Unified Communications has evolved from a “nice to have” solution in the business technology stack to a mandatory investment. In a world of ever-more demanding customers and constant digital transformation, businesses need to be able to align and synchronize their teams with the right communication and collaboration tools.
However, like all technologies in the rapidly evolving landscape, the Unified Communications space is changing at a phenomenal pace. We’re seeing the rise of endless new tools and solutions intended to empower new types of workers, boost efficiency, and reduce operational costs.
For brands planning on enhancing their UC strategy in 2023, it’s worth keeping an eye on the emerging trends in this space and how they’ll influence the future of communications. Here are the significant trends we’re likely to see going forward.
The Evolution of UCaaS to XaaS
In the last couple of years, cloud adoption has accelerated. More brands are moving critical processes and tools into an ever-flexible and agile environment, which employees can access from anywhere to ensure business continuity. This has increased demand for UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service).
However, as hybrid and remote work strategies continue to evolve, we’re also seeing the UCaaS environment become less of a simple tool for employees and more of a digital work hub. Through integrated communication and collaboration tools, businesses can keep their staff aligned wherever they are. The last thing they want is for their teams to jump between different cloud environments when they want to access complementary tools.
As a result, “XaaS” or Everything as a Service strategies are becoming more commonplace, allowing organizations to unify their cloud investments, from CPaaS to CCaaS and UCaaS, in one convenient place. 2023 could be a critical year for the convergence of the clouds.
AI-Powered Service Management
A more complex and diversified workplace, with multiple digital assets to manage, also leads to new challenges in maintaining complete visibility and control over the technology stack. While bringing various tools together in the same cloud space can help, companies are increasingly searching for more powerful tools to help them manage their ecosystem.
AI-powered service management solutions, which offer insights into the performance of different communication tools, quality management, and provisioning strategies, are growing more popular. Today, these solutions are still relatively scarce in the communications landscape. However, they will become more valuable as companies increase their cloud investments.
We’re also likely to see these tools become more intertwined with security and compliance management solutions. For instance, a service management solution could alert businesses automatically, not just when call quality drops but when a compliance issue is detected in a conversation, using conversational analytics.
The Rise of Total Experience
According to Gartner, by 2024, companies focusing on “Total Experience” strategies will likely outperform their competitors by as much as 25% in satisfaction metrics. The concept of “TX” involves bringing different components of the experience economy into the same universal strategy. This means simultaneously focusing on multi-experience, customer experience, user experience, and employee experience.
From a UC perspective, most companies will likely start by doubling down on their strategies for employee experience. After all, the Great Resignation and an increasingly uncertain economy are making it harder for businesses to retain top talent. Creating a robust and inclusive experience through UC and collaboration tools could be a good way for companies to make the most out of their teams.
We’re already seeing companies like Microsoft invest more heavily in tools for their UC stack, prioritizing monitoring, tracking, and optimizing employee experience. Moreover, brands are finding ways to empower their employees with innovative solutions like virtual assistants, chatbots, gamification, and online learning.
Increased adoption of BYOC
During 2022, the team collaboration platforms built into or connected with UC platforms became the central hub for work in many distributed office environments. Countless companies now rely on solutions like Cisco Webex, Zoom, and Microsoft Team to keep their staff aligned and engaged wherever they might be. While each of these tools has its native calling solutions in place, they’re also beginning to introduce new ways for brands to implement their own carrier preferences.
