Communications Systems Move Gradually to the Cloud
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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%).
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."