UCC
Then and Now David Evans, VP Product Management, from GoTo, a SaaS company offering business communications and remote IT tools, discusses how has the pandemic changed UC, and what’s next for the UCC Sector.
Discussions about how doing business has changed over the last five years often revolve around one topic: remote working. With studies showing just 4% of UK employees logged on from home in 2019, and now only 9% of companies don’t offer hybrid options, it’s not hard to see why. The way businesses have managed this transformation has triggered important shifts in the systems and processes leveraged to keep teams and customers connecting smoothly, and we can see this best demonstrated in how unified communications (UC) has evolved. Amid soaring demand for versatile communication and collaboration, UC has leapfrogged to the top of the priority list, experiencing a near double jump in global market value since 2020 to over $85 billion. But the big question is, how exactly have practices changed between then and now, and what’s next?
set aside standard adoption protocols, meaning technologies were deployed without consideration of long-term value and security. At the same time, teams frequently installed their own tools, creating fragmented bundles of point solutions that needed to be stitched together and weren’t always interoperable. Similar challenges led to mixed results when deploying artificial intelligence (AI). On the plus side, smart features such as automated transcripts and notes for video calls helped improve the efficiency and quality of remote meetings. Less positively, some hasty applications of first-wave conversational AI led to sub- par customer experiences, affecting perceptions of chatbots and sparking stronger desire for human support. Inevitably, managing multi-faceted communications across employees in different locations also brought greater security risks. Where the earliest concerns were about fortifying virtual meetings against uninvited guests, organisations quickly identified the need for more robust ways to safeguard confidential customer and business data travelling between various endpoints.
David Evans VP Product Management
goto.com
Quick adaptation: the early remote rush
While not all early pandemic adjustments were knee-jerk reactions, it’s fair to say most responses centred on speed. Recognising the importance of UC to ensure minimal disruption and streamlined service, companies rapidly extended their toolkits — with the number of global employees using collaboration tools soaring by 44% globally from 2019 to 2021. Often the fear of imminent business failure fuelled a tendency towards panic buying. Many firms
Settled simplicity: all-in-one tech gains pace The biggest difference in today’s UC approach is a move away from
emergency-centric thinking. Instead of making ad hoc decisions, businesses are looking at the full communications picture to determine what best suits their needs. This broader perspective is also driving
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