Riding the Wave Together: How Service Providers Can Win in a Changing Business Communications Market

The business communications market is at a turning point. Unified communications is growing, but value is being squeezed. Commoditisation is eroding margins. Big global players are raising customer expectations while making differentiation harder than ever. At the same time, AI, mobility, and cloud technologies are fundamentally reshaping how businesses communicate.

For service providers, telcos, and integrators, this moment represents both risk and opportunity. Those who continue to compete on price and basic features will struggle. Those who rethink their role, and their technology foundations, can move up the value chain and build stronger, stickier customer relationships.

The perfect storm in business communications

Several forces are colliding at once:

• Ubiquitous commoditisation is making cloud telephony and UCaaS feel interchangeable
• Customer retention is under threat, as global platforms package voice into broader productivity bundles
• AI is everywhere, yet uncertainty around control, data sovereignty, and real business value remains
• Business customers expect more, especially mobile-first, consumer-like experiences that “just work”

SMEs in particular are under pressure. They need better customer service, improved productivity, and tools that adapt to how people actually work, often on the move, juggling multiple roles, and without dedicated IT teams.

Traditional, complex enterprise communications systems don’t fit. Cut-down versions don’t help either.

Why AI alone isn’t the answer

AI is transforming business communications, but technology alone doesn’t create differentiation. Simply adding conversational AI or automation features doesn’t solve commoditisation, it can actually accelerate it if everyone offers the same capabilities.

The real shift is happening where AI, voice, mobility, and business workflows come together in a way that enhances human interactions rather than replacing them.

This is where the concept of Smart Contact comes into play.

Smart Contact: turning conversations into value

Smart Contact blends conversational AI, workflow automation, unified communications, and business applications, with mobility at its core. It enables faster, more personal, and more context-aware interactions across voice and messaging channels.

Examples include:

• AI-assisted call screening that respects the user’s availability and context
• Intelligent appointment scheduling via natural language voice interactions
• AI-driven call insights that feed CRM systems automatically
• Voice-first customer engagement that still hands over seamlessly to humans when needed

For service providers, Smart Contact changes the conversation with customers. Instead of selling features, the focus shifts to business outcomes: better customer experiences, higher productivity, and measurable ROI.

Beating commoditisation through customisation

One of the clearest messages emerging in the market is this: customisation beats commoditisation.

Service providers that can tailor solutions by vertical, workflow, and customer need are far harder to replace. This requires platforms that are:

• Customisable by design
• API-driven and automation-ready
• Deployable in different environments
• Fully white-labelled and brand-owned

With the right foundation, providers can build differentiated solutions on top of cloud telephony and UCaaS, rather than competing feature-for-feature with hyperscalers.

Mobility-first is no longer optional

Business communications is now mobile by default. Employees expect a full office experience in their pocket, with seamless movement between devices, locations, and networks.

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) and mobile-first communications are no longer “nice to have”, they’re essential. Platforms that treat mobility as an add-on struggle to keep up. Those designed with mobility at their core enable:

• Consistent user experiences anywhere
• Better responsiveness to customers
• Higher adoption and satisfaction

For service providers, this creates another powerful differentiation point when combined with AI and Smart Contact.

Collaboration is the real competitive advantage

Perhaps the most important shift is strategic. No single vendor or provider can win alone anymore. The future belongs to ecosystems, service providers, technology vendors, and partners working together to deliver real customer value.

By collaborating more deeply, providers can:

• Retain control over customer relationships
• Choose how and where AI is applied
• Maintain data sovereignty
• Create predictable, recurring revenue streams

This is how conversations move from product sales to long-term partnerships.

Riding the wave, together

The tide is rising in business communications. Service providers face genuine challenges, but also unprecedented opportunity. By combining AI, voice, mobility, and customisation on the right platform foundation, it’s possible to escape commoditisation and build sustainable growth.

Our new whitepaper explores this transformation in depth, from market forces and Smart Contact principles to real-world use cases and platform strategies for service providers.

👉 Download the whitepaper to discover how service providers can ride the wave together, and come out ahead.