“Reality…” said Robin Williams, “…what a concept.”
Our reality…today, and for the foreseeable future…is that remote, distributed workforces are here to stay; and, that businesses have to deploy tools and digital-friendly processes if they want to remain competitive. Wherever they are, whatever the time and whatever their title, your people have to be able to do their jobs independently, in teams and as an enterprise without juggling a lot of individual tools, apps and interfaces. And, not only your people: your customers, partners and suppliers all have to be able to reach your people regardless of time and place.
Nemertes’ recent global study of more than 525 end-user organizations found that more than 91% now support work from home, up from 63% prior to the pandemic. On average, 72% of workers are now remote.
Communicating has become more important than ever both in terms of business continuity, but also to preserve investments in human capital, keep employee morale high and to ensure ‘just-in-time’ connectivity and access. Unified Communications…whether on-prem, in the cloud or as a hybrid solution…is the nexus of this digital metamorphosis.
Recognizing this reality, firms are accelerating their adoption of UC solutions to get ahead of the challenges before them. They recognize that it’s not just budget that teams need to think about anymore, but the experiences that they can deliver to both their employees and their customers.
Here are some of the basic ways that UC and Collaboration allow firms to achieve competitive levels of efficiency, productivity and employee & client success, in a virtual business model:
- Total cost of ownership (TCO) is lowered across communications and cloud communications tools.
- Integration of video capabilities, such as: video conferencing, web conferencing, and screen sharing.
- Ease-of-use/adoption from a single user experience (UX) for all communication and management for all users at all locations on any end point (smartphone, tablet, laptop, softphone).
- Increased productivity, efficiency and competitive edge by integrating data across apps, including CRM, ERP, Email/Calendar, text, social media, call center, project management, etc.
- Improve the employee and customer experience by unifying channels, including chat, email, and phones, and integrate seamlessly with remote workforce tools like Cisco Webex.
- Support mobility or move to a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) culture with simple, secure employee communication apps.
- Reducing the need for manual data entry and research, by automatically-populating customer profiles. Sales, Marketing and Customer Success teams can then access complete records of multi-channel customer communications.
- Enabling robust business continuity and disaster management processes (broadcast via voice phones, instant messages, text, and email). You can find a Fidelus Whitepaper on this subject at this link.
The most important first-step is to bring in a firm with impeccable credentials as a trusted adviser. Optimally, this firm has deep expertise in relevant business consulting, designing and deploying a solution that addresses each client’s unique needs, has a robust Customer Success methodology and Managed Services backed by powerful SLAs.
Schedule an initial call with Fidelus and find out what an authentic trusted adviser can do for your business needs.
