Unwillingness to Let Go of Existing Technology Biggest Barrier in UC Adoption in the Workplace
September 18, 2015
By Michael Guta
TMCnet Contributing Writer
The collaborative ecosystem in the workplace is forcing key decision-makers in organizations to rethink the kind of technology they deploy. If the right solutions are not put in place, they will not be able to accomplish their tasks efficiently to grow the business, increase revenue and build an effective team. As leaders in HR, sales and marketing continue to realize the impact of collaboration in their day-to-day operations, unified communications (UC) is seen as the solution of choice to bring everything together.
However, in order to be effective, it must first be adopted by employees. And the latest study from Arkadin, a global collaboration service providers, has revealed employees are reluctant in giving up their old ways of working.
Arkadin (News - Alert) conducted the survey to see where the gap was in the adoption of the technology and to determine if there was a clear consensus on the business case and deployment challenges. The survey was conducted online with 200 businesses.
To begin with, the study saw more than two thirds of companies, or 67 percent, have already started their transition to UC, so organizationally there is progress. But, when 50 percent of employees are resisting to making the change to new technology and another 41 percent didn’t want to give up the legacy technology they are using, the adoption process is going to prove more difficult.
“Successful UC implementation and deployment depends on the relationship between IT and the rest of the business,” said Sophie Allen, Business Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft (News - Alert).
The reluctance of the employees goes against what employers are saying about UC. The majority of companies, or 70 percent, agree implementing UC solutions has more benefits than traditional systems. This includes 81 percent stating they experienced more productivity, another 47 percent saw better support for mobile workers and 43 percent improved customer service.
In addition to these improvement, the return on investment (ROI) was also high, with 40 percent anticipating positive returns their first year of adoption, and 70 percent in two years.
"It's gratifying that the large majority of organizations understands the productivity benefits associated with UC, however, unless they put the user at center stage and quickly and decisively communicate the benefits they won't reap these advantages," says Hugues Treguier, Arkadin Director of UC.
While the knowledge base is relatively high, with 70 percent saying they understand UC, 26 percent are stuck at the starting grid, with high rates of confusion on what kind of value will UC deliver to their business.
The biggest obstacles for implementation is cost for 70 percent of the respondents, and another 65 percent said not finding a single UC solution for all their employees is hindering successful deployments.
"While progress is clearly being made, it's imperative for the industry to overcome the challenges to UC adoption so that more businesses can benefit from it. This is especially critical in a global and connected workplace where access to information anytime, anywhere and from any device is critical," added Treguier.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi