I can guarantee that everyone reading this is within arm’s reach of something that, even if it’s brand new, reminds them of the way things used to be. Whether it’s a piece of tech, an entire setup or simply the way in which something gets done, everyone is going to struggle to find a single thing that hasn’t been entirely transformed in the past ten, hell even the past five years.
And in most cases, we’re all happy for these transformations. These changes have either iteratively or in one massive leap made each of our lives better. Yet when it comes to facing these shifts there is a resistance as we hold onto what we know and what we’re used to. This goes double for when this change is made by an external force. After all it’s only natural to initially distrust a move that someone else has made for us, which is made even worse by jargon that’s seemingly impenetrable and the blurring of lines between what belongs where or whether something is being used in the right way.
Case and point, the way in which the IT and Telco industries have been coming together has slowly but surely progressed to the point where you would be excused for thinking that they are one and the same. For better or worse (depending on what you bring to the table), things are simply not the way they used to be... And they never will be again. Even the slow and confident telco is near the finishing line of the race towards the cloud, and that’s a race that only goes one way.
The future is now hybrid, and one thing is certain - This future does not include isolated boxes in basements, a single terminal workforce or even traditional communications. Ultimately this means that you can no longer survive by providing something that everybody else already takes for granted. If this vision of the future is daunting, I’m here to let you know that it doesn’t have to be.
You don't have to rush to fully embrace the cloud and discard everything that you've spent your time building. There are routes into the cloud that leverage existing tech, and everything from migration to implementation is a lot easier than you think. The organizations who are leading this change in modern business communications have made it easy for you to evolve with the times, all you have to do is stop avoiding it and make a choice.
Gartner now predict that 97% of European organizations will have adopted either a cloud or mobile PBX solution by the end of next year. As decisive as this figure sounds, the true scale of this shift is only revealed when you look into the ancient history books (otherwise known as the start of 2024) and see that back then only 10% of those organizations were cloud-based. The drivers of this change? Improved tech and evolving work models - Organizations are increasingly embracing flexible working and are leveraging improved, simplified UC to support workers wherever they are without having to worry. And when we say wherever they are, we mean it. A lot of leaders are looking to the deskless as the next focus of their attention, after all they represent over 80% of the global workforce. If this wasn’t enough, there is also of course the looming shadow of the big PSTN switchoff that will spell the ultimate demise of traditional communications once and for all.
But this market shift isn’t just about the move to the cloud. It’s also being driven by the fact that businesses realized long ago that they can have everything they will ever need all in one place. With a unified system, they get simpler IT management, easier logistics, straightforward compliance and a smooth experience, all of which often outrank advanced features for SMBs in most markets. Having one platform that handles all of their communication and collaboration needs is the logical first step for any small business, and because of this expectancy a lot of UC features that once kept you ahead in the market are now commoditized.
Drilling down on this a little bit, when it comes to differentiation, AI tooling is of course a big draw for a lot of businesses, but it is in fact voice that’s still viewed as one of the most crucial communication features in office-based, hybrid or fully remote SMBs.
There is one simple way in which providers can stay ahead of the curve and stop their customers from going elsewhere - Integration. Businesses are equipping their users with the collaboration platforms that they know and love as a first step and looking to sort communications after the fact, and by integrating into these platforms you retain that userbase with minimal effort. A primary example of this is the absolutely massive boom that we're seeing in Microsoft Teams users, and their voice-enabled seats.
Let’s just get one thing out of the way. Like it or not, you’re not going to ‘out-Teams’ Microsoft. No matter which way you cut it the collaboration market is now fully dominated by the big purple monster from Redmond, Washington. With a burgeoning user base and a percentage of PSTN enabled users that feels like it ticks up a point every other week, Teams has shown that businesses of all sizes can indeed have it all when it comes to their cloud communications stack. And as we’ve already covered, your customers want to have everything in one place, which means a lot of them are already looking to add comms on top of their collaboration tool within the Microsoft tenant. But here’s the good news, and it’s something that has seemingly gotten lost in the noise for a lot of organizations – Microsoft are putting service providers at the centre of their communications strategy and they’re giving you a few ways to do it.
There is one simple guiding truth for you to know – You need to stop seeing the likes of Microsoft, Webex and Zoom as a threat. Are you a UC vendor looking for a way to stop the flow of customers leaving your platform for more popular solutions? Integrate. Are you an MNO trying to give the people what they want? Integrate. Are you a fixed operator looking for the next thing that's going to help you innovate and increase your reach? Integrate.
Co-opetition is one of the leading trends that we are seeing for channel companies looking to win in the long term and the vast majority of vendors on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for UCaaS have already seen great success in offering a route into Microsoft for example when it comes to comms. Whether it’s through a Direct Routing solution or through the Operator Connect marketplace, providers across the globe have already proven that they can are able to turn Microsoft Teams into one of their biggest opportunities to reduce churn and boost seat numbers.
Looking to learn more about how you can turn Microsoft Teams, Webex and Zoom into one of your biggest strengths? Get in touch with us today.