The term “smartphone” is not a misnomer; users know they are more feature-rich than ever. But do they do everything users want? Or do they make users feel somewhat less than smart? The problem is not with the phones in front of them but with the systems in the back office. The good news is, enterprises can make the back end as smart as the front end.

When IDG Research Services surveyed IT decision makers in a variety of industries on what constituted an ideal voice environment, the results revealed that they’re smart enough to know what’s possible. Almost half – 48 percent – cited their desire for lots of capabilities to meet disparate needs, whether call-forwarding, three-way calling, or even simple voice mail; 46 percent wanted better integration with enterprise applications. And 43 percent asked for easier deployment of voice capabilities.

The upshot? Intelligent desktop technology is easy to use, but the power isn’t aligned with the back-end systems users can access from their desks. That’s a problem, given high levels of employee mobility and their reliance on their mobile phones for communication and connectivity.

Not surprisingly, users want new voice capabilities, but they’re not interested in giving up the fundamentals. In the same survey, some 41 percent reported that they wanted a “blended solution,” one that provides traditional voice reliability, but also state-of-the-art functionality.

That may sound like a tall order for IT, but it needn’t be. Sometimes when companies push the envelope on technology, it’s hard to have the right skills and resources on hand. As with other cloud-based applications, enterprises can quickly and economically take advantage of voice-application innovation through services – without waiting to find the right talent in a competitive market.

The key is to find a service provider who understands the demands of this new world, how to apply digital transformation to voice systems, whether through cloud-based systems, new kinds of digital trunk capabilities, or other hosting options. The ideal voice environment is easier to deploy than ever before.