Here's a pretty strong analysis of today's announcement of Google Voice, an evolution of Google's acquisition of Grand Central. Google seems to be bidding to displace Skype as the de facto standard for Internet voice. What does this mean for the enterprise?It certainly means more than Skype meant. As Dean at VOIPUser points out, Google has the wherewithal to make this into a consumer-grade Unified Communications play, truly integrating voice into the raft of other services and apps that Google provides. If I were the carriers, I'd be worried.
But what about if I were an enterprise-focused VOIP/UC equipment vendor? Would I be worried then?
Normally, I'd have thought no. Skype never proved to be any kind of threat to enterprise voice platforms. People use it for business in a one-off way, to save money when they're traveling or to talk to people they're associated with, or to do video calls. But nobody ever considered using Skype as their company's phone system.
Nor will people consider using Google Voice as their phone system, but there could be a back door into the enterprise: Mobile. Google has strongly emphasized mobility in a number of ways, and if Google Voice becomes part of a unified suite of services that people use from Google on their mobile devices, then the challenge of cellular and mobility in the enterprise also becomes the challenge of Google in the enterprise.
Again, this won't replace phone systems, but it will mean that phone systems--or UC platforms, in the future--will have to engage with Google Voice.
