Like today's global business ecosystem, the workplace is always evolving. It shifts and changes in response to trends and new developments in how people work and collaborate. The modern workplace reflects changing technology, including unified communications and collaboration (UCC) tools, as well as new perspectives about productivity and where work gets done.
Let's take a look at how the modern workplace has changed, how a unified communications and collaboration solution supports the modern workforce, and the criteria for selecting the best UCC solution for your business.
The Modern Workplace: What is it and how has it changed?
Gone are the days when everyone reports to a physical workplace like a company headquarters or local office. The "typical" 9-to-5 daily schedules have become far less common. Many companies don't shut down at a designated time each day, or start up again once a new work week begins.
Instead, the modern workplace is now often partially or fully remote. Nomadic team members work across the country and even the world. Real-time work defines how people tend to collaborate in this environment. Business communication is possible on any day of the week at any time.
These changes provide new levels of productivity, but they also present some unique challenges. Once, there was less of a need for a communications network that spanned time zones to connect team members. Now, communication and collaboration requires companies invest in tools that let people work effectively together even if they're thousands of miles away.
Another trend shaping today's modern workforce is the expectation of experiences when using technology. Anyone in your workplace, whether Baby Boomer, Gen Xer, Millennial or Gen Z digital native, expects a top-notch user experience for the software or hardware they're using to get their work done. Empowering your tech-savvy talent means delivering simple, flexible ways for people to connect with the rest of the team, on any channel or device they prefer.
Evolving into a modern workplace means digital transformation. Pick communication tools that meet everyone's needs and optimize the benefits of this new way to work.
UCC: How does it support the modern workplace?
To respond to these challenges and needs of the modern workplace, more and more companies are turning to Unified communications and collaboration solutions. According to Ovum Research, approximately 76 percent of IT leaders said they plan to increase their spending on UCC solutions.
UCC includes communication and collaboration tools like video conferencing, meeting recording, and team collaboration platforms. Cloud-based voice calls and AI-powered digital assistants also boost team participation and collaboration. These cloud services can be used individually, but can work particularly well when integrated into a larger set of software applications.
All of these unified solutions help deliver on digital native worker and customer experiences. Employees can tap into the digital dexterity that UCC offers to organize available data and exchange information in real time. And administrators can manage all their users account permissions and collaboration capabilities from a single pane of glass.
Choosing the right UCC solution for your business
If you're ready to modernize your business and assemble a UCC solution for the todays business landscape, it's important to learn insights from businesses who have already started down this path. We partnered with Ovum research to survey over 2,000 IT leaders around the globe to help companies understand the power that unified collaboration tools bring - you can dig into all the juicy data on our website.
With this research, we also worked with Ovum to built a step-by-step guide outlining the 10 imperatives for successful UCC implementation. In this whitepaper, "Delivering Business-Critical Communication and Collaboration in Today's Workplace", learn from the pitfalls and successes of companies that are modernizing their collaboration solutions. Make 2020 the year you modernize your business, leading with collaboration!
