Phone.com Communicator screenshot

Phone.com Launches New Communicator Softphone to Enable Enhanced Options

19 Jun 2019

Communications is the core of any business, and the unified communications (UC) client is the core of business communications. With the ever-increasing mobile work force, softphones and UC clients are the new hub of where communications take place. Replacing desk phones, cloud-based business phone systems make it easier to communicate from a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile device.

UCaaS provider Phone.com introduced a new, completely redesigned Communicator softphone client, turning desktop PCs and Macs, laptops, and mobile devices into full-featured business phone systems to help small- and mid-sized organizations more easily manage their business communications. Communicator will integrate Phone.com’s HD Voice, video collaboration, team messaging, one-click conferencing, call recording, IVR, and other business communications into a single client for a seamless user experience.

Providing access to all of Phone.com’s communication capabilities, the new Communicator softphone lets users make and receive phone calls, access their inbox, address book, call logs, and other communication capabilities. Built internally, the new client replaces the client developed by a third-party, providing both Phone.com and its customers with cost savings and flexibility.

The use of desk phones has been on the decline for many years, as workers prefer the ease of softphone clients and mobile devices. Many organizations have done away with the desk phone all together. By providing a full-featured softphone, Phone.com recognizes this growing trend and provides a modern option for its SMB business customers.

According to Ari Rabban, Phone.com CEO, the company was using a third-party vendor’s softphone client, but it made more sense to have their own client that can provide better value to customers. “Having our own client lets us have better control over our code and control our own destiny. We can bring everything together and integrate everything into one client, enabling users to pick the capabilities they want.” He added, “This makes it easier to harmonize on all different operating systems, including Mac, PC, iOS, and Android.”

The key benefits for customers include having a comprehensive and convenient tool for conducting all of their communications, as well as significant cost savings, as no desk phone is needed. Communicator is available at no cost to Phone.com customers.

The new Communicator softphone is part of Phone.com’s longer-term vision to harmonize all of its different functionality including calling, voice mail, voice mail transcription, call back, call transfers, conferencing, and more, for mobile devices and laptops and tablets. As Rabban, explained, “Communicator is just the first phase. The next release will add texting, messaging, SMS/MMS, video, and WebRTC calling.”

Taking Advantage of the Cloud and APIs

When it comes to Phone.com’s transformation as a UCaaS provider, the Communicator softphone is just half the story. The company moved from utilizing a standard architecture and cloud servers to the latest serverless technology. Phone.com invested in advanced cloud infrastructure using serverless cloud native technologies such as AWS Lambda, eliminating the need to manage servers. Phone.com Communicator is built on a serverless architecture, providing scalability, security, and high availability, while consuming minimal resources.

As Alon Cohen, CTO and Executive VP, explained, “Every function of the business is an API, which can run as many times as you want in an infinite scale model.” Working with Phone.com’s professional services, developers can leverage Phone.com’s APIs to work with third-party services and applications such as CRM, or even create custom integrations. Cohen noted, “This is a different way of thinking about application development, going from monolithic development to a more flexible mode where you can update a function as many times as you want without impacting other parts of the application. Developers can do multiple releases in a day and can even create releases for specific customers. Customers can now have a stable and scalable platform and make changes very rapidly.”

By leveraging APIs and taking advantage of Amazon’s serverless cloud, Phone.com has been able to innovate at a faster rate, while deploying solutions that were not possible to deploy in the past. As Cohen noted, “The shift to a cloud architecture lets us serve customers that have unique needs. We can create innovative solutions that our channel partners can resell to their customers, providing more value to their customers.”

Going forward, the vision is to have everything integrated in one client or application, including the ability for users to set up their account with an easy self sign up capability, plus the ability to customize through Phone.com’s growing library of APIs. The company will be introducing advanced messaging, video meeting rooms (VMRs) and more. As it leverages new serverless architectures, expect to see more innovation from Phone.com.

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