Telephony is dead. Long live telephony!

?The latest Global Workplace Report shows that 'employee wellbeing' and 'improving the Employee eXperience' are top priorities for most organisations, but also that good intentions do not by themselves lead to the hoped-for changes. Another observation is that cloud-based platforms will more or less completely replace traditional telephony in the next three years. How are these two things related? Find out below!

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As business leaders glanced through NTT's ‘2021 Global Workplace Report' over breakfast, many may have almost choked on their coffee. Why? Well, while nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of CEOs are very satisfied with their Employee eXperience (EX) capability, less than a quarter (23.3%) of employees say they are thrilled working for their current employer. In other words: there are still many improvements to be made in EX!

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The pandemic has shaken up people's expectations about the way they work. Though working from home is not always under ideal circumstances, employees have enjoyed its benefits, and they're not ready to give up working from home or remotely in a hurry. Employers who allow a hybrid form of working are undoubtedly at an advantage, assuming that working from home is just as pleasant and efficient as working in the office. It's not enough to let employees work from home; businesses must actively facilitate remote working.

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This brings me to one of the most cited reasons for returning to the office: the ability to have meetings together easily.

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Admittedly, video meetings are not always the most enjoyable way to spend time with colleagues. But considering how new this all is, it works exceptionally well. That being said, it could still be better. Much better! The good news is that the technology we need is already available.

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Given that not every employee is (and will be) coming to the office every day, it must be possible to have hybrid meetings, with some people taking part from home (or wherever they are), while the rest are sitting together in the meeting room in the office.

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This will require a small investment in office infrastructure, such as flexible cameras that focus on the person speaking and quickly react to voices and movements. The result is that those joining the meeting from home do not only see one fixed view of the meeting room, in which not everyone can be seen clearly. In a Next Generation Meeting Room, the camera zooms in and out and focuses on the person who is talking. This makes it very easy for remote participants to see who's speaking. Platforms such as Microsoft Teams can easily be integrated into these meeting-room systems, making seamless hybrid collaboration a piece of cake. Going into the office for a half-hour meeting? That is so 2019!

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Most organisations realise they need to make these changes and invest in the technology to make them happen. They were forced to take the first steps, but the next steps are much more important to make the whole transition sustainable. And that's where my observation comes in.

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The good, better, and best news about cloud telephony

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75–80% of large companies will evolve from a traditional telephony environment with landlines and their infrastructure to a cloud-based telephony platform in the next three years. This is not only because most telephony set-ups desperately need replacing, but also – and more importantly – it's very apparent to every organisation that cloud telephony is much better. Infrastructure – and often also management thereof – is outsourced to third parties, and that service goes together with a much lower and more predictable cost of ownership. CAPEX/OPEX: you know the story.

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That's the good news. The better news is that the new environment makes telephony easier and offers a platform on which far more can be done than was previously possible. For example, receiving a call is much simpler: you are called wherever you are and on the most convenient device. Furthermore, your colleagues can immediately see when you are unavailable or do not want to be disturbed.

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The best news of all, in any case for the CFO, is that almost every call is done within the data package, and the bill for telephone calls is kept to a minimum. Just over a year ago, I coupled my new 'landline number' to my Teams application. At the end of the 12 months, in which I had spent approximately half of each working day on calls, the counter on my phone showed I'd made just 3 traditional outgoing calls and had received just 5!

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The first step to higher employee satisfaction

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And what exactly does this have to do with employee satisfaction? It's simple: the new cloud telephony platforms are so much more than a digitalised telephone exchange. Those who have spent a large proportion of their working life in the last two years on Microsoft Teams (i.e., the majority of the working population) will quite probably have already noticed: there are a load more functions on this platform than what are known as 'unified communications' (calls, chat, video meetings, agenda, etc.). 'Channels', for example, has now developed into a valued collaboration platform. The last time I checked, I was a member of no less than 179 channels. Without the necessary rules and organisation, this isn't easy to manage.

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That brings us to the negative side of this sudden digitisation wave: for many of the tools we've been given to work as efficiently and productively from our living rooms as we do in the office, we've been expected to start using them without a word of explanation. That's understandable, you could say: Teams is a typical Microsoft product, well-integrated with OneDrive and Office, so why would you waste much time explaining it? But in practice, we observe that the lack of guidelines or training leads to unnecessary frustration and missed chances in terms of higher productivity.

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Unearthing hidden tools

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If, like me, you have become overwhelmed with numerous messages in a sea of 'channels' and no one has shown any ways to maintain an overview, it can lead to frustration. For instance, how many people set the notifications for each channel to meet their requirements? In fact, how many people even realise that they can make these changes? If you adjust the message settings, things quickly feel more in control. You don't need to stay up to date with every message on every channel, but you can control it yourself.

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By learning to use Teams optimally, we will become more productive because it has a whole raft of tools that can immediately make a difference. For example, have you ever heard of Microsoft Viva Insights? When you combine Viva with Microsoft Outlook, you recruit your own virtual personal assistant that helps you stay on top of things. "Two days ago, you emailed Tom to say that you would send the document by today. Have you already done that?" Viva Insights acquires its knowledge by analysing your emails and shares this with you if you ask for it. The app also offers many tools to improve wellbeing at work, including suggestions for reserving several hours of 'focus time' and simple ways to celebrate colleagues' achievements.

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And there are numerous other examples of how Teams improves the Employee eXperience. Do you want to book a desk or meeting room in your office for tomorrow? No problem. Order or manage your new company car? Consider it done!

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"I'm going to the cloud, and I'll take with me…"

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The big challenge for businesses is not only making their employees aware of the many tools and how to use them but the enormous task of switching from traditional telephony to a cloud-only communication platform, which involves a lot more than you would think. For example, do you want to keep all numbers for all employees, or are the general numbers for reception, technical services, etc. enough? Do you need a traditional door phone (intercom)? Have you thought about the analog line for the lifts, which remains a requirement? All these questions come up when we start discussions with businesses that say: "we're ready to enter the cloud".

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Alongside the traditional concerns when switching from on-premise to the cloud, several other points need attention. The most important is undoubtedly connectivity, which is less obvious than you might think. It seems nice to do everything internet-based from the comfort of your own home, but what if the transformer in your street suddenly gives up the ghost? If all your work is in the cloud, you can't get on with anything you need to. That's why several customers have got us to install routers with an integrated SIM card, so they can switch to 4G if their internet connection suddenly drops. It may sound like overkill but believe me: it isn't.

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Integrating all tools, for communication and so on, is also a challenging process. How do you allow your Cisco or Teams environment to speak with Salesforce? And of course, you can't forget the security aspects: how dangerous is it if one of your colleague's teenagers illegally downloads the latest Batman film on a work laptop?

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The question is not if, but when

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For some time now, migrating your company's telephony to the cloud has not been an option but a necessity. But those who do this properly will reap the rewards. What is required is devoting enough attention to every step of the process: preparation and design, implementation, and integration, and – last but not least – raising awareness and training. Businesses that do this successfully can without a doubt count on high employee satisfaction.

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To achieve the best possible outcomes, you should enlist the help of an experienced and reliable partner that will make you aware of the pitfalls and guide you towards an optimal cloud experience. And NTT is here to help you with that. ?