Communications Systems Move Gradually to the Cloud

By Tony Kontzer

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Communications Systems Move Gradually to the Cloud

With employees craving more mobile capabilities, many companies are fueling their mobile strategies by moving their telecommunications systems to the cloud.
On-Premise Systems Still Rule

81% of the professionals surveyed rely on premise-based phone systems, while 19% are using cloud-based or hosted phone solutions.
Sticking With the Cloud

72% of the respondents whose organizations have cloud-based phone systems said those systems will stay in the cloud.
Phone Systems Stay Put

73% said their organization buys a new phone system every 7 to 10 years. Less than 5 percent buy one more frequently than every 4 years.
The Cloud Gains Traction

27% of respondents said their next phone system will be cloud-based or hosted, while 20% plan to go with an on-premise solution, and 53% are undecided.
Is Video the Killer App?

76% of the professionals said their organization has implemented some form of video communications.
Collaboration Wish List

The collaboration features respondents don't have but would most like are desktop or deskphone video calling (34%), mobility applications (29%) and unified messaging (26%).
The Mystery of UC

Only 26% of respondents said they are very familiar with the term "unified communication," while 36% said they are not at all familiar with it.
UC Priorities

Respondents said the most important UC priorities are phone or VoIP (66%), email (13%), unified messaging (6%), audio conferencing (3%), and desktop or deskphone video calling (3%).
Email Rules the Road

64% listed email as the tool remote employees use most often to communicate or collaborate with colleagues, followed by the phone (21%), conferencing (6%) and instant messaging (6%).
Dominant Force

73% of respondents said their organization uses Outlook, followed by Exchange (58%), Office 365 (48%), Google Apps (14%) and Gmail (9%).
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These days, almost everyone communicates via mobile devices, but communications and collaboration systems have been slow to move to nimble and mobile-friendly cloud architectures. Meanwhile, though users crave access to the features of a unified communications system, they remain confused about what UC actually is. Emboldened by their increased ability to deliver UC features, companies that have moved their communications systems to the cloud have no plans to go back, and more companies are poised to make the switch to cloud-based telecommunications providers, signaling that more mobile communications and collaboration capabilities are on the way. Such are the findings of a survey conducted by cloud services provider Evolve IP, which asked more than 1,000 IT and business professionals about their organization's use of business communication tools. "Businesses are traditionally slow to change, but, apparently, the time is right," said Scott Kinka, Evolve IP's chief technology officer. "The survey demonstrates that cloud communications features have matured, and providers have proven their reliability and quality."

This article was originally published on 2015-11-11

Tony has been writing about the intersection of technology and business for more than 20 years and currently freelances from the Grass Valley, Calif., home where he and his wife are raising their two boys. A 1988 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism and regular contributor to Baseline since 2007, Tony's somewhat infrequent Twitter posts can be found at http://twitter.com/tkontzer.

Communications Systems Move Gradually to the Cloud

Communications Systems Move Gradually to the Cloud

On-Premise Systems Still Rule

Sticking With the Cloud

Phone Systems Stay Put

The Cloud Gains Traction

Is Video the Killer App?

Collaboration Wish List

The Mystery of UC

UC Priorities

Email Rules the Road

Dominant Force