Enterprise communications are about to get bigger, broader and better in 2017 as the continuous drive towards innovation kicks up a notch, according to Bayan Towfiq, Flowroute CEO and founder. He gives his top predictions as to how the communications is about to change.

1. Phone numbers are about to become more dynamic

Towfiq says that phone numbers will be used for much more than just simple voice calls.

"Phone numbers can provide identity information about a caller or an event – allowing businesses to create new value-added services to their customers. For example, by buying and assigning different phone numbers for each of their television, radio, and direct mail ads or campaigns, marketers can measure concrete results from each medium and better understand the customer's path to purchase."

2. Phone numbers are going to need more security

Phone numbers are starting to be used as a strategic weapon across marketing and operations, security will need to include the data behind those numbers.

"In 2017, we predict that phone numbers will mandate additional security measures – essentially requiring them to be locked down much like a VPN token, in order to eliminate the ability to spoof phone numbers and steal confidential identity-related information."

3. The line between OTT and PTSN will get blurred

'Infrastructure-less' carriers that use internet connections to support voice and messaging services will become the way of the future as developers integrate them into applications.

"Traditional legacy network carriers – like those that provide wired Internet connectivity – are unable to provide developers with direct access and control of telephony resources. Therefore, we predict 2017 will be the year of the cloud-based IP communications provider, with a business model based on delivering open access to telecom resources such as phone numbers, inbound and outbound calling, text messaging and advanced signaling data."

4. Contact-Centre-as-a-Service (CCaaS) is about to get bigger

Chatbots and social media customer service is around, but call centres are still the number one point of contact for customer complaints. But as with the increasing use of internet-based communication tools, service agents can be anywhere.

"In order to modernise and continuously improve the customer experience in 2017, we will see the broad adoption of the Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) model, which will provide businesses with control, flexibility and the opportunity to improve customer engagement and the overall customer experience."