A nostalgic look at the past and the implications for business
In recent years, both the New Zealand and global markets have seen a decline in fixed telephony and copper-based voice services. This has been fuelled by an aggressive removal of legacy analogue access and services by the telcos, the heightened demand for improved communication tools with a richer feature set, more flexibility and support the move to cloud
Beneath this visible shift lies a more fundamental, and perhaps more disruptive, evolution: the decline of telephony and the telephone number itself as a meaningful communication medium and identifier in business and personal communication.
Today, in both our work and personal lives, we communicate and collaborate with Instant Messages (IMs), posts and video meetings, as well as peer to peer voice, all without touching the PSTN or dialling a phone number. By default, rich media collaboration has become the norm for many and has left the requirement to dial a phone number and use the public telephone network for a narrow subset of our communication needs. Perhaps calling a contact centre or dialling our parents or grandparents.
In the past businesses invested heavily in PBX systems, leased lines, and call centre infrastructure as telephony was the main stay of internal and external communication.
In the home, the humble telephone was the single link to the outside world and even operated when the power died. Some even found the curly cord therapeutic and gave them the chance to unwind.
New Ways of Communicating
Now apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, and business applications like Microsoft Teams, Zoom Phone, Dialpad, 8*8 and even Slack have profoundly reshaped how we connect, communicate and collaborate. The apps offer:
Rich media (images, messaging, video, screen shares, voice)
Access from almost any device
Extended reach without traditional telecom constraints (phone lines), anywhere there is internet
Document management and productivity tools.
While many of the apps still use phone numbers for initial setup and/or can have associated phone numbers, the actual communication is increasingly tied to user profiles, app handles, or cloud-based identities and it totally bypasses the PSTN.
This shift is due to convenience, (most being supported on a mobile device), the rich media available and of course the “free” nature of the interaction (excluding data charges of course).
Not to be forgotten, the ubiquitous adoption of mobile phones and their support for a range of communication apps has further undermined the traditional telephone call even though this remains a core service on the mobile network.
What is the impact for business?
As the market continues to adopt UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) and other application-based platforms as the norm for customer and internal engagement and communication several key changes are emerging:
Telephone calls are now just one of many communication options. Internal users and customers can choose between phone, chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, or email. As people prefer to use convenient methods, businesses must adapt by offering more flexible communication channels.
IM and Chat let people send messages when it's convenient for them, but they can switch to voice calls if needed for more complicated issues. There is pressure on businesses to offer more ways for customers to communicate
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to capture, analyse, and extract actionable insights from voice and digital interactions in real time, enabling businesses to personalise content, understand customer trends, and make data-driven decisions across various departments
Identity untethered from phone numbers: As the use of phone numbers as communication identifiers fades and their geographic meaning erodes due to portability, businesses will need to shifting towards unified digital identities—such as biometric logins, app handles, passkeys, and cloud-based profiles—making these the new standard for verifying users and enabling communication
Telecom industry transformation: Phone companies and PBX providers are moving away from traditional voice services to focus more on cloud communication, data networks, and AI. Within this the much lauded five nines reliability (99.999% uptime) and consistent call quality for telephony is being eroded. Particularly in the Contact Centre realm, variable voice call quality will need to be re considered as the range of platforms expands.
What should CIOs, CDOs and digital leads take out of this?
As this transformation accelerates, digital and technology leaders must look beyond the infrastructure changes and ask more strategic questions:
Communications and Collaboration strategy:
Are your customer engagement platforms aligned with the shift to app-based communication? Do you know what percentage of your customers would prefer to use, for example, Chat or WhatsApp to engage with you?
How are you managing digital identities beyond phone numbers?
Have you considered what role phone numbers will play in authentication and verification processes?
Are you maximising the UCaaS tools available? Think about internal and external communication and the multiple communication modes, peer to peer voice, telephony, IM and how AI could extract more value internally.
Cost and optimisation:
Do all your staff still need a fixed phone number and telephony capability. We are seeing less than 20% of staff making and receiving telephone calls in some industries, and the mobile phone continues to be the handset of choice.
Can you reduce your UCaaS and associated telco licensing costs? If your contracts are greater than 2 years old, it is worth reviewing what new services would allow operational cost savings.
AI and interaction analysis
How are you leveraging AI to transcribe, analyse, and extract value from voice and other interactions? Is this just in your Contact Centre or are you utilising this across the wider organisation?
Are you capturing and using “voice content” to improve customer experience, compliance, and/or decision-making?
Does AI offer options for more advanced contact centre integration to other line of business applications beyond CRM? For example, Workflow or ERP.
Internally how can AI be used to improve workflows and collaboration?
Governance and risk:
Are you prepared for the regulatory implications of encrypted, app-based communication?
How do you ensure continuity, security, and data governance where telephony world is just one communication medium?
Final Thoughts
As businesses transition from traditional telephony and fixed phone numbers to media-rich, app-based communication, we’re witnessing the rise of digital identities, AI-powered content analysis, and integrated collaboration tools that are redefining how we interact.
While the humble telephone call and its number may seem destined for obsolescence, voice itself is evolving, potentially regaining prominence as the interface of choice thanks to AI, natural language processing, and digital assistants.
The real question for organisations is not just how to adapt to new platforms, but how to use these innovations strategically to optimise communication, manage risk, and prepare for a future where voice, enhanced by technology, remains central but transformed.
Dave Gibbon has had 37 years working in telecommunications and knows his stuff; including mobile voice and data, fixed voice, Unified Communication and Collaboration, Wide Area Networking, and IoT. He loves helping organisations get great business outcomes and user experiences. If you want to understand what these changes mean for your business - get in touch.
Phone Dave Gibbon on +64 21 331 865 or Kerry McFetridge on +64 21 436550 to discuss any topics raised in this article.
Or make a meeting to discuss: Create a meeting with us here.