Legacy infrastructure has challenges
Traditionally, multimedia communications solutions or applications such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), call recording, cloud hosted PBXs, voice attendants and voice mails are built around physical or virtual media servers and call routing servers.
While this infrastructure has served you well, a modern cloud-native communications platform would significantly reduce the cost and time for you to build the offerings and implement them at your customers, anywhere, anytime and at any scale.
If your legacy infrastructure is approaching the end of life (EoL) stage in the product life cycle it is an indication that there are benefits waiting for you when moving to a modern infrastructure. When the support and maintenance are ceasing, license agreements terminating and the possibility to find key competence is getting harder, the total cost for continuing using the legacy infrastructure will inevitably rise.
Continue reading to learn some of the characteristics of a modern communications platform that are key for unified communications (UC) providers when building modern multimedia solutions and applications.
So, what are the characteristics of a modern communications platform?
Many are planning to move their infrastructure, or at least parts of it, to the cloud. It is a general trend across many industries to move towards a cloud-based setup. However, the notion of “moving to the cloud” is wide and needs to be accompanied with a more specific discussion.
Delivery model and building practice
The delivery model of a cloud-based infrastructure is one aspect that needs to be looked at. Another is the building practice, i.e., how are the functions that are needed for your specific offering built in the cloud and how do they utilize the cloud resources. Examples of functions needed to build multimedia communications solutions such as IVR, call recording, cloud-hosted PBXs, voice attendants or voice mails are: media playback, interactive call control, DTMF handling etc. Also, the way the software is designed plays an important role.
Let’s first look at the delivery model. A true modern infrastructure such as a communications platform is delivered as a managed service, not as virtual or physical servers that require maintenance, or as virtualized software in the cloud that you need to run and keep up to date. Easy-to-use APIs let you call upon the capabilities enabled by the managed service delivery model and allow you to build the solutions or applications that your end customers need.
Second, let’s look into how the platform is built in the cloud. This is an important aspect to understand as it directly translates to the benefits you get.
Serverless backend
A communications platform built with a serverless backend provides automatic autoscaling, allowing unlimited and effortless scalability. It automatically and instantaneously allocates the resources needed in the cloud that are triggered by an increase in traffic volume or expansion into a new geographic territory.
Furthermore, with a pay-only-for-what-you-use model, it significantly reduces the cost and avoids any over-capacity issues that a dedicated hardware or virtualized server model implies.
Microservice-based software architecture
A microservice architecture, as opposed to a monolithic architecture, will allow for quicker and more frequent updates and upgrades of your offerings. With the long release handling and fixed roadmap cycles (often 12-18 months), typically associated with a monolithic software architecture, a microservice designed communications platform has significant benefits in its fast speed of adaptations and innovations.
Benefits of a modern cloud-native communications platform
Based on the characteristics mentioned above the benefits can be summarized as:
1. No cost for infrastructure
With a managed service delivery model you don’t need to invest in any communications platform infrastructure associated with that, such as rack space, electricity etc.
2. Reduced or no cost for operations
A managed service model removes the need for server maintenance or software upgrades, hence dramatically reducing the need, and thus cost, for personnel performing these tasks.
3. Instant scalability
The serverless backend allows instantaneous scalability both geographically and in terms of increasing/decreasing traffic volume. Resources are autoscaling from the cloud on a per-need-basis to meet your demands at any time. You don’t have to wait for another server to be installed and configured, a software to be downloaded or deployed somewhere.4. Fast and easy to innovate
With a microservice-based software design it is fast and easy to adapt and test new innovations as separate instances without affecting the whole monolithic software base.
Compared to physical server or virtualized software solutions, innovations on a microservice architecture removes the dependency to rigid and long-term roadmap sequences.
5. Pay for what you use
With a payment model that is based on charging only for the traffic you actually have, over-capacity issues of resources are avoided. By being in control of the service usage you have the full cost overview and a deterministic cost model at any time.
Conclusions
Replacing legacy media and call routing server infrastructure to a modern cloud-native communications platform can bring several benefits such as significant cost savings, easy and limitless scalability, futureproofness and innovations pace. Make sure you capture these benefits with a communications platform that is:
- Delivered as a managed service with easy-to-use APIs removing the hassle and cost that comes with owning and maintaining your own hardware or software.
- Built with a serverless backend in order to provide quick and easy scalability both as your traffic volumes grow and when entering new geographic territories.
- Built with a software architecture based on a microservice design to significantly shorten the speed of adaptations and innovation.
How can iotcomms.io help?
iotcomms.io is a modern communications platform that offers voice, video and alarm capabilities for integration in critical real time applications, services and business processes.
With a serverless backend, microservice software design and managed service delivery model, we package the complexity of telecom in easy-to-use APIs allowing cost and time savings and effortless scalability.
Build your modern multimedia communications solutions or applications with our feature rich APIs – they are just a call away!
Learn how to build modern UC, IVR, and cloud-PBX offerings with our mediaservice API
Build advanced Unified Communications & Contact Center solutions the modern way!
Build solutions for Unified Communications (UC) and Contact Center (CC) use cases with our flexible and highly granular mediaservice API. IVR, cloud-PBX or call recording are just a few examples of what you can build.
