Vodafone released a study a few weeks ago examining the technology habits and investments of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Perhaps the most eye-catching figure was that WhatsApp (47 percent) was the communications app most commonly used by those SMEs surveyed, with Microsoft Teams in second place, way down at 22 percent.
At first glance, this might be surprising. Anyone with a passing interest in UC and collaboration recognises Teams's market dominance, even if they prefer a different solution. Meanwhile, Meta's WhatsApp lacks many of the advanced features we expect from the most prominent business communications platforms, whether AI assistants, sophisticated conferencing capabilities, or integrated collaboration tools for tasks like file editing.
Peer behind the curtain, however, and it certainly makes sense, mainly due to the immutable truth that many SMEs don't need such sophisticated or advanced feature sets.
For many organisations, particularly in industries like hospitality, retail, manufacturing, logistics and transport, being able to smoothly share their screen to present a quarterly update to 300 people isn't a necessity. Their priorities likely revolve around a simple but effective UI that even the least tech-savvy users can navigate, a low-cost solution to deploy and manage, a secure and compliant platform, and a service that already has wide adoption among people or can be quickly introduced across the workforce.
WhatsApp ticks all those boxes and goes two better — it's free, and its messages are securely end-to-end encrypted.
UC Today asked its LinkedIn Community for its thoughts on Vodafone's study and what it might reflect about enterprise communications among SMEs.
Of 40 respondents, two-fifths said it illustrated that SMEs value the simplicity of WhatsApp's functionality, which makes it easy to manage. As Martin Finlayson, Head of Visual Communications at SCC Collaboration, eloquently put it in a reply to UC Today's poll, "Probably because the lack of time/dedicated skills in the business means shadow IT becomes the strategy driver by default."
Another two-fifths said the figure underlined that cost (or its absence in WhatsApp's case) drives platform selection. Andrew Wood, Global - Senior Strategy Leader at Vodafone, expanded upon this note: "WhatsApp is a free public square to collaborate with consumers, partners and employees. Teams is chargeable walled garden."
Thirteen percent said their key takeaway was that wider adoption informs choice. WhatsApp is already a popular messaging app for personal use, making it easier to transition users into leveraging it in a business context.
However, Christopher Kuelling, Unified Communications Architect at Sutherland, suggested another reason why WhatsApp is so prevalent among SMEs.
"I would say even in the presence of dedicated/skilled resources/strategies, the infosec based limitations placed on enterprise products can deter folks from utilising the company supported platforms," Koelling said in response to UC Today's poll. "The fear of 'big brother' watching and content restrictions can make people feel like they need to end run around the controls put in place to protect the company just to get done what it is they feel they need to do their jobs."
That concluding point, about empowering companies in what they feel they need to do their jobs, feels particularly salient and tackles the crux of the issue. The factors behind SMEs choosing WhatsApp might be legion and nuanced, but fundamentally, if it fulfils all business communications needs with the least hassle, that's all that's needed.
