Ways That You and Your Business Can Communicate Over the Internet

 

For both businesses and the general public, there are a variety of modern communication methods that utilize the internet. You probably use a few of these methods yourself for your job and your home life.

With that in mind, here are a few ways that technology is rapidly transforming the way you communicate information.

Email Replacements

 

Email systems have been around for decades and have a variety of issues that have persisted for just as long. This is a problem for both your business and personal use as dealing with these issues can easily chew up your time and put you at risk.

Unsolicited advertising in the form of spam email messages is common, and may well form a significant amount of internet message traffic at this point. Malware in the form of computer viruses and other malicious executables embedded into email attachments are also a constant threat to anyone who uses email to communicate. Phishing schemes are commonplace with criminals sending messages intended to defraud or blackmail you.

Fortunately, there are many cloud-hosted services that provide replacements for email messaging. These services provide a more tightly controlled environment for sending and receiving messages that allow bad actors to be excluded. Many of these solutions can also work in with project management software to help with sending and updating the various documents required to keep a business project on track.

A few examples of cloud-hosted messaging services include Google Hangouts, Slack, Skype for Business, Convo, and Discord. There are many others, with new and more innovative services emerging all the time. It’s well worth investigating these services as a replacement for email.

Email itself may not be dead quite yet though. Malicious email detection using AI in telecom industry systems allows for advanced spam and malware filtering. This is important as email is still used by a huge number of people.

 

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

 

With old copper-line analog phone networks rapidly being replaced by fiber-optic cable systems transmitting digital information the movement to transform telecom systems from analog to digital is moving at a fast pace. You still need to be able to communicate via voice in an age of digital communication though, and this is where the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) standard comes into play.

VoIP basically encodes audio streams so that they can use the internet in a similar way to a standard phone line. This allows you to communicate using a phone similar to the landline phone you are familiar with, but with the signal traveling via the internet rather than the copper wire phone system.

You can even use your existing phone to communicate via VoIP by using a Virtual Phone Number. These are also known as Direct Inward Dialing (DID) numbers. A call made via a virtual number can be set to be routed to different services including VoIP, and provide a convenient way to transition your existing phone system to VoIP.

 

Video-conferencing or Videotelephony

 

Videotelephony basically involves transmitting and displaying video and audio of multiple remote conference participants in real-time. It creates a type of virtual conference room for each participant with the people they are communicating with displayed on one or more screens together.

The advantage of videotelephony over audio conference calls is that it allows you to see nuance and context conveyed by body language. This prevents misunderstandings from occurring due to a lack of context and facilitates a deeper understanding of the emphasis involved with a conversation. This can be crucial when you need to properly understand the areas of importance in the ideas being conveyed in a conference call, which is a risk in telecom industry communications.

Videotelephony is used for a variety of purposes. In business, it provides opportunities for telepresence, which allows people to communicate ideas and solutions as though they are in the same room with each other.

In the health industry, it provides a way for health professionals to communicate with both patients and other professionals in what is known as Telehealth or Telemedicine. In many other industries, it allows for collaboration and communication without the need to take the time to physically visit a remote meeting location.

 

Final Thoughts..

 

The world you live in is constantly changing and the methods you might find yourself using to communicate evolve constantly. The communication technologies listed here are just a small example of the changes you might see as even newer innovations come into play. So keep an eye out for emerging trends in information technology, as these trends may indicate the future of how you will communicate for business and in your daily life.