In an age of “unified communications”, the majority of businesses are still running as many as 12 apps and software packages to allow employees to communicate. That’s according to a new Breaking Barriers 2020 report from Fuze, which examines the current state of workplace communication.
The report, which includes research with more than 900 CIOs and 6,600 workers, found that – on average – today’s businesses offer a combination of four voice calling apps, four video conferencing apps and four instant messaging apps. This is despite an ongoing push from IT departments to consolidate their communications approach.
More than half (55%) of CIOs are concerned about the cost of maintaining so many communication systems, while 51% are challenged by the overall complexity of their current communications approach. Three out of five (60%) of CIOs also agree that the increasing number of applications spread across their organisations is actually making communication more, rather than less, challenging.
Commenting on these findings, Kris Wood, VP EMEA at Fuze, said:
“As workers become more tech-savvy, they expect to use the applications that they’ve grown accustomed to in their personal lives, often installing them on work equipment regardless of company IT policies. The result is a growing application scrawl, with CIOs and IT departments managing multiple apps across a wide variety of devices. Despite the massive array of apps, the communication experience for employees is becoming more cumbersome and complex. The simplicity of consumer-like tech experiences must be brought into the enterprise.”
Read the Fuze Global Voice Review at UC Today where you can access the Breaking Barriers 2020 report.
