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ucc collaboration series 4 – COLLABORATION FROM THE CLOUd
Use modern collaboration services as needed
in the digital age, collaboration is key to successCollaboration appears to have slipped off or down the agenda of most leading analysts. The hype surrounding social media is receding, and new, fast – and in particular, mobile and real-time – forms of communication, such as WhatsApp, Slack, and Snapchat, are already part and parcel of people’s daily lives. But the truth is: collaboration is gaining, not waning, in importance – particularly in an accelerating business world, where there is a growing emphasis on short-term and inter-organizational cooperation. In the age of digitization, collaboration is key to success.This fourth paper in a series on the issue of collaboration focuses on the cloud as a sourcing model for modern collaboration solutions.
corporate expectations of collaborationWhen companies introduce modern collaboration tools, they frequently do so because they expect to increase employee productivity. Back in one of the first Enterprise Collaborative Work Management Waves in 2016, Forrester cited an analysis carried out by the American Psychological Association. According to this analysis, the average knowledge worker spends eight hours a day on average with different applications. Constantly switching between the applications used reduces employee productivity by 40 percent. Knowledge workers spend most of their time at work performing redundant tasks. Over four years later, the situation has certainly not improved. Integrated collaboration tools are supposed to improve this situation.
More and more companies are continuing to discover the topic of customer experience. They want to offer their customers a fabulous customer experience, including the partner ecosystems they have created. However, customers can receive fast answers to their queries (service) only if the ecosystems are integrated using collaboration tools.
Digital transformation is taking center stage in a third corporate goal companies are pursuing through collaboration. Collaboration is often understood as a way of opening doors and promoting internal digital transformation. In addition, Forrester reports that there are correlations between the use of collaboration tools and increased business agility, up to and including improved economic performance.
collaboration tools address essential business needsAccording to Forrester‘s investigations, communication and collaboration occupy a central position in daily work. 98 percent of people surveyed exchange views with colleagues, 79 percent do so with customers and 73 with suppliers and partners. This co-working takes place not only within office spaces (93 percent) but also through home office (42 percent), at customers‘ locations (32 percent), and during trips (32 percent). Accordingly, companies are placing greater value on collaboration tools that also support mobile, dynamic work models. 85 percent of companies use collaboration tools for mobile employees. 57 percent have discerned that collaboration tools must be available on mobile terminal devices. A small group (17 percent) even sees mobile video conferences as one of the top initiatives for the workplace in the next couple of years.
EXPECTATIONS OF COLLABORATION:1. HIgHER
PROdUCTIVIY2. CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE3. dIgITAL
TRANSFORMATION
aktuellesituation
1:1 migration
design-optimierung tk-infra-struktur
usage ofcollaboration tools
for mobile working models
85%
Collaboration PaPer SerieS Use modern collaboration services as needed
2
What is collaboration?The definitions and terms regarding collaboration are not strictly delineated. Nowadays calls, e-mails, and faxes qualify as enterprise collaboration. Other sources mention unified communication and collaboration and add status indicators, messaging, web conferences, and videos for real-time communication to telephones and mobile phones, calendars, and e-mails, all of which remain crucial tools. Other services such as team messaging (in groups, not in peer-to-peer mode), joint work on documents, and collaborative work management are additional collaboration tools that have made their way into companies.
corporate reality: high costs for existing systems, shadoW itThe aforementioned expectations employees have of modern collaboration is one thing. Reality is another. Companies still often operate basic communication systems like telephone systems using legacy hardware. Similarly, e-mail and calendars run with restricted collaboration functions on traditional systems in in-house operations. IT and telecommuni-cations management need to make a great effort to keep these systems running. The management is often trapped in a vendor lock-in. Long innovation cycles bring modern collaboration functions to companies late, if at all.
Corporate units and employees who use modern tools therefore often turn to services that are available on the web. The result is a patchwork landscape of tools that are not well integrated and further removed than ever from the actual goal of collaborating with media continuity.
alternative collaboration from the cloud In light of the situation, it‘s no wonder that 71 percent of responsible parties see the future of collaboration in the cloud. They favor dynamic provision of collaboration functionalities not as hardware or traditional software but as a service that can be obtained at short notice, perhaps even temporarily. That would allow them to liberate themselves of constantly needing to make new investments to keep systems running. The OPEX model that underlies the cloud focuses on operating costs instead. Collaboration functions can be added to both stationary and mobile workspaces and be discontinued just as easily.
The management expenditure for operating infrastructures and software is the responsibility of the service provider and creates latitude in IT and telecommunications management. Using CPaaS approaches (communication platform) that dock collaboration services using APIs, it is even possible to configure specific workplaces that optimally meet the collaboration needs of the employees concerned.
The trend towards using the cloud as a sourcing model manifests itself in Ovum‘s market figures: Cloud-based UCC shows continual growth. For the year 2018, analysts anticipate a global market of close to 13 billion US dollars and growth rates of about 17 percent.
the cloud modernizes collaborationEver since companies have been discussing the use of clouds, collaboration functions have been among the most common application scenarios. Google G-Suite, Microsoft Office 365, and Cisco WebEx are typical examples of collaboration services that have become established in the cloud. Both telecommunications and IT providers see future-oriented models with strong economic and technical advantages in provision from the cloud. Not only do cloud systems make it possible to use machine learning, which can provide relief for users in their daily work, they allow for consistent methods and processes within one complete partner ecosystem. The services can simply be provisioned and centrally managed, which reduces costs and improves quality.
CORPORATE REALITY: LEgACY HARdwARE, RESTRICTEd FUNCTIONALITY
USD
13 BILLION MARKET VOLUME FOR CLOUd COLLABORATIONS
aktuellesituation
1:1 migration
design-optimierung tk-infra-struktur
the future of collaboration
is the cloud
71%
Collaboration PaPer SerieS Use modern collaboration services as needed
3
use cases
phone system for retailers from the cloudA retail store chain operating in Germany uses a central telecommunications system for calling. Central units at ten locations (warehouse, headquarters) and the stores on federal territory are both connected to this system. The expansion of the company in recent years has necessitated costly system extensions. Manufacturers offer additional functions and enhancements late, and they are necessarily introduced at great cost. At the same time, it is evident that the telecommunications system cannot meet modern requirements, such as the comprehensive switch to IP.
The retailer decides to replace its telecommunications system with a cloud solution. It uses existing Internet accesses to utilize the telephone system from the cloud. The migration of 2,000 connections is complete within six weeks. The cloud delivery model makes it possible to both roll out and reduce new connections easily and at short notice. The provider provisions new functions and updates centrally, and they are quickly available for users. Operation in German data centers forms a solid basis for fulfilling any existing data protection restrictions.
plant manufacturer integrates collaboration for development projectsAn internationally active, medium-sized plant manufacturer uses a wide range of different solutions for telephone services, web conferences, and other collaboration tools on a daily basis. The individual tools are minimally integrated with one another, which means there are media discontinuities that reduce the efficiency of collaboration. After phone conferences, changes that were agreed upon during the conferences need to be entered in construction plans by hand. A traditional fileshare function entails high levels of expenditure for manual administration when it comes to managing the current versions of construction documents. The various people involved always need to locally copy and save back documents so they can be processed. Seamless collaboration between the plant manufacturer‘s various think tanks and development centers around the world is a vital competitive factor, but it is being hindered by an inefficient collaboration landscape.
Efficient, integrated landscapes accelerate development cycles. The plant manufacturer decides to use a secure, internationally available collaboration suite from the cloud. Initially, it is rolled out for 100 workplaces in research and development. The integrated suite resolves media discontinuities and makes it easier for colleagues to work together in various time zones. In a second step, the plant manufacturer integrates the existing Salesforce solutions and Office 365 using standard interfaces for the collaboration suite, which triggers additional synergy effects. At the same time, by switching to the cloud solution, the company is also well prepared for the all-IP migration and for the future.
platform for creativityAn advertising agency that is active across Europe uses a conference platform and e-mail for communication and collaboration among the branches and with temporary external specialists. This frequently leads to extensive e-mail processes when advertising campaigns are being coordinated and refined, and not all participants are involved in them. A particular challenge in this instance is including mobile employees and freelance colleagues. For creative development, new collaboration tools are required that, for instance, provide functions for jointly processing photos and texts at the same time online or support creative workshops.
The creative agency decides to introduce an avant-garde online collaboration platform in five conference rooms. This platform makes it possible to work on whiteboards, for instance, as well as to store results and documents within the conference room so that all participants can work at the same stage. Mobile employees can access the collaboration platform via mobile app and stationary employees via desktop app.
FAST ANd EXHAUSTIVE INTROdUCTION OF A TELEPHONE SYSTEM
SEAMLESS INTERNATIO NAL dEVELOPMENT wITH INTEgRATEd COLLABORATION SUITE
CONFERENCE PLATFORMS FAVOR CREATIVITY
Collaboration PaPer SerieS Use modern collaboration services as needed
4
collaboration from the cloud – neW options for collaboration
In dynamic markets, companies and employees need new functions for collaborating that are oriented towards the requirements of their work. The cloud offers a way of quickly introducing these functions. It promises not only fast introduction but also evergreening approaches, reduced management expenditure, and needs-based costs – the collaboration service is available to the extent companies need it.
Cloud services can replace or supplement existing collaboration tools. In the latter case, companies need to consider long-term permanent integration.
Collaboration solutions from the cloud are essential for companies that want to keep up in the age of digitization. That is the only way they can enable their employees to go along with the high dynamics of the market and the speed of competition.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ?
Internet: www.t-systems.com/ucc-cloudor simply send an E-mail:[email protected]
contact
Dr. Michael Pauly, Solution Marketing:E-mail: [email protected]
Jutta Rahenbrock, Solution Marketing:E-mail: [email protected]
Uli Kunesch, Market Intelligence:E-mail: [email protected]
PUBLISHED BY
T-Systems International GmbHHahnstr. 43d60528 Frankfurt am MainGermany
www.t-systems.com/collaboration
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COLLABORATION
Collaboration series: A restless business world is setting new standards Who wins in collaboration The first steps in developing a cutting-edge collaboration platform Collaboration from the cloud
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