In just the past year, collaboration and communication have changed dramatically. The modern workplace has transcended office space and hardwired phones. Due to the necessity of remote work in 2020, many businesses are adopting unified communications as a service (UCaaS) to facilitate a more flexible way in which team members communicate. As UCaaS continues to grow as a multi-billion dollar industry, finding the right solution for your company requires staying up-to-date on the latest trends. Discover the top business communication trends for 2021:
Remote work is likely here to stay.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, more and more companies have shifted to work-from-home. For many businesses, the pandemic has made it difficult to continue “business as usual” and many in the beginning were left scrambling to prepare their infrastructure for this change. As a result, business owners are constantly looking for ways to maximize limited resources and keep operations running smoothly. Investing in a UCaaS platform allows teams to communicate seamlessly during any unexpected situation. In fact, the pandemic has acted as a large-scale trial run for remote employment, and as business leaders assess the costs of an office space post-lockdown, the prevalence of remote work will likely be long-term. Furthermore, UCaaS will continue to be a key player in making the shift to remote work successful.
Effective collaboration is more critical than ever.
Especially during periods of uncertainty, workforce organization and the right tools for collaboration are critical. That being said, each business has unique communication needs, and a one-size-fits-all approach is not enough to ensure their individual requirements are met. On the other hand, a customizable UCaaS solution allows you to choose the specific features you need to meet your company’s goals in 2021. UCaaS solutions, like Mitel’s MiTeam Meetings, replace potentially dozens of collaboration apps with one convenient platform. In it, essential communication features are consolidated to one place, including voice, video, text, and more.
Artificial Intelligence is playing an even bigger role.
One of the biggest trends in tech is the growing demand for and use of artificial intelligence (AI). As companies collect huge quantities of data on a daily basis, manual data analysis is quickly becoming impossible. As a result, the use of AI is growing rapidly across industries. When combined with UCaaS, AI is capable of analyzing incredible amounts of data to analyze trends and patterns that inform business decisions. This year, UCaaS platforms will likely continue integrating AI in new and innovative ways. Examples include:
• Sales coaching by suggesting which products to promote and best-performing strategies.
• Assisting companies in maintaining compliance during calls by picking up words or topics that would violate regulations such as HIPAA.
• Automating specific tasks (such as scheduling), thus allowing workers to concentrate on the more collaborative or creative aspects of their projects.
• Using sentiment analysis, which uses data mining techniques to comb through text or spoken communications online and determine customer satisfaction.
• Enabling AI-powered Interactive Voice Response (IVR) during customer service calls to segment callers automatically without the need for live agent intervention, therefore delivering faster service.
As AI continues to open up new worlds, UCaaS platforms that give users access to analytics and AI will set businesses apart from the competition.
Keep Your Business Competitive with Cloud9 by VOIP Networks
To stay ahead of market changes and evolving customer needs, forward-thinking companies are taking advantage of UCaaS. VOIP Networks has been the trusted provider of unified communications solutions among businesses for decades, and our Cloud9 platform gives companies the tools to improve collaboration, workflow, and customer experience. Gain access to state-of-the-art technology and our dedicated professionals, who are ready to guide your path toward digital transformation and agility in the new year.
