In a complex world, simplicity rules.
Fewer clicks, easier access, faster functionality: we want it all and we want it now.
The explosion in remote working – and the inevitability of the post-pandemic hybrid model – has served only to intensify that voracious demand; to which only the smartest and most agile will best respond.
For business, it’s about understanding the new favourite ways in which your customers and your teams are choosing to communicate; then tweaking your tools to suit.
For providers (and resellers), it’s about ensuring those tools are not only on point from a functionality perspective, but also that provisioning, deployment and – most crucially of all – adoption are all as easy as it gets.
It seems evolution of the actual nuts and bolts tech may have momentarily fulfilled all of its transformative potential – pending the next big step change, of course.
That means user experience is where the current differentiators are at.
And for those able to deliver game-changing simplicity, the rewards will be big.
“Simplifying processes for the end user should be every provider’s top priority,” says Dave Reynolds, UK Managing Director of European cloud telephony giant Xelion, which is about to launch Xelion 8 -the latest, simplified iteration of its super-successful UC platform.
“Capability has expanded regularly over the past five years, in line with the advances in communications technology.
“Alongside that expansion, people have become more used to working remotely with platforms, tools and applications that are integrated and unified.
“That has enabled businesses all over the world to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic, but it has also driven a change in human behaviour.
“The capability of the tech is no longer the focus. People understand that the tech has changed everything – now they want to kick on again by having the functionality simplified.
“Simplification is like turbocharging. No matter what the process: if it’s simpler, it’s more efficient. And for business, efficiency is king.”
Xelion 8 provides users with single view and single click access to presence, menus, searchable dialler, hunt groups and wallboards.
It features a new Microsoft Teams integration; slicker call direction functionality to a mobile or softphone or desktop; and Zoom-like, multi-room video collaboration capacity – all easily accessible via a refreshed, easier-on-the-eye home screen.
Crucially, all of the desktop updates are mirrored on a new mobile app: same functionality, same settings, same simplicity.
“It’s easy: customers just buy it, download it and use it,” says Reynolds.
“People have quickly grown used to that instant delivery model and now take it for granted. When the pandemic first struck, people needed a way to stay connected in lockdown so they found Zoom. They bought it and downloaded it and 20 minutes later it was live and they were using it”
“Demand for that simple, instant delivery model is about to hit the channel in a big way, and we are ready to help our resellers respond.”
But simplicity is not just important from an efficiency perspective.
User experience is still influenced greatly by the generational factor: for older people, cloud-based services still perplex, whereas twentysomethings run their whole lives via smartphone apps.
“The same differences apply to the post-pandemic hybrid working model,” says Reynolds.
“Some people like being in the office, some people love working from home. That means flexibility within a product is also really important.
“Our products are our own and are developed by us so we can develop and evolve to suit the market and ensure that kind of flexibility exists.”
Maybe it’s Xelion’s Dutch origins that are underpinning its front-foot approach: the Netherlands was the first country to embrace cloud technology and its rate of adoption remains the highest in Europe.
No matter.
The rest of the world has now caught up and, for providers and resellers, opportunity is everywhere – it really is as simple as that.
To learn more about Xelion 8, visit www.xelion.com
