Companies with a hybrid work environment became one of the largest adapters to using unified communication and collaboration (UC&C) tools during the pandemic. These tools are essential for communication among team members working from different locations.

The same 93% of companies adopted using new UC apps and tools in the past 18 months. These apps allow you to communicate as well as improve overall productivity and workflows across teams—regardless of locations and time zones.

(Source: Netscout)

About two-thirds of workers enjoy having a flexible work environment, giving them the option to work remotely all or some of the time. Many employees also enjoy going to an office to have in-person time with their teams and colleagues.

Over 65% of individuals crave time to interact with team members. With this being said, it’s a good idea for businesses to offer a combination of both work environments to offer employees the best of both worlds.

(Source: Microsoft)

When considering the total cost of ownership (TCO), UC solutions present a lower overall cost. This is because a single-solution provider delivers an integrated option that provides various functionalities, including calling, online meetings, and messaging. Whether it’s a DIY system that allows companies to integrate solutions in-house or one that’s ready-to-deploy, single-provider solutions save on costs. This is especially true when it comes to the cost of managed services, staffing, and licensing.

(Source: Cisco)

Remote work is very attractive to many employees, and many would accept this option instead of getting a raise in pay. When it comes to tech professionals, 37% of these individuals said they would even be willing to take a pay cut of up to 10% to work from home every day.

(Source: GigaOm)

One of the major ways that teams communicate is through video conferencing. This allows individuals to see each other and feel like they are in an in-person meeting with their coworkers. 

This rise in video conferencing replaces in-person conversations and creates a fast-paced environment that makes meetings more efficient. For most businesses, Mondays are the busiest day for meetings. In fact, 83.13% of people spend about 1/3 of their week attending meetings.

(Source: Dialpad)

Live chat is a method for customers to communicate with a business without spending time on hold to talk to an agent. They can also continue with their day as they wait for a response.

Customers prefer live chat to communicate with businesses over any other contact channel because of its convenience and ease of use. In fact, 41% of customers expect to find this feature on websites so that they don’t have to spend the time calling the business.

Businesses without live chat are essentially not hearing what their customers are saying. Even though this is an important means of communication, only 9% of businesses give customers a live chat option. However, this is expected to change and grow by as much as 87% during the next 12 to 18 months.

(Source: SuperOffice)

Business SMS Adds Customer Convenience. Not only does this allow you to reach customers on a very popular touchpoint, but it also is very convenient for businesses that want to send bulk messaging to hundreds or thousands of customers. Texting is a very effective way to reach out to your customers. With almost 60% responding quickly to text messages, business owners can get things like confirmations done more quickly and reliably.

(Source: Salesmate.io)

Outside of reminders, text marketing is an effective way of creating new opportunities. In addition to reaching new customers, SMS texting even provides opportunities for businesses to upsell services to existing customers after support calls. And customers are 4.5 times more likely to respond to texts.

(Source: Postscript)

Team members should be able to collaborate, even when geographic distances separate them. Team messaging apps are built into the many of UCaaS platforms and provide a similar experience to business SMS. Still, it’s easier to send things like emotes, file share, and even switch over to video or audio conferencing.

With the advent of COVID-19, companies have had to scramble in order to help their employees communicate. A good example of this necessity has been the rise of video conferencing giants like Zoom. Team messaging has also seen a major uptick thanks to the rising need to communicate from a distance.

Even though the pandemic has started to wane, business has changed forever, with team messaging continuing to be a significant part of business. Standalone collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams have reported more than 270 million active users, and their chief competitor, Slack, is also experiencing monumental growth.

(Source: Humanyze)

A feeling of community is critical for a business to retain its employees. In a world where much of the internal communications is facilitated on screens, it’s important to use the right tools. With team chat apps, colleagues quickly collaborate, assign tasks, and even shoot the breeze, which helps them feel as if they are part of a growing or stable community.

There are multiple team chat apps on the market that can easily foster this sense of community among your employees. Many have features like emojis that add a sense of true interpersonal interaction to each conversation.

(Source: Inc.)

Unified communications will help your employees feel more like they are at home. About 75% of workers state that teamwork and strong collaboration are key reasons for staying with a company. With the number of communications options to reach both customers and colleagues on the rise, you can’t afford to ignore UCaaS this year (and the years to come).