2009
Google Voice and the Changing Telecom Landscape
Google Voice (formerly GrandCentral which was acquired by Google in July of 2007) is about to become available to the masses within a matter of weeks changing the landscape of telecommunications forever. The service itself is packed full of useful features that streamline message management, improve call routing and enhance personal privacy control. The service is quite compelling, and it even offers free calling to anywhere in the USA.
As Google sets the bar higher for next-generation telecommunication service providers to compete for subscribers, they are driving more competition by bringing to market very compelling features and functionality. Google Voice competes not only on price, but it also hits a home run with the feature set it offers. This is a perfect example of how next-generation service providers must compete in this new market reality.
Today, subscribers want to be able to manage their telecommunications services at their fingertips via the web or mobile device rather than by cryptic DTMF key sequences, and they want to have the freedom and flexibility to self-manage their services from home, the office or on the go. In order for the next-generation telecommunication service provider to compete they must upgrade their networks to support innovative enhanced services, advanced messaging capabilities, flexible call routing capabilities and mobile device integrations through platforms like Talking SIP. Talking SIP allows next-generation service providers to offer differentiated, empowering and high margin services to help drive revenue, increase margin and reduce churn in order to compete with hosted services like Google Voice.
Google Voice is a great example of how the phone services of the past are changing forever as we start to see voice applications/services that streamline telecommunications and leverage the connectivity and ubiquity of the Internet.
