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businesses need to identify a single supplier.” Andrew Cooper: Recurring revenues are very interesting because there’s potentially a higher value to your business. In a CapEx model, you’re only as good as your previous month’s sales, whereas in a recurring revenue model, customers stay lit up and you’ve had that revenue coming through. “For businesses like Nimans, although premise-based PBX sales have declined over the years, there is always an opportunity through this transition. Businesses will still want phones or headsets, and need routing equipment or switching equipment to deliver this kind of technology, these things generate more opportunities. “We’re seeing products like Microsoft Copilot are typically sold on a monthly subscription type basis. So it’s a natural evolution for businesses.” ? How is hybrid working affecting the interest in UCaaS solutions? Steve Rafferty: “The evolution to hybrid working for most businesses has been an inflexion point and a chance to review their tech stack to support business communications. At the height of the pandemic, communications and collaboration tools were intended to streamline workflows, but the volume of apps that some businesses were using created a sense of communication chaos that resulted in a productivity pinch, at a time when businesses and economies needed workforces operating effectively. “Our research found that 52% of employees are using six or more communications apps in a typical work week. Over a fifth (22%) are spending over two hours checking notifications, meaning they could be spending up to 63 days per year (or 500 working hours per year) toggling between apps. Furthermore, 34% said they would prefer to have a single platform for their work communications and collaboration. “Businesses need solutions that allow employees to seamlessly communicate as they move between remote and in-office settings or work from different locations such as home, coworking spaces, or even client offices. Furthermore, any solution must not impact broader business productivity and efficiency. “With these business challenges in mind, I believe interest in UCaaS solutions will remain high, and we’ll see more organisations use it
as a strategic lever, not only as a way to hire and retain talent but also to revolutionise how they work with clients and provide customer support.” Justin Hamilton-Martin: “We must always remember that the customer buys the outcome and not the technology, so if they achieve remote working from an on- premise solution they will see only success. UCaaS is a flexible model which facilitated rapid remote deployment in 2020, but for UCaaS to displace other business solutions it has to prove that it is ultimately more effective, secure, reliable and able to integrate with the customer’s other technology investments. “UCaaS suppliers must provide a blended solution, bringing together as many of the customer’s required tools as possible, otherwise they will be the last, rather than the first, consideration. “Hybrid working is a general term referring to the location of the worker. The toolkit they use will be dictated more for the work they do and the interactions they have with colleagues and customers. “Outside of sales and service, many workers only engage with customers and suppliers by arranged meetings, in which case the collaboration tools need only be linked to the calendars and email services. Conversely, if people deal with real-time, on-demand communications then voice, chat and CRM integration becomes more of a driver.”
Businesses need solutions that allow employees to seamlessly communicate as they move between remote and
in-office settings.
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