The future of Business Communications

This is an interesting article detailing Broadsoft's research into the mobile workforce regarding the direction of business communications. Votacall believes that the below will eventully become mainstream due to the on-demand and mobile desires of the workforce. The average individual is used to gaining access to information, entertainment etc from anywhere and at anytime. They will certainly expect the same functionality at work.

Global enterprises are shifting to mobile-only communications more rapidly than expected—as well as adopting
unified communications services more broadly, according to the results from the
BroadSoft (NASDAQ: BSFT) 2011 Mobile Enterprise of the Future Survey. Notably,
25 percent of enterprise IT decision-makers believe desk phones will be replaced
by mobile phones within two years, and 82 percent of enterprises have employees
currently using mobile applications for communications and collaboration.

The 2011 BroadSoft survey, conducted by
Cohen Research Group, gathered insight from 200 U.S. and 200 U.K. IT
decision-makers (CXOs, vice presidents and directors) at enterprises of all
sizes. The results indicate enterprises are increasingly supporting a diverse
mobile workforce and a challenging range of mobile platforms and are rapidly
prioritizing the expansion of their unified communications capabilities.

Survey results were drawn from respondents
with significant input in IT purchasing decisions. More than three-quarters (76
percent) said they were the sole decision-makers on mobile and unified
communications IT purchases, while the remaining 24 percent shared that
responsibility. The survey found 44 percent of enterprises surveyed have at
least one-quarter of their workforce operating solely using a mobile phone, and
82 percent of enterprises have employees using mobile apps for communications
and collaboration. Already, 30 percent of enterprises support tablets, while 51
percent support BlackBerry devices; 40 percent, iPhones; and 31 percent, Android
phones.

Sixty-two percent of IT leaders are
expanding their enterprise’s unified communications capabilities, with instant
messaging, Web collaboration and video conferencing identified as the top UC
services they are looking to support on mobile devices over the next three
years. Seventy-two percent of IT decision-makers in the United States are
looking to deploy video conferencing across their organization in the next year,
compared with 56 percent in the United Kingdom.

Enterprises believe their mobile network
operator (MNO) is better positioned to deliver many UC services (including video
calling and conferencing, Web conferencing, voicemail, presence management and
instant messaging) than fixed line providers, Microsoft, Google or IBM. When
asked who could best deliver a complete, integrated set of unified
communications services, “my mobile service provider,” Microsoft and Google were
the top choices among respondents.

“Enterprise end users are demanding their
IT department
support a consumer-grade communications experience that includes access to
advanced communications services and applications across their preferred mobile
communication device,” said Leslie Ferry, vice president of marketing for
BroadSoft. “More telling is the fact the survey revealed that mobile network
operators have a compelling but closing window of opportunity to be the
preferred provider of choice when it comes to delivering unified communications
services that keep mobile employees connected via video, instant messaging, Web
conferencing and presence management, indicating MNOs need to act now, before
competitors erode their customer base.”