In business, it pays to be ahead of the game.
Success is built on three key things: keeping pace with your customers’ ever-evolving needs; knowing how to respond whenever they change; and partnering with provider organisations capable of helping you make it happen.
The Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) sector has exploded since the global pandemic - from once being all about telephony and desk phones to now powering the new, always-on, mobile-first world of integration, automation and artificial intelligence.
It’s all up there in the cloud; all in one place; all meshing seamlessly together to create slick communication experiences for customers and workforces alike.
In short, the digital revolution has changed everything.
Of course, with increased functionality comes increased complexity.
Many of today’s smart new services and applications are subscription-based or pay-as-you-go – the same commercially-efficient OpEX-centric factors which have helped enterprises everywhere capitalise on the epic UCaaS dividend.
For UCaaS providers keen to continue surfing the growth wave, having an awareness of how trends such as remote working and virtual team collaboration are likely to shape how those services and applications are procured, deployed and billed going forward is the new imperative.
Partnering with an expert is, as always, a very good call.
“Unified Communications will continue to evolve, and businesses need to be open to that ongoing evolution – it’s essential for those who rely on subscription-based products and services in particular to be aware of all the relevant trends,” says JK Chelladurai, Founder & CEO at leading global end-to-end revenue management experts OneBill, whose latest UCaaS Revenue Growth Study and accompanying whitepaper provides many of the answers.
“The growth in remote or hybrid working has been the key revenue driver for UCaaS providers over the last three years and that growth is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 23.6% up to 2028. Therefore, it is imperative that UCaaS businesses are equipped with a billing and monetization platform that can help them launch and execute subscription pricing with ease.”
OneBill’s global study results are indeed eye-catching.
For example, more than 70% of workers said they prefer flexible work environments with remote options; instead of a raise, more than 6% of employees said they would prefer to work remotely; and there has been a 27% increase in the use of team messaging tools since the pandemic.
From the end-user enterprise perspective, the study showed that, for most, live chat is their customers’ preferred method of communication; SMS marketing is being used by 39% of businesses; and five minutes is the average response time for 58.7% of customers texted by their favorite brands.
