6 Unified Communications Trends 2022

As the working world reacclimates to a new paradigm of hybrid, businesses will need faster, better, and stronger tech solutions. The pandemic forced many companies to accelerate their communication and collaboration tools to be agile and accessible. It appears that’s here to stay. As you make decisions about what your teams need, you’ll want to consider these unified communications market trends for 2022.

The State of the Unified Communications Market

According to experts, the global unified communications market had a value of $78.33 in 2020. The expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2028 is 20.5 percent. The report on the industry attributes most of its growth to the need for a mobile workforce. It also shows that the percentage of these systems on-premises is declining while cloud-based is expanding its share.

The adoption of unified communications platforms also signals that they are essential for modern businesses to keep employees connected to each other and customers. Providing this technology to workers is just as important as an email account or Microsoft Office.

With growth ahead, what can users expect from the market regarding innovation, features, and more?

Unified Communications Market Trends

These trends will be critical to have on your radar this year and beyond.

Unified Communications as a Service Takes the Lead

A growing number of users of unified communications solutions are going to the cloud. This migration reflects in the numbers, as 47.5 percent of companies rely solely on the cloud for communications. In comparison, only 28.6 percent still favor on-premises.

The cloud makes sense in the new environment of work. On-premises solutions limit flexibility, impact business growth, and make your talent pool smaller.

Connectivity Is Key

More employees are working remotely, either permanently or in a hybrid model. If that describes some or all of your teams, then you know connectivity is crucial. The features that support this include video conferencing, screen sharing, file sharing, and chat. Instead of each component being singular, integrated is better for connectivity, access, productivity, and budgets.

When workers have connectivity that’s mobile, they can be more efficient and often have higher job satisfaction, which aids retention. To provide this experience for all your users, choose a unified communications solution with:

• Simple, intuitive user interfaces that make the system easy to navigate and learn
• Apps for desktop and mobile, so employees can use the features from wherever
• Chat presence indicators, so a person’s availability is up to date
• Integration capabilities with other communication and collaboration tools or other software like a CRM (customer relationship management)

Security Is a Top Priority

Unfortunately, cyber-attacks continue to occur to businesses. When companies adopt new technology, it adds to their tech stack and cyber footprint. Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to gain access and exploit weaknesses.

As the ability to communicate and collaborate increases, so do the opportunities for entry by cybercriminals. So, your security posture must be resilient, and the applications you use need to be secure by design, including your unified communications platform.

When considering a new platform, ask these questions about security:

• Encryption usage across the ecosystem
• Endpoint protection
• Two-factor authentication
• Infrastructure security
• Data privacy, protection, and control
• Information about data centers, including audits
• Compliance certification, if applicable to your industry

If you aren’t comfortable with the answers you receive, keep looking for a solution you can deploy with confidence.

Video Is More Important than Voice

Video meetings are now a common occurrence. Prior to 2020, their use was rarer. Now everyone feels comfortable being screen-to-screen. In fact, a workplace collaboration study revealed that 87 percent of respondents said video is important for their organization. Additionally, 82 percent said they use it for most meetings.

The increased use and reliance have made unified communications platforms improve video features, including enabling integrations, note capture functionality, advanced screen sharing, and more.

In addition to what you see, video conferencing solutions have become more secure and easier to use. Most meetings start with a click and don’t require users to be tech-savvy.

More Interoperability Across the Industry

Integrations have been key points in other trends, but they are a trend, as well, in terms of interoperability. You want ease of use among all your technology tools, and providers are working toward delivering that. Starting with a fully integrated unified communications platform is the first piece. With this, voice, video, chat, file sharing, and more are behind one login.

The second part is interoperability between other systems and your unified communications system. That can include email, help desk software, Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and others. This software is necessary for your employees to do their work, especially those who are customer-facing. Making it easy and streamlined eases the strain and enables smoother workflows.

Data and Analytics

The final trend is all about data and analytics. You use them in likely every facet of your business to make decisions. You can do the same with call analytics from your unified communications platform. These analytics can provide insights into how customer-facing roles are performing and more.

Unified Communications Market Trends: An Evolving Landscape

The past two years have sent the market into new territory. Increased adoption and demand made the market evolve and expand rapidly. It will continue to grow as the needs of businesses do. Find out how Intermedia Unite is meeting the market now and in the future.

Mark Sher

Mark Sher, a 30-year telecom and cloud communications executive, is the SVP of Product Marketing for Intermedia Cloud Communications, a leading provider of UCaaS, CCaaS, and business cloud application solutions to partners and the businesses they serve. In his role, Mark has global responsibility for all direct and indirect product marketing at Intermedia including product launches, product messaging and positioning, competitive intelligence, analyst relations, and cross-channel pricing.