A quiet revolution has been taking place over the past couple of years. Telecommunications is being embedded into the enterprise through some easy-to use-technologies. The universal connectivity of the phone call and SMS (Short Messaging Service) is no longer trapped in the silo of the telephone company on dedicated devices and formats--it's available to all, within new applications and interfaces.
This evolution is most obvious in the mobile world, but while the world obsesses on mobile applications, mobile-first strategies, and all the security, device diversity, responsive design, browser headaches, and app store policy issues that mobile entails, telecom application developers have been quietly working in their own area. These telecom developers have been building applications that simply use voice and SMS across the telecom network, cloud, and many more devices besides just smartphones, to deliver unique, easy-to-use, and universal experiences. And businesses large and small are embedding communications into every aspect of their operations.
Here are a few examples of telecom applications being made available to businesses:
* Ask Ziggy adds Siri-like capabilities to a business's phone number;
* Babelverse provides a universal translator of the spoken word, powered by a global community of remote interpreters;
* BLI Messaging helps schools communicate quickly with students' parents;
* Blue Cross Blue Shield STATchat is a fast, free and simple way to talk with a provider services representative after a healthcare provider (usually a doctor or dentist's secretary) has searched online for the answer to a claims status or eligibility question;
* Calliflower is a web and audio conference service for both local and international meetings;
* Calltacular simplifies the processes of call centers with an application that combines customer management and lead management tools, allowing their clients to track, learn and understand more about their customers;
* Crunched improves sales and marketing performance;
* delivery.com focuses on truly representing the local businesses within a neighborhood;
* Imprezzio helps its Fortune 100 financial and insurance customers with full-featured, affordable solutions to manage every facet of the customer life-cycle;
* HealthSense.com is a tele-health system;
* MeuTarô is a marketplace for astrological consultants;
* Quobis QoffeeSIP provides a corporate WebRTC webphone;
* RadioWaves created a low cost, highly integrated call center;
* Speak2Leads enables businesses to respond almost immediately to a customer lead, with six carefully timed contact attempts;
* TextGen extends a business's phone number into a text service; and
* Zingaya embeds a "Call" button into the website.
All of the above examples are made possible by Telecom APIs, free and open source telecom software, telecom application platforms, and WebRTC (Real Time Communications). Telecom Application Developers within the businesses listed above made these innovations possible.
Telecom application developers can be divided into three sub-segments:
* Developers who want to build their own communications services, and choose community-based open source telecom software;
* Developers that need to run their business on a platform with scale, looking to those platforms to manage the telecom stack;
* Developers building communication-focused services for other businesses to use.
This quiet revolution is the impetus behind the Text that's linkedTelecom Application Developer Summit (TADS), a new global meeting place for Developers who want to learn, share, code and create with the latest technologies in free and open source telecom software, telecom APIs, telecom application platforms, and WebRTC. TADS is a grassroots initiative from the people building this industry; sponsors include: Apidaze, hSenidMobile, http://www.layer7tech.com/Layer 7 Technologies, Microsoft, OnMobile, OpenCloud, Telestax, Tropo, and Ubuntu/Canoncical.
Some of the issues to be addressed at TADS include:
* When you should use free and open source telecom software, telecom APIs, telecom application platforms, and WebRTC for building your applications and services.
* What Web Real Time Communications really means, direct from the editor of the specification and the author of a WebRTC book, Dan Burnett.
* How to successfully pitch telecom innovations, with advice from leading investors, including MTN, which has set up a $75M fund targeting Telecom Application Developers.
* How enterprises run their businesses on Telecom Applications to save costs and make more money.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with other developers focused on adding communications to their business, applications and services.
The event is scheduled to take place November 21-22 in Bangkok.
