The challenge

More devices, less connection

The latest communications technologies offer extraordinary capabilities. We can create voice or video calls with multiple people spread around the world. We can reach people in any location using mobile networks, share our screens, collaborate in groups and much more.

However, while this is all possible, it rarely works smoothly in practice because individuals are using many different devices and systems to communicate with each other. They’re also using a mix of often incompatible traditional communications systems and newer solutions.

This is leading to a surge in dissatisfaction among individuals working within businesses who already spend much of their working lives in meetings or on calls. The finance sector is no exception.

In fact, modern workers spend 80% of their time in meetings, on phone calls or emailing. They spend some 37% of their time in meetings yet often find them so boring or pointless that 70% of them bring other work along to make better use of their time.(1)

(1) Cisco independent research.

Disjointed journeys, expensive and complex systems

Organizations are also struggling to maintain clear and connected communications with their customers across all the channels that they offer, such as voice, email, web chats and in-person interactions. Only 8% of companies have all their customer communication channels fully connected, and one in three businesses can’t track their customers’ journeys at all.

Within organizations, the technology and communications infrastructure that all this activity relies on has become complex, unreliable and expensive to run. We are a long way from the simplicity of a company only needing to worry about separate phone and data networks.

Today, enterprises have an average of seven different major systems supporting their workforce and customer communications. These include systems for enterprise voice, enterprise video, instant messaging, web and audio conferencing, and customer care (which is almost always a separate environment).

We estimate most organizations are spending 15–20% more than necessary operating their IT systems as they try to integrate their communications. Yet the result is usually a system that is inflexible, complex and hard to secure or use to enforce compliance policies.

Another more hidden cost is that the failure to provide effective, easy-to-use communications is undermining the success of other workplace transformation initiatives. Among the most of important of these is using technology to enable the efficient use of high-cost office space. Another is whether the organization can easily introduce new workflows and processes.