The rise of Communications Platform as a Service solutions has transformed the modern workplace.
CPaaS strategies allow organisations to quickly build and deploy the solutions that they need to engage in an agile world, without having to rip and replace existing technology and processes. One crucial component of the CPaaS environment is UCaaS – the ability to combine all communication solutions in the same cohesive environment.
In an age of digital transformation, where companies are striving to stay ahead of the curve, ALE is one of the companies leading the charge for evolution. With CPaaS and UCaaS-ready solutions like Rainbow, they help organisations to unlock the services they need conveniently and cost-effectively.
Recently, to better understand the role that CPaaS plays in the digital transformation roadmap, ALE conducted a study with Wainhouse Research. The survey collected insights from 334 IT and marketing professionals in verticals like government, hospitality, education, healthcare, and transportation.
Here’s what ALE found out:
Communication is Evolving: The Connectivity Revolution
One of the first things that ALE‘s research discovered was that email and mobile calls were still the most common mode of communication in the modern world. However, in-person meetings remain popular – even in the digital environment. Other research from Wainhouse also indicates that over 50% of meetings continue to be conducted in-person.
According to ALE, 85% of respondents connect differently than they did 5 years ago. These new connections aren’t just with people either; they’re with processes and things too. As a result, 85% of respondents also believe that connections need to be improved outside of the human-to-human space, with new technology.
A significant 84% of ALE’s survey respondents agreed that they had seen an evolution in communication, based on the delivery of new services and applications. We’re living in a world where communication is easier and more diverse than ever before. As a result, 94% of the people in the survey said that they are in the process of completing a digital transformation strategy. Another 71% said that they’ll be deploying more digital engagement tools in the next 2-3 years.
UCaaS and CPaaS are some of the solutions that can enable these transformations. For instance, UCaaS simplifies the deployment of new UC&C solutions with no CapEX expenses, and no complicated hardware required. With APIs and SDKs, it’s even possible to build your new communication strategies into your existing environment.
Communication Goes Beyond People
One particularly interesting discovery in the ALE and Wainhouse study was how significant the growing connections between people, objects and processes is. We’re not just seeing a change in how people connect; we’re also seeing a rise in IoT, sensors, and connected machines too. The number of connected devices in the world is expected to rise to 75 billion by 2025. We’ll have more connected devices than people.
Unfortunately, a connected device isn’t necessarily an intelligent device. That’s why it’s so crucial for companies to invest in CPaaS functionality to bring these new communication methods into reality. CPaaS environments introduce the possibility for a dialogue between objects and humans and unlock endless opportunities. The result of CPaaS for IoT can be everything from smart cities, to autonomous cars.
CPaaS also makes it easier to connect the day-to-day tools that companies rely on to engage and delight their customers to the rest of their communication systems. 77% of ALE’s survey respondents already have apps that integrate with their communication services. Processes are becoming just as crucially connected as people and objects.
ALE discovered that organisations are increasingly investing in process integrations for their employees and their future. 86% of respondents said that their organisations have different process strategies than they did five years ago. What’s more, 52% of the people in the study said that they believe they will be spending more in the next 24 months on digital engagement processes.
Deploying Digital Transformation
If ALE and Wainhouse’s study proves anything, it’s that digital transformation isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a concept that’s completely changing the way that companies interact with each other, things, and processes. The rise of new devices, a greater demand for mobility, and a change in the way that we communicate have completely disrupted the business space as we know it. Only 2% of ALE’s survey respondents said that they don’t currently have a digital transformation process in place to help them evolve.
The reasons for digital transformation are diverse too. Companies said that they want to make it faster and easier for employees to work, remain competitive, reach a larger group of customers, and more. One of the easiest ways for digitally transforming companies to deploy their new solutions is to invest in strategies delivered through the as-a-service model.
UCaaS and CPaaS allow businesses to engage with any of the tools that they need for better workplace engagement, stronger customer experience, and even enhanced IoT and connected processes. All that, and there’s no need to invest in any hardware or complicated on-premises deployments.
Leading the Way with CPaaS
As business priorities continue to evolve to suit a changing environment, CPaaS will soon become a must-have for any business. Organisations will need to figure out the problems that they want to solve and find the as-a-service solutions that take them towards their goals.
ALE’s Rainbow solution is a cloud-based UCaaS application that helps businesses to unlock the features that they need, all the way from chat and presence, to contact management and file sharing. What’s more, because Rainbow is entirely open-platform, APIs allow developers to integrate ALE tools with their existing processes.
ALE’s Rainbow strategy ensures that businesses of all shapes and sizes can create a disruptive and competitive environment that they need to compete in this ever-changing environment. Now that communication is more complicated than ever, ALE has delivered the tool that companies need to make digital transformation simple.
According to Xavier Martin, Vice President of Market Development for the Communications Business division of ALE:
“Organisations that are investing today in domesticating the 4 elements around enterprise communications: mobile, big data, internet of things and cloud will be the ones not only to survive, but also to get a definitive competitive advantage in the digital age. And CPaaS is the ultimate enabler to do so”
