COVID-19 has had many notable impacts on the state of enterprise telephony and collaboration over the past nine months. Much of that change has come in the form of accelerated digital transformation strategies for companies that wished to make progress in the digital age and remain relevant going into 2021.
I caught up with the VoIP telephone and collaboration experts at VoIPstudio to find out just how much this year has impacted companies with a vested interest in either of the two markets and what they might expect going into 2021. Rob Seymour, Marketing Director, VoIPstudio, told me, one of the main issues the pandemic has presented is the fact that there are fewer chances to reach small businesses. He noted that this is because there are fewer of them entering the market, adding, competition, however, remains on a steady rise. Seymour took the time to break down exactly what he meant, opening up candidly:
“Our team usually connects with companies in the start/scale-up phase – but we saw a noticeable impact on our entry-level accounts. We have seen some recovery in the entry-level market though, and expect it come back even stronger in 2021”
On the flip side, he maintains, larger accounts are spending more, adding more users, and getting what he calls ‘more serious about using collaboration tools.’ “They are digging into many advanced functionalities and using them in a way they did not 12-months-ago.”Moving into 2021, Seymour said we should expect a few noticeable trends that have already started peeking over the horizon in 2020. VoIPstudio data forecasts that the cost of a work-from-home solution will be a vital determinant for consumers in 2021 as companies recover from the initial shock of COVID-19.
Something else made clear from the trends Seymour says he has seen – distributed work is here to stay. “While it has been an arduous year, it has demonstrated the value of agile and distributed comms platforms,” he said. Looking at customer behaviour – Seymour said there were frequent shifts in what buyers expect from the service they receive and the channels available for customer service.
Meeting these expectations, according to Seymour, will take some effort to ensure customer satisfaction and immeasurable customer experiences (CX). “We have seen a rise in first-time support calls from long-time users, meaning from now on, our user and customer experiences have to be seamless.”
“All the usual office chat has moved to IM, and people are experimenting with features they did not use as much before the pandemic”
Seymour continued, adding, simple features like call queues, distribution, etc., have become essentials and will remain that way going into 2021. Also, according to Seymour, 2021, and beyond will present a lot of new and unforeseen challenges, but the market can expect what he calls a ‘real boom.’
He believes many companies in the space are set to reap the benefits of recovery, with one caveat – he does not think that the market opportunities will exceed those of 2019 as WFH has become the new norm. In conclusion, Seymour suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the significance of VoIP and collaboration services, adding once the storm is over, we can anticipate the market will reach new heights.
