A tantalising post-pandemic dichotomy is at play in the boardrooms of the world’s smartest businesses.
On one hand, the explosion in remote working (and the gathering momentum of the hybrid model) is being ably facilitated by an ever-expanding suite of innovative communication platforms, tools and software that is driving down cost and increasing efficiency.
On the other, that same, game-changing innovation is causing complexity and confusion to slow what could otherwise be rapid and transformational change.
For providers (and their channel partners) that means opportunity is everywhere.
It’s a (near) future with the potential to deliver big-time for all.
And those best-placed to capitalise are already on the front foot.
“The world of work has forever shifted,” says Thibault Felgeres, CEO at Kurmi – the French-based global software experts dedicated to the provisioning and administration of enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions.
“Gone are the days when the majority of employees are physically located in the same office and meetings are primarily held within conference rooms.
“Instead, the future of work is hybrid, with employees distributed among office, home, and remote work locations.
“Succeeding in this new workplace requires investing in technologies that enable effective virtual collaboration.
“IT leaders must not only ensure that employees have the tools that they need, they must also optimize delivery and management to ensure high-quality experiences that minimize operational costs.”
Kurmi – which develops software solutions that simplify and reduce the costs of provisioning telephony, video conferencing, messaging and collaborative apps – recently commissioned research giant Metrigy to produce a paper which reflects on research into almost 500 organisations’ existing UC and UCaaS capabilities AND their plans for the new hybrid age.
The numbers are eye-catching.
87% of the workforces examined now work remotely – compared to just 34% before the pandemic struck.
Just 21% of those organisations plan to bring their teams back into the office in any way – with just half of that number planning a full-time return.
41% regularly use more than one communication platform – often creating complexity and inefficiency.
And – perhaps most eye-catching of all – 56% of the organisations quizzed say they plan to increase their IT budgets in order to respond to new ways of working.
“These numbers show that there is huge potential for growth in the post-pandemic hybrid workplace,” says Felgeres.
“To prepare the foundations for that growth, IT leaders are planning adoption of cloud-based applications, especially UCaaS, for meetings and team collaboration.
“Of course, multiple solutions and applications can make for complexity so it’s vital that organisations have a proactive management strategy to support however many vendors they may have today, but with flexibility to support new vendors tomorrow.”
In practice, that is likely to mean investing in security, administrative and performance
management, and specialty tools to deliver measurable improvements.
Video, too, will be at the heart of the hybrid workplace.
Metrigy’s survey reveals that 87% of participants describe video as an important or critical technology for ensuring their business operations.
More than 80% say they use video for all or most meetings and 27% of
participants say that 1:1 and group calls have transitioned from PSTN to meeting apps.
That means IT teams must have the ability (and the tools) to provide the necessary support.
Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst at Metrigy said: “To achieve success, IT leaders must not only embrace applications that enable effective virtual collaboration, they must ensure that they have the management capabilities to optimize support, operations, and administration.”
Felgeres is also clear about the future.
“Organisations must embrace applications including UCaaS, video conferencing, and team collaboration that enable virtual, distributed teams to effectively meet and work together, regardless of location,” he says.
“And they must ensure they have the right management capabilities to optimize support operations, administrative management, security and performance, in both the office and in the home.”
In short, the new hybrid landscape is a mix of challenge and opportunity.
Successful companies will invest in tools that optimize provisioning and the support of remote workers.
That will include number assignment, move/add/change management, and self-service tools to enable employees to alter their profiles, reset passwords, or reassign themselves into different call groups as roles change.
Consequently, returns on investment will be achieved via increased margins and by avoiding manual operations.
Ultimately, customer satisfaction will be strengthened due to the reduction of onboarding time.
For channel partner resellers and end-user organisations alike, partnering with those engaged in that smart, strategic thinking NOW will dramatically improve their abilities to capitalise.
To learn more about Kurmi’s software suite for simple, customizable, and ultra-scalable management of leading Unified Communications platforms visit www.kurmi-software.com or download the issue paper at https://content.kurmi-software.com/metrigy-issuepaper-achieving-hybrid-work-success-now
