At the beginning of this year, we published our annual forecast:
Predictions for Out-of-Band Communications in 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, it’s the perfect moment to evaluate how those predictions fared — not merely as a scorecard, but to understand how the market evolved, how organisations responded to new pressures, and how the concept of out-of-band communication matured across industries.
In many ways, 2025 has been the year that out-of-band communication shifted from niche cybersecurity jargon to a mainstream resilience requirement. But not every prediction materialised in the way we expected.
Here is our honest reflection.
**Outcome: Partially accurate — progress was real, but pragmatic rather than transformative.
We anticipated that AI would begin shaping crisis communication through automated routing, threat-aware escalation paths, intelligent priority filtering, and situational assistance for responders.
AI did play a role in OOB comms this year — but subtly:
But the “AI-centric crisis assistant” we predicted — capable of guiding responders through complex, unfolding events — hasn’t yet become a standard feature.
✔ Correct direction, but adoption remained incremental rather than revolutionary.
**Outcome: Completely accurate — and one of the defining trends of 2025.
This prediction has arguably been the biggest success.
Across operational resilience, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance, organisations increasingly acknowledged that traditional channels (Teams, Slack, email, SMS) cannot be relied upon during:
In 2025, two pressures accelerated the shift:
1. Regulatory and enforcement activity
2. Increased frequency of cyber incidents
As ransomware and identity attacks surged, organisations recognised the need for independent, always-available communication not reliant on corporate infrastructure.
Result: Secure OOB communication has moved from “resilience best practice” to formal organisational policy in many sectors.
✔ Fully realised prediction.
**Outcome: Partially accurate — adoption is growing, but still in the maturation phase.
Our prediction was that OOB communication would broaden beyond cybersecurity, incident response, and executive crisis teams to become a tool used across more of the organisation.
In 2025, we definitely saw more instances of broader departmental use, including:
These examples reflect genuine progress - and a noticeable shift in awareness.
However, it’s also clear that OOB communication is still not as widely understood or embedded as we would like. Many organisations are only just beginning to recognise the need for a trusted, segregated communication channel. The alarm has been sounded, but widespread organisational adoption is still developing.
We are seeing the early signs of OOB becoming a multi-department necessity, but the market is still in a maturation phase, with plenty of work ahead to ensure that all critical teams understand when — and why — to move off the corporate grid during an incident.
Prediction partially realised — strong movement, but full maturity still to come.
**Outcome: Partially accurate — significant progress, but not industry-wide.
We anticipated that OOB tools would grow beyond secure text messaging into integrated emergency workspaces.
However, industry-wide:
Clear movement toward the vision, but uneven adoption across the sector.
**Outcome: Partially accurate — mobile-first yes, offline-first not widely.
Spot on.
This did not materialise as strongly:
Technical and security constraints remain a barrier.
✔ Mobile-first prediction accurate — offline-first prediction still premature.
**Outcome: Did not meaningfully materialise.
We speculated that LEO satellite networks or mesh-based emergency connectivity might begin to influence OOB strategy.
Despite growing interest in satellite communications, OOB communication platforms have not widely adopted satellite integration. Organisations still overwhelmingly rely on:
The concept remains relevant for remote industries — but not mainstream.
✖ Prediction did not occur in 2025.
Organisations now view OOB comms as a baseline requirement for cyber resilience, operational continuity, and compliance.
A gap is widening between:
From DORA to off-channel communication rules, regulatory expectations are pushing organisations to formalise OOB strategies.
Building evacuations, site shutdowns, service disruptions, and safeguarding events all now default to OOB channels.
2025 built the foundations: video, screen sharing, role-based workspaces, integrated tools.
The next step is fully-fledged incident command environments operating outside corporate platforms.
Looking back, most of our predictions held true — particularly around:
A few predictions, such as satellite integration and offline-first capabilities, may still be a few years out.
But overall, 2025 has been the year that out-of-band communication matured into a strategic organisational capability, rather than a specialist tool used during rare crises.