The impact of Covid19 for business communications.

It wasn’t that long ago that it was common for staff to be tied to an office location, use a desk phone and if their role demanded it or if they were senior enough, they would have a business mobile.

Then bring your own device “BYOD” became popular which extended the ability for other staff to communicate away from the office. I’ve been talking with business leaders and technology leaders over recent years about the cloud and while many were happy to move their data, their storage and even their cyber security into the cloud, they simply weren’t ready to move their telephony. They said they would wait for the technology to mature.

Well, the pandemic has ripped up this thinking and unsurprisingly swathes of businesses that have previously dug their heels in over the matter have been frantically looking to make necessary changes to their voice infrastructure. Clients and suppliers have been unable to speak to these businesses who at best have been successful in forwarding their main switchboard number to some poor soul’s mobile phone, which is never answered (probably because it overheated and melted). The other popular option chosen by these companies has been to play a recorded message inviting callers to email in with their enquiry.

No doubt some will bother to write an email and wait a few days for a response. Others I suspect, may simply look for another business that has easier and faster communication options.

Recently we've learnt only one-third (34%) of UK white-collar employees have gone back to work, lagging far behind their European counterparts, where almost three-quarters of staff (68%) have done so, according to analysis from US bank Morgan Stanley’s research unit AlphaWise and detailed in this article from the Guardian newspaper.

Despite the change to working arrangements, if anything there is more communication, not less, compared to traditional office working, since it has to be taken more seriously in these conditions and properly planned. Businesses are pushing further on their digitisation strategies as a result which will give staff options on remote working which were not so easily achievable before.

“the pandemic actually opened the doors for more experimentation and new ways of working” – David Clarke, PWC

One example of this is probably best demonstrated with businesses considering cloud-based UC after their on-premises communications infrastructure failed to adequately support remote workers during the pandemic.

There’s been a global surge in the use of relatively new technologies such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom to allow staff who are having to work from home to communicate with one another, their team leaders and managers. The same technology has been used to hold project meetings with external clients and suppliers and by now, most people have adjusted to seeing themselves on screen and have learnt the basics of video calling, although hearing “you’re on mute!” still happens at least once each session.

The adoption of Office365 or Microsoft365 has been massive and this has been the case for Microsoft Teams. Jared Spataro, CVP Microsoft 365 can be seen here in this video speaking at last years Microsoft Ignite event discussing the roadmap for Microsoft Teams.

The next surge that is happening right now is the move to using Microsoft Teams as the main telephone system for the business. To extend it from video calling and conferencing and an internal tool for communicating/collaborating with colleagues.

There are numerous considerations when looking into Teams as a potential option. Depending on what Microsoft licence you hold that supports MS Teams (Business Standard, E1, E3 or E5 etc) you may require an add-on to access all of its features. You can go to Microsoft direct or buy from a Microsoft Partner. Your calls can be routed through the same network and datacentres as Microsoft for your external calls that they use to deliver Teams or you can select to have your voice traffic channelled through different carriers giving enhanced SLA’s and Enterprise grade voice quality or HD voice as well as an increased level of business continuity in the face of unexpected crises. Users that make a lot of international calls need to consider if the restrictions Microsoft currently have would affect the way they operate or how much they would end up paying.

In addition, there are a range of options for being able to make calls via Teams. Currently there are limited handsets that are certified as Teams compatible.  Depending on your policy or approach towards returning to the office, some staff given the choice might opt to continue to work from home in which case a desk phone might not appeal but a soft phone client via their laptop could be attractive. Of course, there’s nothing stopping someone from taking the desk phone from the office and connecting it in their home office. The Teams application works on both Android and Apple IOS devices and the calling feature works as an extension to the app providing a smooth and familiar experience to users.

“By making the right investments, organisations can ‘step on the gas and move faster than their competitors’ after the pandemic” - ZK Research analyst Zeus Kerravala

In summary, it is absolutely critical that in making any decision that involves using Microsoft Teams as a replacement to legacy telephone systems, you are clear on the various options, the licencing costs that would be required to enable Teams to make and receive external calls. It is equally important to understand how your staff are going to be able to physically call and what their preferred option might be such as desk phone, soft phone or mobile.

About Martin Coles and Babble

As a cloud-only technology partner, Babble is able to melt away:

• Frustration at tight cashflow preventing upgrades of legacy telephony systems, for example
• Annoyance at huge upfront capital expenditure costs and expensive licences/support
• Despair at the lack of IT resource, especially if you’re not cloud-based
• Weariness of staff churn caused by high stress levels of using outdated legacy systems
• Worry at poor customer engagement and profitability.

Who Babble Helps

Companies including Secret Escapes, Oak Furniture Land, Paul Hamlyn Foundation & Proco Global, trust us with their unified communications.

We’re most able to help UK-based companies with:

1. 50+ employees, single or multiple sites, experiencing growth, relocation or acquiring other businesses

2. Less than 50 staff, but growing rapidly.

How Babble Helps

Offering the very best mobile, unified communications and connectivity solutions, we swell your productivity, shrink your costs and secure your operations.

What’s more, we provide cloud contact centre solutions, all protected using the latest cloud-based security tools.

Proof Babble Helps

"Proco Global now collaborates throughout the world which has had has a positive effect on team communication”

"Customer wait times have been dramatically decreased”

"Babble haven’t just delivered a new phone system, but have added a significant value to our business."

Any of the above a pressing need for you right now? Then we should talk.

Call Martin Coles on 0203 8156989 / 07972054667 or email [email protected]