This is part one in a two-part series. To read the second installment, please click here.

Unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions have been top-of-mind for IT and business leaders for years, as they look for ways to increase productivity and efficiency. And based on recent research, the UC&C market is showing no signs of slowing down; in fact, a report from research firm Global Insights Inc. projects the market to grow to $96 billion by 2023, up from $34.8 billion in 2015.

On top of making certain that UC&C is a priority for many organizations, what the projected market growth also shows is that many businesses have still not implemented the technology or, if they have, they are seeing slow company-wide adoption rates.

Looking to migrate or integrate new solutions with your UC&C platform? We can help.

I sat down with our Unified Communications & Collaboration Vice President Kevin McCarron to chat about collaboration tools and how they’re impacting the modern work environment. Here’s what he had to say:

“We are in 2017, and although these technologies started to mature in the early 2000s, there are a whole lot of companies that haven’t deployed them yet,” says McCarron. “Collaboration platforms are incredibly helpful in any business environment, but it can be a challenge to change the mindset and habits of employees in adopting and using these tools.”

McCarron explained that UC&C adoption in an organization can be broken down into three stages:

  • Investigative: Limited grassroots adoption not necessarily aligned with top level goals
  • Performance: UC&C tools culturally accepted as helping people do their work
  • Transformational: Mass adoption across an organization

You May Also Like: F&M Bank Corp. helps rural customers transform the way they bank

Most organizations, McCarron explained, get stuck in the investigative phase, often because the UC&C initiative is not aligned with top line business goals and there is no clear vision for how the technology will positively impact those goals. Creating that vision is critical to successful adoption.

“If you have identified the top level organizational goals, like a cost play, you can map that to a UC&C strategy, like a video strategy to reduce travel budget, for instance,” McCarron explains. “There are going to be multiple instances where you can impact your organization and execute on the strategy successfully.”

You May Also Like: With Microsoft Lync, a Major Healthcare Providers Builds User Productivity with Advanced Unified Communications

So with all of this in mind, the question for IT and business leaders becomes, how do you move past the investigative phase of adoption and towards the utopia of the transformative phase? After all, getting past that barrier can potentially mean millions of dollars to an organization.

This is part one in a two-part series. To read the second installment, please click here.