Unified Communications Is Essential To Navigating A Post-Covid World

Even before the arrival of COVID-19, there were already 7 million people working remotely in the US as of 2020. In the rest of the world, too, remote working has been growing in popularity. A survey by Global Workplace Analytics and FlexJobs conducted last year found that 66% of companies allowed remote work, and 16% were fully remote.

With the global pandemic forcing the bulk of the world’s knowledge workers to give up the office environment, organizations of all sizes have been investing in technology to make remote work easier. While many had existing tools in place, most have been looking for solutions that can make collaboration among remote teams even easier.

Remote conferencing and collaboration tools have been a nice-to-have for many companies, especially SMEs. The outbreak of Covid-19, however, changed everything. It is no exaggeration to say that having a robust unified communications (UC) infrastructure is now a business essential and, in particular, the key elements of UC, such as remote conferencing and collaboration, are now business necessities.

It seems certain that working practices and traditional office setups will not return to what they were in February 2020, and vastly increased remote working will become the norm. Indeed, according to April 2020 research from analyst house Omdia, the coronavirus is changing everything about how people work, and will do so permanently. The analysts even point out that their initial projection for 2020’s UC market growth is now completely incorrect, with telepresence and videoconferencing expected to far exceed the original 6% growth estimate.

A poll of 1153 workers published in Harvard Business Review found that 46% of them said that the most successful managers check in frequently with remote workers, rather than just leaving them to work on their own. These workers also said that managers who are always available during the remote employee’s work hours — an always-on listening channel — were best at helping workers feel supported and cared about.

This makes it clear that as we start navigating the new world of work, companies need to start paying more attention to the tools that enable collaboration in remote, fluid and diverse work environments. Going forward, flexible solutions are going to be key to business success as organizations start understanding that a personalised, collaborative work management platform can turn remote employees into empowered employees that will proactively seek innovative solutions.

Technology in itself is not the silver bullet. Technology is an enabler and companies should look for partners that can help them navigate new business best practices post-Covid. It’s not just about connecting staff to a company’s systems or enabling their mobile phones to replace their desk phones. Organizations must give people the confidence, transparency and information needed to be empowered. Tools alone don’t solve that. When we work with our clients, we look at how to integrate tools so that people can be as effective remotely as they are in the office.

If you are struggling with any of these issues, it may be time for you to give us a call, send us an email, or browse our website – especially the testimonial page to see what some of our clients are saying about us. We are here to help you succeed, and to make sure you invest your time on what is really important. Contact nQuery today.