Hybrid Work Driving Desire for More Streamlined Approach to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS); Network Security and Performance Remain Key to Successful Deployments

IT leaders are seeking more integrated unified communications (UC) services for their hybrid workforce, according to a new CIO study released today by Masergy, the software-defined network and cloud platform for the digital enterprise. The 2022 UCaas and CCaaS Market Trends Study sheds light on the rising imperative among businesses to standardize and consolidate their corporate collaboration strategies – using bundled solutions to remove IT complexity from today’s digital interactions among distributed workforces and customers.

“For UCaaS and CCaaS to work well, they must function as core elements in a larger ecosystem, harmonizing communications, connectivity, and cybersecurity — the trifecta for digital transformation”

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The latest study found success requirements for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) have evolved since the 2020 report with consolidation and integration becoming more important. Two years ago, the top criteria for ensuring successful deployments were data security and network reliability. This year, integration has broken into the top tier with near-equal significance. Of the more than 200 senior IT leaders surveyed:

• 91% say data security is critical or very important
• 90% say network reliability is critical or very important
• 89% say integration is critical or very important

“For UCaaS and CCaaS to work well, they must function as core elements in a larger ecosystem, harmonizing communications, connectivity, and cybersecurity — the trifecta for digital transformation,” said Rudy Tibuni, Director, UC Solutions, Masergy. “These three disciplines can no longer operate in silos. They must come together to create a more secure, resilient, and efficient environment to support excellent employee and customer experiences.”

Under the pressures of the pandemic, companies added a hodge-podge of collaboration applications to quickly meet the needs of cloud calling, virtual presence, chat, and video conferencing. The inefficiency of redundant applications is quickly coming into focus for IT leaders as they seek to make hybrid work models sustainable for the future. But there’s another reason the idea of integration is rising in importance — the sheer volume of systems and technologies required to make collaboration work well.

Signaling additional essentials for consolidation, SIP trunking and bundled solutions are also rising in demand. Use of SIP trunking with UCaaS/CCaaS has increased over the past two years (63% versus 51% in 2020). Additionally, the preference for bundled, pre-integrated UCaaS/CCaaS solutions has grown stronger since 2020 (65% versus 51% in 2020).

“Senior IT decision makers are pointing to a new integration imperative, consolidating UC around one toolset to untangle complexities in the wake of multiple applications and multi-cloud services,” said Tibuni. “To effectively connect people, corporate communications tools and their supporting systems must all work as a cohesive collective. Businesses should standardize on their preferred cloud collaboration platform and seek holistic solutions that intersect with SIP trunking and secure network connectivity, including SD-WAN and SASE.”

The 2022 UCaaS and CCaaS Market Trends Study also revealed:

• Companies can’t afford a collaboration failure: 9 out of 10 IT leaders say UCaaS/CCaaS downtime is highly concerning or detrimental to their business — up from 8 out of 10 in 2020
• UCaaS adoption is rising amidst changing times:
  • 97% of organizations say remote work has increased interest in UCaaS/CCaaS
  • 47% of organizations have implemented UCaaS/CCaaS, up from 40% in 2020
  • 75% of respondents report increased use of Microsoft TeamsⓇ
• IT agility is the biggest driver: Respondents state the single biggest factor driving their UCaaS/CCaaS investment is increasing their IT flexibility and agility (41%)

Foundry’s CIO, the executive-level IT media brand providing insight into business technology leadership, conducted the research on behalf of Masergy. More than 200 senior IT decision makers were surveyed across more than eight industries. Respondents included IT leaders working in U.S.-based multinational companies with an average revenue of $3.7B.

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