Make Every Word Count: Harness the Benefits of Unified Communications

RingCentral is a Business Reporter client.

The Covid-19 pandemic has undeniably transformed the modern work environment, changing the nature of enterprise communications almost overnight. As the UK approaches its second anniversary of remote/hybrid working, this new way of life looks like it is here to stay.

For the most part, workers are keen for this to be the case. RingCentral’s recent survey found that one-quarter of British workers claim they would look for another job if forced back to the office and 63% believe that connecting online or via voice or video calls is just as good as meeting in person.

As work from anywhere quickly becomes the norm, business leaders must take the time to audit their interim communications solutions. It’s crucial now that forward-thinking business leaders acknowledge employees’ desire for better workplace flexibility. As 66% of homeworkers claim they’d prefer to continue working remotely, it’s essential that businesses put the infrastructure in place to ensure that they retain their staff and continue to operate with technology that stands the test of time.

The importance of unified communications

As teams and colleagues increasingly connect online and from afar, circumstances have put business communications solutions in the limelight. With cloud communications now at the heart of most businesses, teams must assess their needs and possible opportunities to unlock better working relationships and efficiencies.

In the initial wave of the pandemic, businesses had to focus on managing the immediate impact, quickly pivoting and putting continuity measures in place that were often in the form of cloud-based tools. Now, as businesses continue to navigate the impact of the ongoing pandemic, workers find themselves juggling several key tools and technologies.

With team members working remotely and spread across different regions, the lack of cohesion afforded by disparate systems can be very limiting and harm team efficiency and productivity. In contrast, having access to a unified set of collaboration tools puts business teams in a good position for improved teamwork, productivity and flexibility, and for the scalability required to evolve in the future.

Unified communications in action

The past two years have proven that having the right unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions in place can really simplify the world of work. For example, in the public sector, organizations have been able to offer citizens better access, drive service efficiencies and improve the experience across the board. Examples of how UC&C has improved the citizen and worker experience include:

• Health care organizations (including the NHS) can link encrypted data analytics to patients’ calls, messages and records, enabling more informed and effective decision-making.
• Local authorities can offer greater value for money for council taxpayers by planning resources more effectively and quickly responding to customer needs.
• Schools can provide parents with reassurance that they can contact a teacher at any time, bettering communication and the children’s learning experience.

Powering business intelligence

Along with the increasing reliance on cloud communication and collaboration tools, analysts and industry commentators predict that we’ll see an increase in workplace communications being mined for intelligence and insights. According to one study, only one-quarter of enterprise meetings will be held in person by 2024, and 75% of business conversations will be recorded and analyzed by 2025.

This business intelligence evolution is beginning to have huge implications for business operations. Businesses across all industries are considering how unified communications—offering enhanced productivity, innovation and commercial benefits—could play a huge role in their business progression and take their digital transformation to the next stage.

As a result of increasing demand, communications providers are increasingly harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to integrate cutting-edge technology into their platforms. This additional element, which takes online collaboration to a whole new level, allows business users to harness the full potential of communications data for their customers, streamline operations and better support staff so they are free to problem-solve and innovate.

With AI, businesses can rely on technology to automatically make notes during meetings and provide action lists, meeting summaries and minutes. Soon, we’ll see innovations such as intelligence automation (IA), which focuses on making computers as smart as humans.

As technology evolves and digital transformation accelerates and takes on new meaning, dedicated UC&C providers will gradually begin to offer these IA-powered services to augment an enterprise’s intelligence. In addition to providing customers with AI-powered live transcriptions, meeting summaries, auto framing and speaker tracking, RingCentral has acquired and integrated DeepAffects, a leading conversational intelligence pioneer. This allows us to provide our customers with the tools to analyze business conversations and extract meaningful insights.

This new wave of deeply intelligent tech will allow enterprise teams to not only gain easier access to knowledge from wherever they work, but also to rely on their technology to provide interpretation and innovation to any employee.

Welcoming the workplace of tomorrow

Forward-thinking businesses that choose to work with the right UC&C providers to put AI and IA technology in place will unleash a new world of potential and empower themselves to increase productivity. Those that invest in the relevant UC&C tools will unlock significant efficiencies, enhance their decision-making and improve customer experience.

Partnering with providers that focus on innovation means that businesses can truly prepare for the workplace of tomorrow and make use of technology to reveal valuable intelligence, drive productivity and give themselves a competitive edge. Organizations that act now to embrace the technologies that facilitate better hybrid and remote working will be taking the best step to ensure that they’re ready and their workers are equipped for whatever the future holds for the new world of work.

— Steve Rafferty, Head of International Sales, RingCentral