Not just advanced cell phones. Now even the landline phone becomes smart. And the smartphone turns into a landline phone. The integration between fixed and mobile is making great strides, driven by new technologies. The leap in quality has been enabled by the "cloud", the cloud hosted on remote and by definition giant servers, where we can already store all our data without the hassle of having to increase the memory of the personal computer and manage it in complete safety from there , from anywhere on the planet you access your account.
The new service, which naturally travels on VoIP (voice over Internet protocol), extends the same advantages obtained for data to the world of communications: the old physical switchboard disappears, everything moves to remote servers where the control that "manage" the telephones as if the switchboard were in the company. Phone and computer connect. And so you save, reducing even more the bill that in telecommunications has already beaten inflation for many years now.
A new sector therefore opens up, aimed not only at large companies – such as large banks or industries – but also at small and medium-sized ones. Above all, a market is opening up where for now, and this is another surprise, there are basically two operators: the giant Vodafone and the small Cloudtel. Not a challenge between Goliath and David but still a competition played on innovation where whoever arrives first is better positioned.
“We have been on the Cloud for 7 years – explains Sara Trabucchi, manager of the Enterprise product portfolio of Vodafone Italia – and we have moved ahead of the market. Normally everyone thinks of the Cloud as a function of data storage, for example for archiving or for the website. But it can also be applied to communications, therefore to fixed telephony. And we are doing it." Since 2007 Vodafone has offered the Single Corporate Network service for large companies, while it has recently also launched an offer dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises to make them more competitive.
It is not the only one to range over this new territory. But, as has been said, competing on the innovative terrain of the telephone cloud is not faced by the big names in the sector as much as a new Milanese company, founded a few years ago by Umberto Cairo (formerly Siemens, Aastra, Matra and EADS Telecom): " If you want – he says – it is a bit the concept of the Apps with which we are now familiar: Google Maps, Tripadvisor, Facebook, they are all applications on the cloud, they are located on a remote server. In the same way, the telephony control applications move elsewhere and govern the telephones as if there really were a switchboard”. Which isn't there. The new system also makes it possible to integrate the landline phone with the mobile phone which can answer "landline" calls, hold them, reject them, all while maintaining the separation between office and personal calls.
Where is the convenience? Companies save money on the purchase of the switchboard which, depending on the size, performance and number of connected lines, can cost from 1000 to even 50.000 euros. But above all they rely on an operator for the management of their telephony, including updates and security. Vodafone is aiming for large numbers and has launched an advertising campaign (“Ready business”) aimed precisely at small and medium-sized companies. They range from the VAT number to groups such as Jvc Kenwood who have opted for the telephone cloud. In the case of Cloudtel, which instead aims to carve out tailor-made services for its customers, the portfolio includes the Rome headquarters of the University of Istanbul, professional studios or La Scala in Milan (but not on the cloud). Businesses pay a monthly fee and get rid of phone management. They can also count on multiple services: chat, messaging, conferences, smart working, and so on.
It looks like Columbus's egg, but innovation needs a network and broadband to satiate the growing hunger for bits due to the most innovative services. Italy is lagging behind in terms of infrastructure and even if groups like Vodafone or Telecom have announced huge investments (3,6 billion the first with the Spring plan, 3,4 billion the second), some wonder if such an effort impressive how the creation of the new fiber network can be left only to the initiative of the companies, conditioned by force to precise returns on investments. Also for this reason, the Government has announced a plan on optical fiber which should be presented to the EU by the end of the month.
