It’s meant a shift to flexible work models, and companies are increasingly aware of the benefits: nine out of 10 executives now say hybrid work is the future for their organizations, and C-level executives say hybrid working has improved their companies' productivity, customer satisfaction and employee engagement.
Voice still plays a bit part in this transformation. While messaging and video meeting tools help empower workers to collaborate and communicate, more than four in 10 workers say voice is the next best thing to being there for growing connections with colleagues. Voice helps companies build greater trust and teamwork, and voice calls are better for conveying emotion and context. Voice also enables dynamic exchanges and faster responses to inquiries. Eighty percent of workers say voice beats written communication.
But staying ahead of the competition comes with challenges: enterprises need to provide voice calling for staff, but it has to be fully integrated into cloud collaboration. There are challenges to effective cloud telephony – if you’re like many enterprises, you probably have a complicated voice estate, and your international operations need local PSTN phone services from local providers to make calls to fixed line, mobile, international and emergency services numbers and need to engage the right provider.
There are local-level rules and regulations to comply with, and in hosting and call path issues that differ between countries to manage. You have declining use and out-of-date equipment to manage, like desk phones. Integration of cloud telephony into Microsoft productivity suites is another big issue. Overcoming all these challenges takes specialist knowledge and skills, which many companies don’t have in-house.
Our new eBook takes you through all the business benefits of shifting to cloud telephony and how to overcome the challenges and barriers involved.