How 'Communication' will be key in the hybrid arena for 2022 business.

This title seems obvious.

But let us take a deeper look at what this can and will mean for businesses who are realizing that the 'going back to normal' is not coming and the 'new normal' will have to be embraced and aligned to fit both sides of the working coin.

According to a letter written to poet William Wordsworth back in 1822, people were feeling "wearisome as to four pent walls without relief, day after day". Granted that is one quote that is neither here nor there, but food for thought none the same.

Hybrid is not a new word. It is here to stay. We must get used to it.

"A majority of managers worry about the impact of home working on collaboration, company culture and wellbeing"

But, less than half the UK workforce has that option in 2020/21 according to McKinsey Global Institute, just 36% of people did some work from home during this time, even during lockdowns.

"Changes that we are forced into are going to be beneficial in the long run"

This new and unique way of working now can also bring together vast amounts of talent, diversity, and skills that potentially could not have been unlocked as we moved through our daily lives in the same way, every day.

TEAMS that adopt a culture of TRUST, can embrace this new way that will be essential for well-being and flexibility to accommodate the work balance.

It's a tough balance to get the best out of employees and keep them happy.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY ACROSS ALL AREAS.

In the US just recently the larger bank of Goldman Sachs, Citi, and JPMorgan have all said that staff can stay at home until at least mid-Jan due to the new threat and spread of Omicron.

A survey initiated by Gartner found that 44% of companies have changed their timelines on requiring workers to return to their respective offices. Nearly 30% of business execs responded that they are delaying reopening plans or shutting down offices, and almost 20% are decreasing the number of people that can be at the worksite at any given time.

So in order to get the right fit, what can you do as a business or employee.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY ACROSS ALL AREAS.

What do I mean?

Well, as you will know (if you follow my content) is that at the tail end of last year I gave you a snapshot of some DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION trends and opportunities that will play a big part in 2022 for businesses trying to navigate the complex digital, social and hybrid workplace we need to get used to.

COMMUNICATIONS TECH was a BIG takeaway for me.

In amongst the array of TECH available to the digital business, the choices you make, and the tools you invest in, will separate you from the pack and allow you to empower employee engagement, productivity, collaboration, and conversation. These tools and services you adopt will create a culture like no other and others will lean in, as this will be the 'new normal'.

Vendors and partners are battling for your attention in this variety of space in collaboration and communications tools. Cloud-based suites like Microsoft Teams can usually handle basic collaboration tasks. More focused apps like Slack can work for some companies, but be a little limited for others.

PICKING THE OPTION WHICH SUITS THE MOST IS CRITICAL!!!!!

How do you decide what is right?

Well, a standard scoping of these tools would allow you to dissect and select the top in their sector. Luckily, I did that for you... or at least Gartner did.

8x8 goes to market with it's Experience Communications as a Service (XCaaS) offering which encompasses 8x8 Contact Centre, 8x8 Meet, 8x8 Messaging, and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service).

Gartner noted that 8x8 is geographically diversified, noting its increased focus on the UK market, making it a TOP choice for the agile business.

Worth noting, it was also praised for its integration with MS Teams for UCaaS, CCaaS, and voice. In amongst some other key quadrant players in Cisco, RingCentral, and Zoom.

But this is just data-based opinion?? No?

Well, if we can talk the talk on our partnerships, we should be able to walk the walk, so in the Summer of 2020, we did just that.

We moved our tradiotional PBX and devices on desk into the cloud across the 8x8 channel network and the savings and efficiency was in the thousands on productivtity, commericials and uptimes hrs.

As explained in the summer of last year by some of the Xeretec team in the Comms Dealer Insights, the move towards a cloud option is not whether or not you think you need it, but whether or not you can afford not to accommodate your business and your employees, and that of your clients to be given the best opportunity to communicate at pace, with control 24/7 365 anywhere on any device..... This is not a TEST, this is REALITY. A HYBRID workplace will demand it.

“Every engagement we’ve had with our existing customer base, or new prospects, has been around the outcomes available when moving to cloud telephony,”

We realized as a business that we had to move fast into this new hybrid way of working and that the analogue ways we were used, were soon to be made more efficient and commercially beneficial to the business, our clients, and our employees across all interactions.

EASY SETUP. BETTER CONTROL. LOW OPEX. INDEPENDENT & AGILE.

This is by no means a pitch. This is a problem that we had, that we solved. INSIGHT!

2022 will bring us even more tools, data, and challenges to the core of many businesses, but you can be ready, you can be armed with the knowledge, the tools, and the roadmap that 'TRUSTED ADVISORS' can give you, and then you discuss deeper into the OBJECTIVES and OUTCOMES you want to achieve as a business.

In 2022, we must keep our employees engaged, happy, and communicating across all levels.

We must also remain secure as a team and as a business, as cyber-attacks will become more obvious to those now working in some form of remote capacity. We can help on this also.

Offices will remain open and commercial developments will still happen. It will just become an optional state of play as to the makeup of who sits where and when.

Remote, Hybrid, Optional.

This does not change the COMMUNICATION. This is just the challenge that we see.

Some say Hybrid working can and will be problematic. Some say it is the future.

Whatever it is. We must at least advise and guide our clients and prospects as to the opportunity to make light work of the digital tools and services they require to achieve the desired objective and outcome. We must COMMUNICATE this message well to allow them to COMMUNICATE better now and forever.

Better COMMUNICATION + Better COLLABORATION

=

Happy CUSTOMERS and EMPLOYEES

I want to finish this piece by highlighting that the options available are unlimited in what you want to achieve. I mention one or two options above. The benefit we have as a vendor partner is consultancy across various suites and portfolios to suit what any small or enterprise business wants to achieve. The hard work has been done at our end, so it is easier to digest at the end-user and customers that want that seamless scoping & advisory session.

Projects are already in motion. Businesses are seeing the benefits of data and insights.

We are TRUSTED ADVISORS in the DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION sector.

I am excited by what I have seen and heard to date. The journey continues into 2022.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Kev