8x8: These Trends Will Shape Cloud Communications in 2022
8x8’s Hunter Middleton shares thoughts that channel partners will find valuable.
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Instead of hybrid work, think agile work, says 8×8’s Middleton. In an agile setting, people can move among remote, in-office and other locations “without missing a beat.” In “hybrid,” there may be multiple devices to juggle, such as desktop and mobile phones, or desktop and laptop computers, for example. “Agile” implies use of the same devices and applications regardless of location — with the ability to switch easily and seamlessly.
Such thinking comes at a crucial time. Worldwide, large companies appear to have given up trying to get people back into the office for the foreseeable future. As COVID-19 variants pick up steam (omicron, namely), executives are canceling plans to bring employees out of the home office. The seemingly unending pandemic is forcing organizations to adjust to new norms. Consider that about 17 million jobs just in the United States are listed as permanently remote.
“Work habits and attitudes toward remote work have radically changed in the last two years,” Middleton said. “Agility is here to stay and companies understand that having the best, most agile technology is going to be key to making this work.”
Channel Futures would add that companies that have yet to embrace this reality have fallen far behind and may jeopardize their own abilities to compete. Partners will be vital to guiding any customers facing these circumstances.
One of the drawbacks of remote work lies in the lack of in-person collaboration. Sure, we’ve all learned how to navigate video conferencing, but studies show digital interactions burn out us out faster, and in different ways, than typical face-to-face conversations and meetings. There may be no good way around that other than to deliver tools that help employees feel like they’re a part of the tribe.
“How organizations build and maintain a healthy culture requires a dramatic rethink,” as Middleton put it.
There’s no excuse not to do so, he added. Leaders have “an embarrassment of riches” to extend employees — think behavior-support resources, two-way communications and more, Middleton said. Along the way, managers and supervisors can identify which staff need more support, and in which ways, creating “cohesion across the workforce.”
Employee-engagement applications, Middleton added, are “going to be a really big deal this year.”
In 2020 and 2021, organizations rushing to adopt cloud tools did so in an often haphazard manner. This led to a mishmash of apps running on the corporate network. In fact, companies average seven cloud communications and collaboration tools, Middleton said. The lack of cohesion frustrates employees and creates “significant and unnecessary inefficiencies,” as Middleton put it.
A recent 8×8 survey indicates that 87% of leaders consider integrated cloud communications the future of their businesses. Achieving this requires channel partners’ help. Managed service providers, consultants, advisers and other third-party technology experts should step in, help determine which platforms to keep and which to toss, and oversee that process. This will allow customers to reduce costs, improve revenue, increase efficiency and productivity. And, importantly, clients will be happier.
That’s a flashy way of saying cloud communications tools will target specific use cases. In other words, rather than forcing a generic platform on, say, sales or events staff, developers will focus on user experience that supports particular activities and workflows.
“A one-size-fits-all generic communications app is not what these users need,” Middleton said. “This is the year we will see use-case-based apps.”
Channel partners can look forward to extending such capabilities to a variety of customer types — retailers, caseworkers and other “poorly served populations that have more needs than the traditional back-office workers but not so many that they need a fancy omni-channel platform,” Middleton said.
This means 2022 will mark the year when customer experience and customer service get real-time response and engagement.
“This is the expectation and it’s where competitive advantage comes from,” Middleton said.
Hyper communication supports instant response through a digital channel, not phone calls. Done right, a user only waits a few seconds before human help arrives on the web chat, for example. Hyper automation fueled by artificial intelligence will enable that capability by tracking customers’ engagement with the service in question, and knowing the customer’s stage in the process at all times.
“It sounds futuristic but it is actually here,” Middleton said. “All of us are starting to encounter these moments and they are impressive…and they bind customers to companies.”
But companies need partners’ help to deploy and manage these state-of-the-art functions, Middle said.
“It’s hard for organizations to keep up,” he said.
Channel partners are all too familiar with the security challenges facing their customers and their own operations. Plus, the explosion in remote work has ramped up the number of entry points through which attackers can gain access to corporate networks. Partners are key to combating the rampant security threats, Middleton said, adding, “Using AI and machine learning tools will become table stakes this year.”
Such measures, among others, tie in with ensuring cloud communications and collaboration tools are airtight.
“This is going to be a really important part of your security landscape,” Middleton said.
Adoption of cloud technologies that started in 2020 thanks to COVID-19 has yet to let up the pace. The result? Nonstop digital transformation.
“We’ve already accelerated and are accelerating more,” Middleton said.
Cloud communications adoption will keep expanding in 2022, he noted. That means organizations will go beyond video and chat to embrace the full communications landscape, including contact center.
This is just good business, as Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer pointed out last year.
“Leaders that embrace options for workers, enhanced enterprise efficiency and accelerated transformation plans have greater resilience in dealing with change,” he said.
Adoption of cloud technologies that started in 2020 thanks to COVID-19 has yet to let up the pace. The result? Nonstop digital transformation.
“We’ve already accelerated and are accelerating more,” Middleton said.
Cloud communications adoption will keep expanding in 2022, he noted. That means organizations will go beyond video and chat to embrace the full communications landscape, including contact center.
This is just good business, as Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer pointed out last year.
“Leaders that embrace options for workers, enhanced enterprise efficiency and accelerated transformation plans have greater resilience in dealing with change,” he said.
Cloud communications provider 8×8 held a one-on-one session with media on Wednesday to talk trends for 2022. Channel partners will want to assess these takes on the sector and ensure they’re on track with customers’ deployments and plans.
8×8’s Hunter Middleton
“Business communications has become quite a strategic asset for companies,” Hunter Middleton, chief product officer at 8×8, told journalists. “In less than two years, we’ve done a collective 180, and another, when it comes to how, when and where we work.”
That’s no exaggeration. Organizations around the world have put the brakes on returning employees to the office amid another coronavirus surge. At the same time, they’re continuing to invest in modern technologies, built on the cloud, that support work from anywhere. Platforms that enable simple, intuitive communication and collaboration among staff will win the day.
Channel partners are integral to the success of these cloud communications initiatives. Read through our slideshow above for the key trends 8×8 sees impacting organizations, and ways partners should get involved.
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