New York City has long been considered an international hub of finance, culture, and media. Institutions like the New York Stock Exchange have helped establish NYC as the business capital of the world, while cultural icons like Broadway and The Met have solidified its position as a beacon of the arts. New trends and businesses often get their start in the big city, then ripple outwards to the rest of the country until they take root nationwide.
As technology evolves, the trend of globalization is spreading beyond New York into the world at large. The Unified Communications (UC) market has made it easier to work remotely and connect digitally, giving workers the ability to engage with broader audiences than ever before. Paired with the recent advances in artificial intelligence, UC solutions have started to reshape the ways in which people communicate in the workplace from the ground up.
At its core, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is about integrating and streamlining communication. Unified Communication brings together various communication methods – including emails, phone calls, video, and chats – into a single platform. Instead of using different devices and platforms to switch between a call with a client and an email to a coworker, UC solutions allow workers to manage all communications from one platform on one device. Not only does this help employees communicate more efficiently, but it also helps businesses monitor and analyze communication to support growth.
Now that AI has injected new life into almost every industry, the UC market is experiencing a shift that is likely to continue. Existing communications tools are being revamped to automate tasks, collect data, and provide insight into areas of improvement. At the same time, new tools are coming out regularly that use AI in innovative and exciting ways. While there have been longstanding concerns about AI eliminating jobs, the reality is that AI has become a third-party partner that may help reduce the need for routine tasks, while also potentially increasing the capacity for every employee.
Companies like net2phone, a longstanding provider of unified communications and contact center solutions based out of Newark, NJ, have evolved alongside AI to deliver up-to-date tools that help businesses meet their communications needs. The company specializes in cloud-based product solutions like UNITE and uContact, which help businesses manage and improve both internal and external communications. As the company has grown from an early proponent of VoIP technology into a global communications partner, it has also expanded its use of AI to enhance and modernize its offerings for today’s business needs.
The net2phone UNITE solution integrates voice, video, text, and chat capabilities into one platform, giving businesses the freedom to integrate outside platforms as needed. UNITE leverages AI in multiple ways, from AI transcriptions and summaries of phone calls to an AI-powered assistant that helps manage video meetings. uContact is a cloud-based contact center solution designed to enhance customer engagement across voice, chat, email, and social channels. As users engage with customers via social media, email campaigns, and voice calls, AI-powered tools can assist through automatic call distribution and interactive voice response.
The newest net2phone solutions are designed with AI in mind, using the rapidly growing technology to fully explore its potential. For example, net2phone’s AI Agent offers businesses an AI-powered assistant to manage sales, support, and administrative tasks across all channels. Intuitive and fully customizable, AI Agent is capable of much more than the average chatbot, which is limited to a set of predetermined responses. Not only can AI Agent understand interaction context, but it can actually take action to resolve customer issues without user input. This may help solve customer issues more quickly while giving employees faster access to company knowledge.
Another one of net2phone’s AI solutions is Coach AI, a workforce intelligence and coaching platform designed to provide instant feedback on all workplace communication. In years past, employees might have had a manager listen to them talking to a customer on the phone, offering input afterwards on what they’re doing well and where they can improve. With Coach AI, AI monitors and analyzes every form of communication – from emails to colleagues to phone calls with clients – providing employees with real-time guidance on improving communication. Managers no longer have to be in all places at once or watch productivity dip. Instead, every worker, both remote and in-person, has the potential to communicate more effectively.
“With the right tools at our disposal, every interaction could be an opportunity to improve, to work smarter, and to better engage with customers,” said Jonah Fink, President of net2phone. “Coach AI represents the next step for business communications, empowering teams to find new ways to communicate and thrive.”
While AI and the unified communications market are making remote collaboration easier than ever, New York City remains as vital as ever to the industry’s future. AI is still in its infancy, and any new developments will continue to sprout from major hubs like New York before spreading to the rest of the country. With more companies like net2phone using AI in new and interesting ways, the UC market and workplace communication as a whole will keep evolving to potentially reach new heights.
