Unified communications is an exciting and growing market.
No business, no matter the size of industry can thrive without excellent communication. Whether it's the conversations you have with your customers or the collaborative moments between teams, business discussions make or break the future of any venture.
However, as communication and the workplace as we know it continues to transform, there's more to empowering your workforce than giving them a desk phone and a headset. Today's organisations need software solutions that enable and engage their teams, keeping them connected through the most productive platforms available. Enter unified communications.
Unified communications or "UC" allows modern businesses to combine the traditional and innovative comms solutions they need into a single, cohesive environment. With UC, you can eliminate the risks of information silos, improve employee productivity and even enhance customer experience. It's no wonder that Grand View Research predicts a value of $143.49 billion for UC by the end of 2024.
We caught up with leaders in the UC market, Unify and Avaya to discuss their views on the future of communications.
The Customer Trends That Shaped UC in 2018
Unified communication platforms allow teams to access a wide range of enterprise tools within a single, easy-to-use environment. With UC, companies can finally move closer to a "single pane of glass" environment for success, rather than forcing their teams to switch endlessly between different devices and pieces of software. We asked leaders from Avaya and Unify to tell us what they believe has been driving the UC market through 2018.
Savio Tovar Dias, Senior Director of Sales Engineering for Avaya International:
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Savio Tovar Dias[/caption]
According to Savio, research suggests that today's customers want "SuperServe" brands, capable of providing the exceptional experiences that they expect. "This means that omnichannel touchpoints for customer care need to be better-managed by businesses. Organisations still aren't managing the range of available channels well enough, and customers are finding it hard to move from one touchpoint to another. Innovations like web chat, voice assistant technology, and chatbots may help with these problems."
Avaya's team believes that if companies want to overcome the challenges in better customer communication today, then they need to extend the omnichannel experience to their employees too. "Omnichannel options for team members will help agents to better serve their customers. What's more, advanced tools can automate some of the boring and repetitive tasks that many agents face so that they can focus more completely on sensitive tasks."
Avaya research shows that happier and more productive employees lead to better customer experience, "It follows that the major trend shaping UC is the extension of the omnichannel experience, both internally and externally."
Tony Rich, Head of Propositions and Vertical Solutions for Unify:
According to Tony Rich of Unify, the biggest trend for 2018 was the "consumerisation" of enterprise products increasing. "People want business tools that mirror the tools they use outside of work. This makes people feel more familiar with enterprise tech."
Unify also notes that consumers have been demanding tools that can build an ecosystem around the services and systems they already use, like LinkedIn or Salesforce. "UC providers are becoming a catalyst to orchestrate all of these processes into a single platform."
Tony also commented that security continues to be a significant concern for many customers. "Now that people are more aware of how their data is used, vendors are under greater pressure to ensure that their platforms are secure."
The Technologies Creating the Biggest Opportunities for UC
Unified Communications has the potential to enhance and improve workflow in any workplace, encouraging better engagement and performance from employees. Studies have even shown that UC solutions can save companies up to 191 hours in terms of productivity. As new technology continues to emerge in the communications marketplace, it's exciting to imagine where the UC industry may go next.
Savio Tovar Dias, Senior Director of Sales Engineering for Avaya International:
Savio believes that artificial intelligence is one of the major technologies set to transform UC in 2019. "The intersection of AI and UC will allow employees to transform the way they manage data each day, eliminating menial tasks so that agents can focus on bigger challenges."
Tony Rich[/caption]
