What a year.
For most businesses, 2022 has been all about getting back to pre-pandemic levels. And it’s fair to say the telecoms industry has weathered the ups and downs better than some.
But we can’t say this year hasn’t been without its challenges…
From geopolitical issues and rising inflation to socioeconomic factors and union strikes, the backdrop to the telecoms industry has been tense (to say the least). But it’s an industry that’s continued to be the essential thread connecting people, businesses and society as a whole throughout it all.
The way we communicate individually has evolved over the last 12 months. (When was the last time you used headsets when holding a Zoom meeting? Or sent an actual text instead of a voice message on WhatsApp?)
As such, businesses have also had to adjust operations in an effort to boost productivity and keep control of their costs.
So, let’s take a look at what’s been going on…
The future of flexibility
We may be biased, but the telecoms industry has always been ahead of its time…
The transition to remote working was a big one for many. For us, remote working has been the standard for years.
But these days, it’s a necessity across so many industries.
The UK government even introduced new legislation in 2022 to make ‘flexible working the default’, meaning employees can request flexible working from day one of their employment rather than the previous 26-week qualifying period.
To meet this monumental shift and growing demand, companies have adopted unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and cloud services for increased productivity and connectivity. And it’s been interesting to see how this evolution of cloud technology, and our dependency on it, has tipped the scales and reduced our reliance on session initiation protocol (SIP).
Now, we’re ready to face almost anything.
Take the recent snow days — thinking back to childhood, many of us would have had the day off school and spent it sledging or making snowmen. Same with strike action days; a few years ago, train strikes might’ve meant a day off work. Not anymore.
In 2022, remote working has underpinned everything — and unified communications have allowed us to work, learn and connect with anyone from anywhere, anytime.
Cutting business costs
This year, more than 3,300 workers at 70 different UK companies trialled a four-day working week with no loss of pay. And the overall consensus — boosted productivity and increased output — suggests a nationwide transition could have many benefits.
Offices only being open four days a week would significantly cut running costs, and employees would pay less to commute.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the advancements we saw across cloud services and UCaaS in 2022. But other cost-effective solutions, such as automation, have also presented themselves this year.
A study commissioned by Yell found that UK businesses could save more than £29,000 annually by adopting automatic processes through artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots and multi-channel applications. At a time when job vacancies and operational costs are higher than ever, effective automation has seen many businesses maintain productivity levels by augmenting human roles (rather than replacing them).
Equally, businesses have been undertaking other cost-cutting exercises, identifying what is more cost-effective to carry out in-house and what can be outsourced.
For example, professional telco services have proved a savvy way to cut the cost of support services for businesses struggling with tight budgets and high staff turnover. Without adding a single person to their payroll, 24/7 telecoms support services have helped fill any technical skills, knowledge or headcount gaps to ensure these companies can continue running as smoothly as possible (for less).
Revolutionising for 2023
So, that’s a bit of a look back at what’s been going on across the wider telecoms industry this year. But what about at Invosys?
We’ve made a name for ourselves by having our finger on the pulse, continually adapting to market changes and offering solutions one step ahead of the curve.
And 2022 has been no exception.
This year, we introduced several exciting new features to our Invosys Flow solution — from video calling and instant messaging to handset bundles and end-user customisation.
With multi-layer branding options and more API functionality to come, Invosys Flow has been revolutionising remote working and keeping communication simple.
The release of our connectivity portfolio (hello, bigger bandwidth) has also boosted the capabilities of remote workers. Because let’s be honest, slow broadband and unreliable WIFI connectivity just won’t do in today’s hyper-connected world.
It would also be nice to say that scams like number spoofing were left in 2021 — sadly, this wasn’t the case. Fortunately, our Invosys Call Shield solution, employed to identify the tell-tale signs of potentially fraudulent or spam phone calls, has worked to safeguard the details of businesses during a year that saw several large-scale data breaches affecting millions of users.
Evidently, it’s been a massive year for Invosys, and we’d like to say a big thank you to our customers and partners who have helped us lead from the front with our boundary-pushing, transformative solutions.
Wondering what we’ll be getting up to in 2023? Let’s just say we have a few tricks up our sleeves — but you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled and ears pricked for everything we have in store…
