Network Communications News (NCN) October 2016 | Page 10

COLUMN

talking point

Taking care of business
Andy Pearce of Arkadin discusses why Unified Communication lies at the heart of the future of work.

T

he journey to a digital workplace
is a primary opportunity for
organisations as part of their
transformation to becoming a
digital business.
Business models are being
forced to adapt, and the pace
of change is high, so organisations
need a framework to successfully
take this change from a vision to
transformation. Organisations that get
this right will expect to see reduced
costs, new revenue streams and
the provision of a better customer
experience, but can also capitalise
on unexpected benefits such as
innovation, business continuity and an
empowered workforce.
The influence of millennials
(individuals reaching young adulthood
around the year 2000) is increasing
massively. It has been predicted that
by 2025 this hyper-connected, tech
savvy generation will make up 75
per cent of the workforce, according
to Deloitte. It’s therefore vital for
enterprises to accommodate this
segment – who thrive on collaboration
and instant communication – into
existing workplaces.

The future of work
The key to future proofing the workplace
is giving employees the freedom to
communicate in the same way they would
away from work. It’s not about paying
lip-service to millennial workers, it’s about
understanding that every individual
employee has a different, personalised
expectation of how they’ll do their job –
and how IT can enable that.
To meet these demands, employers
need to deploy Unified Communications
(UC) tools that enable both new and
traditional working styles, whilst not
compromising security – which sounds
complex, but in practice it needn’t be.
UC helps businesses put their users
first, with a tool that is for the people,
by the people. It integrates Instant
Messenger, telephony plus online audio,
web and video collaboration and so on,
into a single intuitive interface which
users will love, but at the same time
gives the CIO control and visibility.

The changing nature
of communication
The work landscape will continue to
change, and it’s clear from the extensive
range of work based collaboration tools
that UC is going nowhere – furthermore,
it will in fact be central to the running of
a business.
Numerous studies show the
reasons behind recent communication
tool shifts, and it’s largely for both
technological and cultural reasons. For
newer generations, it’s a matter of the
go-to technologies they use in their daily
lives and, much like generations before
them, it’s difficult to break habits – using
WhatsApp for real time communication
and Skype for email style conversations
and collaboration. In fact, even British
government ministers were reportedly
using WhatsApp to communicate over
the EU Referendum.
This emerging generation of workers
would much rather communicate across
a social network lookalike, instant
messaging App or even a LinkedIn
group, hence the rise of Shadow IT as
consumer tech infiltrates organisations
– sometimes because it’s much easier to
use than ‘officially’ sanctioned Apps.

Another reason for this change is the
wide adoption of flexible working in the
last few years. Already more than a third
of the UK workforce alone want to work
remotely, which means people need
supporting technology more than they
did previously to stay in touch with their
colleagues. To complicate things further,
particularly for the under pressure IT
department, employees like their own
consumer tech better than typically
antiquated work collaboration systems.

Four steps to a
successful UC overhaul
Fostering a culture of collaboration and
building a strong, productive workforce
doesn’t happen by chance. Here are four
key considerations to help streamline
work based collaboration projects.
Homework – A no-brainer, but
understanding your company needs,
your resources and your employees is
paramount.
Consider conflicting policy – Review
your BYOD (bring-your-own-device)
policy and staying within its procedural
guidelines, bullet out a policy one that’s
applicable for employees’ own devices.
Additionally, consider setting up a
dedicated BYOD adoption team within
your own company.
Make sure your business is secure
– however unlikely it is that your UC
solution would be hacked, it’s always
better to be prepared, for example your
UC provider should offer encrypted
password protection to limit access.
Train your employees – the biggest
threat to the adoption of any new
technology in the workplace is your
employees’ confidence in their own skills
and knowledge. Provide the tools to
get the most from your UC solution and
they’re far more likely to embrace it.
To meet evolving customer demands
and to appease the expectations of their
younger employees it’s key for businesses
to provide communications tools that
appeal to everyone and to keep the above
considerations in mind. Truly understanding
and delivering tools that meet these
expectations will help businesses reduce
costs, drive innovative and, importantly,
ensure a happy, productive workforce.

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