Editor’s Note: With 2015 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from leading industry analysts and executives on what they expect to see in the new year.
Ten years ago, tablet computers didn’t exist and mobile phones could only make calls and do rudimentary messaging. Today, employees can work virtually anywhere around the globe, staying connected to critical business applications, collaborating with team members and sharing documents as if they were in the office. It’s mind blowing to think of how fast these capabilities have emerged, as well as what’s in store for the year(s) ahead.
The future is sure to bring about functionalities we didn’t even realize we needed, but 2015 is all about ease of use. The applications and features we’ve all become accustomed to will be easier to deploy, access and share from devices of our own choosing. This year is about making the complex world of interconnectedness simpler and more natural, until we wonder how we ever got anything accomplished without it.
I will summarize five predictions for the next year that will drive innovation and adoption of new unified communications capabilities.
User experience
Collaboration tools are essential for employee productivity; yet if they are to be effective and readily adopted they must be simple and easy to use and must be integrated with other tools without adding complexity for the user. Unified communications will grow in popularity as a means to this end. In 2015, more apps will become interconnected, and unified communications will require a single interface for different modes of communication.
UC services from the cloud will continue to grow – as will adoption. I predict more companies will outsource their UC solutions, perhaps to offset the stress on IT departments to keep up with the changing demands and configurations of an increasingly diverse technology platform. With more cloud-based UC solutions, users will get upgrades and service issues resolved faster, and as a result, productivity will increase.
Integrating applications will not only improve productivity but also cut costs. This trend will continue with the integration of applications supporting social media with unified communications to help provide that seamless interaction users desire.
Hybrid unified communications
Many businesses rely heavily on their phone systems to serve as the foundation of their unified communications services; however, finding companies with only PBX systems will become more difficult. More companies will move some – but not all – of their unified communication to the cloud. Cloud-based UC provides added flexibility, easier scalability and improved mobility. Meanwhile, premises-based UC offers more control, greater security and less risk. In 2015, we’ll see more organizations combining the best of both worlds as they opt for hybrid unified communication s architectures to suit their specific business needs.
To meet the increasing demand for hybrid solutions and gain market share, more vendors will include hybrid options in their product offerings as key components of their future growth strategy. Companies will add UC capabilities to their smartphones and tablet computers to extend full-featured communications so employees can stay connected no matter their location or device.
UC = universal communications
Big data is all the rage but unless you have a way to transform it into business intelligence, it’s just a massive amount of useless data. Unified communications will be less about passing bits of information around and more about gaining understanding of what is being transmitted and how it can be more relevant and more widely leveraged for critical business decisions. Integrating systems, such as a phone system with a CRM solution like Salesforce, allows users to leverage the data they already have in new and easier ways. Customer data will increasingly be at the fingertips of those who have the best opportunity to impact the customer experience.
In 2015, more vendors will find better ways to analyze big data in useful and meaningful ways. New architectures and processing algorithms are being invented to open a completely new frontier in which organizations can integrate big data from multiple data sources and know every touch point of each of their customers. The companies that have the tools in place to sift through the vast amounts of data to find the core data most relevant to them and their customers and prospects – and make it accessible to those who need it the most – will have the competitive advantage.
Apps rule
The word “app” was hardly a household term 10 years ago. Today, every conceivable activity can be turned into an app and easily accessed via mobile devices. In 2015, even more software applications will arise to empower people to do more and communicate with whatever device a user prefers, giving users ultimate control.
Technologies like Web real-time collaboration allow UC providers to build capabilities to enable users to launch Web collaboration meetings and screen share remotely. Instantaneous collaboration features such as these that blend seamlessly into a UC environment will introduce unprecedented potential for fast-moving companies to bump up their productivity on a global scale.
Embrace change
Companies, and IT in particular, are in a unique position to give employees the potential to drastically improve their productivity with apps and tools that enable them like never before. As employees become more self-reliant, demands on IT resources will shift from resolving day-to-day issues to facilitating productivity and meeting strategic business objectives.
IT must be flexible and willing to keep up with the increasing mobility and bring-your-own-device demands. Allowing employees to use their devices of preference and enabling apps to integrate with any device will be as important as ensuring UC functionality.
In the end, both the user and the company benefit from higher productivity and the resulting revenue. One thing is for certain, we are just scratching the surface of where communications technology will take us in the coming years. Those companies poised to embrace change will be capable of withstanding whatever the future may hold.
Pejman Roshan is the VP of product management at ShoreTel, where he is responsible for product strategy, definition and delivery for ShoreTel’s unified communications cloud and premises product lines.
