The debate is over and the cloud has won. Most companies have abandoned their fancy PBX phone systems and moved to a unified communications (UC) system that exists entirely in the cloud because they don't want to be tied to a particular location to communicate. For today's hybrid and distributed workforce, cloud-based business communication and collaboration tools make sense.
If your team is clinging to phones on their desks or your IT team is hesitant to support another cloud solution, it's time to let go, especially if your business is embracing a hybrid working model. Not only is this phone likely to gather dust, but unified communications has become the technical glue that holds people together when in-person collaboration is challenging. If not implemented, you risk bringing the entire business to a halt.
Hybrid work is the way to go
Of course, distributed work is nothing new, but the hybridization of an entire workforce presents unique technical challenges for IT. As some employees move into the office, at least sometimes, and others remain completely remote, teams are increasingly relying on a variety of communication tools to replace in-person connections.
According to a recent Economist Impact study commissioned by Google Workspace, more than 75% of respondents believe that hybrid or flexible working will be the norm in their organization in the next three years. A 2020 IBM study also found that 75% of employees want to continue working remotely, at least occasionally, while 54% want working from home as their primary mode of work. With the exception of service businesses and those that require a physical presence, hybrid is here to stay. It's good for the workers. And since it puts fewer cars on the road, it's good for the planet.
As hybrid working becomes the way forward, IT departments are under tremendous pressure to adopt technologies that help employees work and collaborate in this new environment. Legacy communication systems and monolithic software solutions were designed for a workforce that congregates in one place. Since that's no longer the case, their teams have no choice but to abandon them and adopt tools that work from anywhere, just like the people who use them.
This means implementing tools that enable effective internal and external communication to make it easy for distributed workers and teams to collaborate from anywhere. This is where cloud-based unified communications solutions shine. By bringing together voice, text, video conferencing and more, cloud-based Unified Communications or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) improves employee productivity and efficiency. Features like video conferencing, team workspaces, virtual whiteboards, and document and screen sharing allow your teams to work efficiently from any location or time zone.
The cost of these tools varies, but you can expect to pay anywhere from around $20 per user per month for basic calls and messages to more than $60 per user per month for calls, messages, meetings, video, etc.
UC is no longer just a phone service
Providing mobile workers with communication services that fit their mobile work styles, UCaaS solutions seamlessly integrate multiple locations and connect mobile workers with features their desk phone could never dream of. The UC tools that businesses are adopting today go far beyond basic VoIP phones. They consolidate calling, messaging (think business instant messaging), meetings, team collaboration, file sharing, mobile access from any browser, and more, into one tool that improves internal and external communications, as well as employee productivity.
New AI capabilities that have emerged in recent years have further enhanced UCaaS solutions, especially for meetings and conferences. These intelligent systems reduce background noise, understand natural language so they can provide meeting summaries and highlights, and automatically assign tasks to meeting participants based on conversations. These tools greatly enhance the meeting experience. As many workers are no longer in the same physical office with their colleagues and face-to-face meetings become less frequent, these tools reduce distance and improve internal and external collaboration.
Cloud communications and the great pivot
Cloud communication solutions have proven their worth during the pandemic. Organizations already using them were able to quickly switch to remote work without wasting time, while those not yet using them struggled to stay connected and be productive.
Here are some examples of published case studies:
- Interstate Batteries used the Vonage Communications Platform (VPC) to transform the way employees communicate and operate from the office or on the go, providing flexibility and ensuring business continuity. It enabled teams to quickly transition remotely and keep 600+ employees securely connected.
- Bennett International, the sixth largest specialty transportation company in North America, keeps 3000 employees and contractors connected with the RingCentral MVP (Messaging, Video, Phone) cloud solution. It doesn't matter where someone works because the team's contacts, video capability and messaging are on everyone's phone and computer.
- The Seine-Saint Denis department in France uses Avaya Spaces to facilitate communication between its 8000 employees and partners without location restrictions. The collaboration and video conferencing features of this tool are available on any device, and team members can create public or private workspaces, share and store files, and manage project tasks. For example, Spaces makes it easy to visualize workflows through a Kanban board, allowing teams to collectively prioritize and track task progress.
Going deeper into a hybrid world will likely further change the way we communicate and collaborate with customers, colleagues, partners and suppliers. Once UC tools become the norm, location won't matter. Cloud communications and collaboration make it possible to create and break up virtual teams simply by bringing them into a virtual workspace where they can collaborate and connect with colleagues via voice or video. Starting a new R&D project, marketing campaign, or brainstorming a customer problem means inviting the right people into a workspace to chat, discuss, and share ideas and documents. And because everything is cloud-based, workers can access the workspace and content from anywhere on any device.
All of this leads to higher productivity for hybrid teams. General studies show increased user productivity through cloud communications and collaboration. Companies have found 10% to 25% productivity gains from cloud communications and collaboration, resulting in faster project execution, more effective problem resolution, and greater innovation .
Which tool to choose?
There's no shortage of new offerings in this space from a growing list of cloud communications providers. From household names like Microsoft, Google, and Zoom to specialists like 8x8, Avaya, Dialpad, Edify, Intermedia, Mitel, Nextiva, RingCentral, GoTo, and Vonage, businesses have plenty to choose from.
And the provider community continues to add more capabilities and features. As cloud communication services improve, you can expect to see AI capabilities like real-time transcription and language translation in your meetings to improve collaboration within a global employee base.
The old way of working is changing and requires new tools and approaches. As workers continue to redefine the spaces they will use for an office, they will increasingly turn to cloud-based communication and collaboration tools to stay connected with colleagues, clients, and partners. For the new hybrid and distributed workforce, the cloud is the way to go.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.