We're all talking about digital transformation these days - and yet, many companies still don't know how or where to get started. In fact, many businesses remain glued to legacy systems, with companies moving, on average, 40% of their computing power to the cloud.
Though we could spend our time discussing the benefits of legacy and the need to go digital, the truth is that digital transformation is no longer a suggestion - it's a requirement. In addition to Cloud, there are a host of technologies forcing the movement to a more transformed environment for today's companies.
5 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TRENDS AND RULES DRIVING UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS AND COLLABORATION
In a world where technology continues to seduce modern organisations, "digital transformation", is the lurking issue that needs to be considered. Digital transformation is the use of new technology designed to make processes more efficient and effective. It delivers new opportunities for businesses, and pushes each of us into the future.
According to IDG connect, DX, or "digital transformation", is the key focus of all Western European markets. Unfortunately, few businesses feel they're hitting the mark when implementing new technologies.
Perhaps the biggest problem holding back digital transformation is the fact that people simply don't know how to define it for their own enterprise. After all, digital transformation isn't as simple as it seems. It's a "bespoke" answer to the questions facing businesses today, rather than a one-size-fits-all model.
This year, we've noticed many new vendors embracing devices for mobility, technology in the realms of artificial intelligence and chatbots, and increasing challenges in collaboration and communication environments. In other words, UC&C is growing. That could mean that for many companies, digital transformation means using technology to improve commercial performance, boost operational efficiencies, improve customer service, enhance workplace environments, and introduce new revenue streams.
The good news is that UC&C tools can address many of these areas. Here, we're going to look at some of the latest trends disrupting the communications industry, examine the paths fueling digital transformation, and tell you how you can evolve your own company.
TREND 1: THE MOVE TO CONTEXTUAL COMMUNICATIONS
In the last year or so, we've seen numerous high-profile technology companies launch innovative new tools designed to enhance the collaborative workforce. For instance, at UC EXPO in London this May, we dove into the ever-growing need for disruption and new technology in the industry with things like the Cisco Spark Board and huddle rooms.
The only problem is, as various vendors deliver new tools for communication, few are looking into interoperability features, which means that we're developing fragmented approaches to the future - far from the unified utopia we hoped for.
/unified-communications/cpaas could be the cure to this silo problem. Communications Platform as a Service allows developers to add real-time features for communication to their own applications without the need to build back-end interfaces and infrastructures. CPaaS companies can ensure that businesses of any size can embed and develop their own customised communication features - ensuring a more contextual response to communication needs.
With CPaaS and contextual communication, we can embed chat and call functions into systems to allow for more frictionless, efficient Comms solutions - removing the barriers found in almost every UC product currently on the market. After all, if we want to achieve a truly efficient and productive future, unified communications must become truly "unified", and that means allowing apps and tools to interoperate.
TREND 2: THE USE OF BIG DATA
Analytics and big data are topics that belong in any discussion of digital transformation. According to Cisco, global IP traffic should reach about 3.3 ZB by 2021. If that wasn't shocking enough, the number of devices connecting to IP networks should be about three times the human population by the same year. Ultimately, this huge growth just goes to show how digital connectivity is quickly changing the world.
Data isn't just getting bigger either - it's also changing in format too. Data has become the new currency of many businesses, and its development will be essential to digital transformation in any communication company. After all, information is what enables immediate change and future strategies, thanks to advanced data science and predictive analytics. Learning how to harness and use data correctly could be the key to better organisational efficiency, and customer experience.
With big data tech, companies will be able to answer the questions of their customers in seconds, enabling the quick reactions to key business challenges and questions that could build competitive advantages and improve performance overall. Analytics and big data are becoming more closely entwined by the day. While data management and analytics once belonged to different silos in organisations, breaking down these barriers could be key to true digital transformation.
TREND 3: ENCRYPTION AND SECURITY
Security will always be a top concern for any business. As more high-profile cases appear in the news each week, protecting from fraud, network breaches, and data theft will always be essential. As the GDPR changes gradually come closer during May 2018, concerns regarding security and encryption will become even more significant.
Interestingly, contextual communications could help somewhat with security, by helping to outline how businesses and people communicate. This controlled approach could mean that data is less likely to leak than it may be with the traditional forms of communication. Additionally, beyond contextual communications, all aspects of UC&C platforms should be well-protected.
In on-premises situations, companies know who is responsible for maintaining borders for security for their business. However, there seems to be ongoing confusion when it comes to establishing security for hosted platforms. After all, every part of the chain could effectively pass the responsibility onto the next person. The best scenario is based on ensuring that hosted platforms have the resilient and robust encryption they need built-in, without passing complexities onto the end-user or resellers.
UC&C solutions need to start asking themselves how they can make their systems more reliable, and secure, as well as scalable, feature-rich, and cost-effective. As we move into the future of digital transformation, we hope to see more quarantine processes for unknown devices, more secure HTTPS handset solutions, and better steps for preventing fraud.
TREND 4: HOSTED AND CLOUD COMMUNICATIONS
It may be a surprise for some to learn that the cloud is still drawing a great deal of attention in communication and collaboration. Many companies are still trying to figure out whether a full move to the cloud is right for them, even as public clouds emerge as the nature home for mission-critical applications that require ongoing flexibility and scalability.
According to the Cavell Group, hosted telephony services are still growing, with an increase of 24% over the previous 12 months - driven by changing infrastructure and the overall decline of email and telephony for UC&C solutions. Additionally, Research and Markets revealed that the hosted IP telephony and /unified-communications/ucaas market continues to move along a strong trajectory of growth - creating value and business growth opportunities for service providers.
UCaaS offers companies the chance to take advantage of secure, seamless, and highly cost-effective solutions for communication across a range of channels in the business world, including services on a range of platforms and channels. With flexibility, easy deployment, and growing value, the cloud can be an obvious solution for modern companies in search of digital transformation solutions. Because it's possible to access a wide range of advanced communication solutions simply by connecting with online services, the cloud should quickly become the dominant model for business telecommunication of the future.
