Quick Lessons from Enterprise Connect: Cloud, Team Collab, and Adoption

It’s been a week since Enterprise Connect wrapped – our feet are no longer sore and our sleep schedules have returned to normal! Here are the Fuze team’s key takeaways from the sessions.

Cloud communications is gaining traction in the enterprise

Elka Popova of Frost & Sullivan led a panel discussion on “Where is the UCaaS Industry Headed?” which covered some key areas of consideration as companies look to migrating their on-premise equipment to the cloud. Cloud-based communications can help IT organizations reduce costs, mitigate risks, streamline operations, and improve speed of the business. Companies with a global presence should look to partner with UCaaS vendors that have an equal presence to match – in addition to have data centers in region it is great to work with vendors who also have feet on the street in local markets. It’s important to note that cloud communications doesn’t replace or eliminate the need for IT people. In fact, it opens up the opportunity for your IT staff to focus on new innovations.

Why cloud comms? @epopova says reduce costs and risks, streamline ops, and improve business agility #EC17

— Fuze (@fuze) March 29, 2017

It’s all about team collaboration

With the popularity of Slack, there were numerous sessions on the topic of team collaboration. In fact, team collaboration was listed as one the main trends in business communications in general and many enterprise vendors are adding team collaboration into their UC mix as well. Persistent chat and content sharing within an app can help teams stay connected and keep projects moving even if they aren’t in the same location.

#ec17 We're in a renaissance for team collaboration, focused on a unified conversation model versus email, documents & social networking

 

— Mike Gotta (@MikeGotta) March 29, 2017

Consumer driven UX powers adoption

Our own Michael Affronti joined Robin Gareiss of Nemertes Research along with Alan Shen of Unify Square and Jennifer Adams of Plantronics on a panel discussion on the importance of UC adoption and awareness programs. If CIOs are looking to move their communications stack to the cloud, ultimately they need to think about the project as a user transformation initiative. There is a lot of change management that comes along with UC. Think about how your teams’ workflows will change if they no long have physical deskphones and instead are using softphones on their computers. One of the best ways to ensure you meet your employee expectations is to spend time and map out a day-in-the-life plan for each group so you can see how the technology fits into their processes. For more adoption tips, check out Michael’s blog leading up to EC.

To ensure adoption, you have to understand all user workflows. UC is about user transformation. - @micflash #EC17

— Fuze (@fuze) March 27, 2017

The Future of Work is Here

Dave Whalley, CIO of ThoughtWorks, joined the stage with our own Eric Hanson, VP of Product Marketing, to discuss the transformation his company has led over the past few years. ThoughtWorks is a global software consultancy that works with companies all around the world. What is most unique, is that there are no physical headquarters. ThoughtWorkers are often traveling and meeting with clients in their regions, virtually changing the way how Whalley and his team approached IT. Learn more about the journey in this guest blog from a member of Whalley’s team.

Dave Whalley of @thoughtworks on the future of work and their IT journey #ec17pic.twitter.com/yxwy2ag1LN

 

— Fuze (@fuze) March 27, 2017

What did you think of EnterpriseConnect? Tweet us your top lessons from the event.