Instead of the annual prediction post, I’d like to share some trends in enterprise communications that I find exciting.
2024 is occurring amid two major technical shifts. The pandemic changed expectations, preferences, and attitudes, and a new normal is emerging. Concurrently, generative AI will change human/computer interactions in significant ways. That backdrop makes the following trends, already visible, particularly interesting.
UCaaS Events
In-person events are returning but with ever larger digital components. Cisco, RingCentral, and Zoom have expanded virtual events to include physical events. Most UCaaS providers expanded into meetings and then webinars. Webinars more recently expanded into virtual events (hat tip to GoTo and MIcrosof), but physical events is a whole new set of challenges.
What interests me is that physical events will likely get a lot better with an interactive app currently associated with virtual events. Vendor landscape changes occur when sectors converge. I figure the providers that get real-time streaming, break-out rooms, and polling will conquer badge printing faster than the other way around. A new report on events is about to be published for paid subscribers.
The Hybrid Office
The modern office is smaller and has more shared, multi-purpose spaces than before. This requires new tools to manage the space – for IT, facilities, and employees. It’s a logical extension for UCaaS providers that already manage shared meeting rooms.
This also touches on IoT, calendaring, and content. It’s essentially a new take on the old concept of hotdesking. I wrote more about this here.
UCaaS Mobility 3.0
Enterprise voice and UC never quite knew what to do with the cellular phone. For lack of anything better, the mobile client and OTT made it a terrible endpoint. Not exactly intuitive to add a calling app to a phone.
Meanwhile, smartphones and cellular networks got better and faster. A better option is available now – a smartphone with a native UCaaS number. OTT apps are becoming the new legacy device. Expect every major wireless provider and UCaaS provider to embrace this shift.
Climate
What’s hot in comms? The Earth! Enterprise comms can be part of the climate and carbon solution. Obviously, telework can reduce emissions, but there’s more: providers are reducing emissions in their data centers, designing products with more sustainable materials, and providing better tools to track emissions and power consumption.
