It’s become a yearly tradition at Continuant to review emerging trends in business communication. Now that 2025 has come and gone, we’re here to look back and check our list of emerging trends. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? Let’s kick off 2026 by answering these questions.

Did the PSTN Switch Off?

We’ve been talking for a few years now about the coming copper sunset and permanent decommissioning of copper lines and the public switched telephone network (PSTN). 2025 was slated to be the American PSTN’s final year, and that seems to be the case.

In the US, the PSTN switch off did go through in December, after a full year of mounting pressure to migrate. Other countries have plans to do the same in years to come, such as the UK in 2027.

Looking back on the year, though, something stands out. The PSTN didn’t end with a bang. It didn’t die with thunderous applause. It just disappeared. It seems that, collectively, we’ve long since moved on. We’ve been in a world dominated by SaaS, the cloud, and smart devices for so long, it’s hard to even remember a time without them.

Did AI Automate the World?

Pardon the humorous exaggeration.

Our assumption was simply that AI would only get better, and more present in business technology. The latter of these is such an easy lay-up; I hesitate to even give us credit for it.

Nevertheless, AI has become a foundational feature of UCaaS and CX. The use of agentic AI for autonomous decision-making has exploded, remaining a headline trend for all of 2025. At this point, this technology is so commonly used that it's almost taken for granted.

Did AI get better? That’s a more complicated question, and you’re not likely to get an honest answer from whatever LLM you ask. Issues with hallucinations and errors in apps like Copilot, Grok, and ChatGPT are still prevalent, while others are the product of overpromising and underdelivering. The no-work future AI experts predict may be further off than they think.

Nevertheless, AI is a major feature of the tech organizations large and small rely on. While the purpose of this article isn’t to make further predictions, I think it’s fair to say that AI is going to embed and integrate itself even further this year.

Have the Hybrid Wars Ended?

From what we can see, there’s still no end in sight to the Hybrid Wars. It seems that no matter what changes, no matter what research gets published, no matter where the funding goes, the option to work remote some or all of the time is simply too attractive.

Thus, the bulk of 2025 has involved further innovations to make the hybrid work environment more efficient. Asynchronous video is one of the most significant. In fact, back in August, we published an article on this exact subject, and how applying it in meetings provides time zone flexibility, improved engagement, and reduced burnout.

As excited as we are to see where hybrid technology goes, don’t expect the Hybrid Wars to end anytime soon.

How’s UCaaS Doing?

UCaaS solutions continue to do well in businesses all over the world, now with improved performance on private networks.

This year, we've also seen UCaaS platforms prioritize security and interoperability, aiming to support increasingly complex business environments. Companies are embracing new integrations with third-party apps, allowing teams to collaborate seamlessly across devices and locations.

There’s also a major emphasis now on the UC and CX convergence. UCaaS and CCaaS are instead treated as part of a unified ecosystem. It remains to be seen what else will join this technology collective this coming year.

What’s Threatening Cybersecurity?

2024’s cybersecurity supervillain, Salt Typhoon, is still at large, and spent 2025 ever on the attack. While that organization is a serious threat, especially for those of us who live in the US, it’s not alone. If this were a fantasy story, Salt Typhoon would be the dark lord in the dark tower, but the wilderness is still full of ransomware goblins.

Those goblins hit organizations of every size this year. We’ve seen it enough to know that no one is immune.

Worse yet, AI-driven phishing and identity theft have given the threats a more disturbing human-centric approach. Data leaks from large companies and even the government have put millions of everyday users at risk.

However, even as threats mount, I hear horns in the distance. Zero trust practices and intense encryption have become the norm. AI fraud detectors have also become more popular and more sophisticated.

It seems we were correct when we suggested AI-powered security was the proverbial fire-fighting fire.

API, MVP or DOA?

Easy answer: APIs are the real MVP of 2025.

APIs are everywhere now, with “API-first architecture” becoming standard. This is in part thanks to low-code or even no-code APIs, which helps teams with less technical expertise build workflows without developer bottlenecks. Zero trust policies also make sure these systems remain secure.

It’s interesting that we suggesting APIs would be more common but remain difficult to use. In one sense we were right, while in the other we were wrong. Regardless, we still provide products like C4 with open API frameworks. As APIs get easier to use, it’s exciting to think about how our users will improve their workflows with it.

How Green did we Go?

There’s good news and bad news on the sustainability front.

The good news is that there have been major efforts made by telecom companies to improve energy efficiency, rely more on renewable resources, and develop a circular economy to reduce e-waste, perhaps one of the biggest environmental concerns the telecom industry was faced with.

The bad news is AI. As useful as this new technology is, it’s a major energy drain, and consumes a dangerous amount of water. Despite that, it’s become such a huge part of tech, communications, and business at large that companies are reevaluating their sustainability strategies around it, and not necessarily in a good way.

There’s still a good chance an efficient, yet sustainable AI strategy will emerge this coming year.

Did VR Meetings Take Off?

VR, or XR, continued its development through 2025. However, it wasn’t a breakout trend in the modern workplace. That’s not too surprising, seeing as AI and automation have remained a key focus for enterprise technology.

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been movements in the VR world. Companies like Accenture are developing full VR campuses in the hopes of improving distributed team engagement. Other companies look to VR solutions to reduce “Zoom fatigue” and make global collaboration more immersive.

AI is still dominate in the market, but that doesn’t mean VR doesn’t have its place. With the ability to reduce friction and take full advantage of the (pardon the phrase) power of the internet, it may still prove an integral component of enterprise communication.

How Have We Enhanced Customer Experience?

It’s a good thing we’ve been beating the CX drum so much this past year, because much has changed. Customers have high expectations on the experiences they have interacting with most businesses, and personalization has become the norm.

Some would argue that personalization by itself isn’t enough. Instead, it’s all about AI-powered hyper-personalization. Beyond that, customers have also grown to value omnichannel availability, proactive engagement, and consistent experiences. Any company looking for a competitive advantage will need to address these customer concerns.

Fortunately for our customers, we’ve spent 2025 improving our omnichannel CX solution C4. It offers deep CRM integration and an open API framework, not to mention AI integrations that improve personalization and analytics.

Are Offices Smarter?

The global smart office market is still on track to grow 13.9% throughout the next five years as hybrid work continues to push its viability. Modern offices are implementing IoT sensors, AI automation, energy-efficient systems, occupancy analytics, and fully cloud-connected collaboration spaces.

Just as we said last year, this is the culmination of all the other trends. Legacy telephony and on-premise systems continue to give way to sleek, flexible, modern technology. It’s a major trend shaping the enterprise world, and it’s something we at Continuant have been paying careful attention to.

With Continuant Connect and C4, we provide our customers the tools they need to fully modernize both internal and external collaboration. Our meeting room AV solutions take this to the next level, designed with hybrid work in mind.

Conclusion

As we look ahead, it’s clear that technology will continue to evolve rapidly, shaping the future of work, communication, and customer experience. While challenges remain, especially around security and sustainability, the progress made in 2025 sets a strong foundation for what’s to come.

Here’s to building an even more connected, secure, and efficient future together.