top of our API platform and then have our CCaaS product leverage that same solution and enable video for agents. The tremendous growth in the need for video - for every individual, every business, and every industry - is a key proof point for why this kind of flexibility and agility is crucial to meet the needs of today’s modern workplace.

This ability to build upon our solutions to meet the customer’s unique needs is a core part of our business. The importance of agility - a key differentiator for our business - has grown tremendously and continues to grow as businesses of all sizes realize the need for flexibility, customization, augmentation, and personalized solutions through the use of over the top Vonage APIs. 

Leveraging communications APIs to embed programmable Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging and Verification into existing products, workflows and systems is taking this evolving need for UC and CC solutions to the next level, empowering businesses with the tools they need to transform the way they connect with each other and with their own customers.

In an increasingly digital world where business’ needs are ever-evolving, this method of development helps us get to market faster. 

Integrated Communications for Every Industry, in Every Part of the World

From hospitality and retail, to healthcare, finance, food services and publishing - Vonage customers today are already realizing the benefits of a fully-integrated platform for their internal communications and collaboration needs as customer interactions.

Domino’s Pizza chose Vonage to drive communications for its network of franchisees and enable next generation customer experiences, leveraging Vonage's unified communications solution alongside programmable voice capabilities to enhance the customer journey and connect more than 6,000 franchise and corporate locations across the U.S. Domino's has also realized the potential of integrating Vonage's Voice API to provide personalized support for its customers, help drive efficiencies and enhance order taking through integration of the Domino's Tracker®. 

Interstate Batteries, a privately owned battery marketing and distribution company, relies on Vonage Business Communications for a flexible, unified communications experience for their employees, and on Vonage Contact Center for increased productivity and personalized, intelligent customer connections. “Leveraging Vonage for both unified communications and contact center allows us to provide the personal and dependable level of service that our customers expect, while also giving our employees the tools for a seamlessly integrated, contextual workflow - no matter where they are located,” explains Mike Day, System Engineer/Telecom Specialist for Interstate Batteries.

In recent years, Axio Financial’s substantial growth required them to build a next generation platform, including a full featured contact center, that would integrate key strategic, application, and communication solutions to enhance user functionality and support their expanded business demands. With a seamless integration of UC and CC capabilities powered by Vonage, Axio Financial integrated voice interactions into key Salesforce workflows, enabled mobile access to advanced calling features, and improved salesperson efficiency. In 2018, Axio saw a 500% year-over-year talk time uplift, and outbound dialing attempts increased by 30% in the same period. 

“The Vonage Business Communications and Vonage Contact Center solutions have integrated advanced CRM related functionality into the Axio Acceleration Platform in a way that empowers our salespeople to work smartly and efficiently. Vonage has enhanced our flexibility in outbound dialing, provided reliable, high-quality voice functionality and has enabled data integration in our CRM,” said Rick Baff, Chief Information Officer, Axio Financial. 

Capturing the Evolving Communications Wave

The world has changed and we are in the midst of a communications revolution across all industries and modes of communications. Next generation technology happens in waves, and these waves build upon each other. What is happening now is the convergence of the internet, mobility, and the cloud that’s forming the digital transformation and intelligent communications wave. 

We are just at the beginning of it and it’s going to transform every business, every industry and every customer interaction.

An integrated approach is needed to meet this change head on, to deliver a wide range of robust services and solutions to power global engagement solutions that enable businesses today to perform better, connect easier and enhance experiences. 

We’re excited to see the market continue to validate our long-standing belief in the power of fully integrated communications solutions - and we’re glad we got a head start! As always, we’re focused on accelerating the way the world connects and empowering our customers to do what is next and stay ahead.