What are the major considerations for customers choosing a UCaaS solution in 2022?
Mike Kuch, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at Avaya:
“For successful hybrid working, organisations must ensure a consistent employee experience wherever employees choose to work. In an office, impromptu discussions lead to useful results.”
“In a digital workplace, these occur via immersive interaction tools, which must be persistent, so work can continue across time and location by switching seamlessly between calls, video, chat and back again on whichever device is needed at the time and all integrated with business apps.”
“So, the main consideration is how to do this, and the answer is through an all-in-one app, which means UCaaS. The next consideration is your transition to the cloud, so choose a provider that lets you move at your own pace with solutions that make it easy to get new features and upgrades without IT headaches.”
“Hybrid cloud deployments offer easy paths to cloud and extend existing on-premises investments. Flexible subscription models are designed to meet unique OPEX business needs.”
Jamie Snaddon, Managing Director, EMEA at 8×8:
“8×8’s 2021 State of Business Communications report found that the top attributes when selecting an integrated communications solution were: complied with security standards, improved business productivity, improved customer and employee experiences, increased revenue.”
“These findings mesh with other major considerations we’re seeing including integration capabilities, high availability, and global reach. Organisations are focused on supporting hybrid initiatives and enhancing their business resiliency to adapt to future disruptions and global competitive challenges. It is all part of ongoing business transformation initiatives.”
“Additionally, many businesses are debating whether to move their communications from on-premises to the cloud this year. For them, the transition process is really important both technically and from an employee usage standpoint.”
“We’re finding that professional services options from design, implementation and adoption services are going a long way to bring peace of mind to those who are hesitant to make the switch.”
Theresa Larkin, Lead PMM for UCaaS at Zoom:
“Delivering the best customer experience while also adapting to a new hybrid work model is top-of-mind for many of our customers right now. This involves reimagining how their customers and employees interact.”
“When selecting UCaaS solutions in 2022, customers should prioritize solutions that allow them to stay nimble to adapt easily and meet the evolving expectations of their end customers. These solutions must offer an elevated customer experience, keep employees engaged, and support the ever-changing demands of the modern workforce.”
“I’m a firm believer that customer experience starts from within, so providing your employees with the proper tools and flexibility is critical.”
Robert Cooper, Managing Director Americas at Wildix:
“Security, always a major factor for businesses, is becoming all the more important as Russia threatens to increase its already unprecedented scale of cyberattacks. UCaaS customers must put the safety of their connections and data first in deploying solutions, especially as they continue to deploy them to meet continued employee demand for work-from-home solutions.”
“Additionally, businesses should weigh what a system’s return on investment may be outside of simple monetary gain: to retain a competitive edge, professionals need a solution that simplifies workflows, enables continued contact with colleagues and customers, and facilitates the use of existing business applications, especially the company CRM.”
Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at GoTo:
“Today’s ever-changing work environment means the speed of deployment and flexibility offered by a UCaaS solution are more important than ever. True flexibility requires tools that support employees from any location.”
“When considering a UCaaS solution there are several main considerations companies should make. First, it’s important to find a tool with a user-friendly interface that is easily accessible. This means a solution with a strong mobile application so teams can connect from anywhere without missing a beat. Speed of deployment is also key, particularly for customers needing immediate access.”
“Finally, you need to select a tool that can grow with your organization. The ability to scale quickly and effectively can create a significant impact on business growth and it’s essential for a tool to be able to grow alongside your business to allow for the technology to adapt as your needs change. By choosing a provider that allows for ongoing administration and scalability growing companies won’t encounter growing pains.”
2. Why go for UCaaS over UC or another type of communications platform?
Mike Kuch, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at Avaya:
“The agility and resiliency that cloud services provide have become crucial for doing business and integrated, extensible cloud services platforms are uniquely suited to deliver great results today and to meet future demands.”
“Employee productivity, operational efficiencies, simplified management with just a single provider, and customer satisfaction are just a few of the many KPIs that can be improved through cloud communications services, while cobbled-together cloud solutions cause difficulties down the line.”
“It’s better to take a holistic approach with a single app offering extensible cloud services, which can be integrated to meet the diverse needs of all users, eliminating silos and unifying analytics ensures everyone can make informed, data-driven decisions when it matters most.”
Jamie Snaddon, Managing Director, EMEA at 8×8:
“SaaS was built for integrations, personalisation, and agility. Cloud-native applications are designed with integration and personalization in mind. They typically provide more flexibility than on-prem apps and enable increased personalisation options for different roles within an organisation.”
“Integrations with other business applications as well as with CCaaS and CPaaS make UCaaS perfect to address growing hybrid work requirements.“
“UCaaS also helps organisations shift telephony expenses from CapEx to OpEx. This is pivotal as many businesses are concerned about hardware availability and costs as well as maintenance fees and staffing requirements to run their hardware and software.”
“Additional reasons for UCaaS momentum include security, scalability, high availability, and performance. Most companies do not have the staffing or desire to invest in and maintain all of the latest operational technologies.”
“Cloud enables superior automation, especially for software patching and upgrades. UCaaS democratizes access to high availability, improved redundancy, and reduced latency.”
Theresa Larkin, Lead PMM for UCaaS at Zoom:
“There are many benefits to a UCaaS model, including ease of use, ability to adapt, enhanced collaboration and cost savings. Zoom, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for UCaaS, offers UCaaS solutions, but this is just one piece of the Zoom platform.”
“Siloed technologies and use cases consolidate in the Zoom platform to form the total experience, which is the future of communications.”
“Zoom’s UCaaS solutions are easy to use, innovative and scalable, and security is the highest priority. This includes Zoom Meetings, for groups up to 1,000 who want to share, discuss, plan, and work together; Zoom Chat, the secure persistent messaging and collaboration hub that provides instant access to Zoom’s real-time video and phone;
“Zoom Phone, a cloud phone solution for businesses of all sizes; and Zoom Rooms, Zoom’s software-based conference room system, which makes it easy to run video meetings, connect, and collaborate with the tap of a button.”
Robert Cooper, Managing Director Americas at Wildix:
“Business demands more than communication alone. As important as it is to remain in touch with your customers and colleagues, the reality of today’s market is constant, often unpredictable change. For ready scalability and reliable business continuity, only as-a-service communication offerings ensure the flexibility necessary to meet coming challenges.”
“Pandemic-related lockdowns are of course an example that stand out, but just as likely are shifts due to customer interests, supply chain problems, or changes in the labor market. Agility in the face of these disruptions is pivotal to success, and business communications as a service remain integral to that agility.”
Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at GoTo:
“When choosing a platform to support a business, UCaaS solutions are the way to go. UCaaS or Unified Communication as a Service, provide a complete unified communication and collaboration stack under one easy-to-use system.”
“UCaaS solutions are cloud-based, making them flexible, scalable, and built to adapt. These systems are accessible anywhere with an interest connection, making flexible work a breeze.”
“Other UC solutions or platforms typically involve on-premise deployments that are more time-consuming, expensive, and elaborate processes. This often alienates small businesses that may not have the required time or funds to implement and manage these systems.”
“In contrast, UCaaS operates as a subscription service with little or no upfront fees. With the UCaaS provider taking on the maintenance and updates of the platform, additional staffing is not required, and IT staff and managers are free to spend time elsewhere.”
3. Which working trends will most impact UCaaS over the next 1-3 years?
Mike Kuch, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at Avaya:
“Workstream collaboration, where users self-organise and collaborate around topics or projects by incorporating and extending the capabilities of UCaaS into persistent virtual workspaces.”
“All content needed to start or progress a project or discussion is organised, time-stamped and securely stored enabling workflow orchestration where all participants are informed, up to date, and understand the decisions and knowledge that has been shared with tasks allocated to resources and time limits.”
“Composability, which enables organisations to go beyond basic app integrations with their UCaaS deployments and compose communications and collaboration solutions that fit precise and custom workflows or vertical use cases.”
“The intersection of CX, EX, UX and MX is Total Experience. Employee engagement powers customer experiences, and metrics to gauge customer success are now being applied to employees: engagement, acquisition, and retention.”
“Organisations want to increase productivity and upgrade their unified communications to a more integrated approach for the Total Experience.”
Jamie Snaddon, Managing Director, EMEA at 8×8:
“Hybrid work means every endpoint is now an office environment with security, networking, and other office-like concerns. 5G proliferation will inspire UCaaS innovation too.”
“The industry is simplifying hybrid work for employees by creating more role-based experiences that offer customized features and benefits. Additionally, to increase collaboration tool usage, UCaaS vendors are offering more self-service support and AI tools to solve tech challenges automatically.”
“UCaaS supports administrators too in a hybrid world from training and support to making user changes and standing up new locations quickly. UCaaS admins can make many updates with clicks, which typically is much easier than how on-prem admins do it today.”
“The move toward hybrid work requires a renewed emphasis on cutting staffing costs. UCaaS allows employers to redistribute workforces in more global regions and implement automation capabilities that enable employees to focus on high-priority tasks and increase productivity.”
Theresa Larkin, Lead PMM for UCaaS at Zoom:
“The uptick in hybrid workforces will present an accelerated need for more secure, seamless collaboration across channels and places. This is where UCaaS solutions such as meetings, webinar, chat, whiteboard and phone will come into play, offering frictionless communication across this new workplace.”
“For example, Zoom Rooms takes conference rooms to the next level by promoting real-time interaction between in-person and remote attendees.”
“Zoom’s Smart Gallery view uses AI technology to create individual video feeds of in-room participants and level the meeting field for remote participants.”
“Further supporting the anywhere workforce, is Zoom’s Workspace Reservation, which helps solve the challenge of providing a safe and frictionless on-site experience.”
“For those in the office, Zoom also has Zoom Rooms voice commands to simplify the use of conference room systems and promote safety.”
“Zoom Apps, in a hybrid setting are helping to further streamline workflow, while encouraging collaboration and engagement.”
Robert Cooper, Managing Director Americas at Wildix:
“Smart working and work from home will continue to hold popularity among the workforce, lockdowns or not.”
“Having the technology to continually support this will of course remain essential, but just as critical is the technology to set up these solutions with full, unintrusive security measures.”
“We can expect even more emphasis on the cloud for this, not only from how it enables greater remote capabilities and business scalability, but also from how it improves security measures in the face of heightened cyberattack concerns.”
“All that said, we can also expect a greater emphasis on improving the agility and overall productivity of a given business.”
“Again, communication alone doesn’t provide much of a competitive edge in UCaaS now; what will ensure a given system stands out is its optimization for actual business processes, especially when it comes to suddenly changing course in structure or strategy.”
Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at GoTo:
“Over the next few years, we’ll likely bear witness to continuous shifts in the workplace made possible by greater employer flexibility. Organizations will be investing in new tools that are critical to a company’s connectivity and communication safety and efficiency.”
“UCaaS will see major growth as organizations take on a more people-first approach, where employers will focus on building an ecosystem of connectivity that empowers employees and improves company culture.”
“In addition, the age of remote and hybrid work means increased demand for connected services as companies consider ways to bring various platforms together, and UCaaS makes it easier to manage these integrated environments.”
“Plus, with rising demand for connected platforms, comes higher security demands. As employees continue to connect to business assets from the cloud, companies will recognize how critical it is to keep communication secure and will be on the hunt for the best UCaaS solution.”
