How hybrid work culture is altering enterprise cloud communication strategy

The pandemic has altered everything around us; most of all, it has affected how we work. Most organisations were unprepared for the sudden change and tried to adopt and adapt to the new normal. Digital transformation became a necessity in the aftermath of COVID-19. While remote and hybrid work modes replaced the traditional on-site processes, organisations were exploring avenues that could help them become innovative, create new revenue systems while ensuring the continuance of existing business activities. Furthermore, industry trends indicate that the hybrid model is the preferred mode for employees across segments, which means that their business communications strategy needs to be reworked to suit this demand.

Cloud-based communication:  a necessity in the prevalent conditions   

The pandemic made businesses realise the importance of cloud being central to all the transformative technologies.  Thus, a robust Cloud Communications strategy became a necessity in the transformed business model. Cloud-based processes are popular these days; organisations are opting for it as enhances seamless connectivity and collaboration between all internal and external stakeholders anytime, anywhere and on any device. It drives higher productivity by eliminating all the hassles and bottlenecks associated with legacy systems, be it frequent system downtime or missed calls/leads and ensures implementation of hybrid work policies. Cloud based communication platforms also address data security concerns of enterprises by offering a highly protected digital environment. According to an estimate by NASSCOM, cloud spending in India is expected to grow at 30 percent by 2022.  With a flexible Cloud communication suite all the Enterprise communication operations can also be scaled up or down, as per business requirements and there are no major infrastructural changes required while switching onto a cloud-based platform. This ensures robust business continuity without any disruption and that also at a fraction of the costs as compared to legacy telephony systems. 

The data holding capacities of the Cloud can help organisations in availing the analytical solutions to discover the benefits of everything from natural language processing to predictive and sentiment analysis. Integrating Cloud communication services with advanced technologies like machine learning, smart bots and AI services, and CRM solutions can improve digital and team engagement. The versatility and scalability offered by Cloud are also perfect for a contact centre. Since an average call centre generally sees high levels of turnover, the presence of a cloud-based portfolio of tools in the organisation ensures that unnecessary delay does not happen while onboarding new employees. An additional advantage of the technology is that the organisations may scale the workforce up and down according to the demand without any additional Capex cost.

Hybrid work culture is here to stay

With the prevalence of the pandemic, companies across sectors are contemplating permanent hybrid work culture – where employees would work on-site for some days and work remotely on the other days. According to a leading HR survey, 35-60% of the white-collar workforce of the surveyed organisations (400 Indian organisations) would continue working in the hybrid model. Cloud communications can prove to be a massive enabler for the hybrid workforce by providing the staff with a choice of essential tools and applications on one platform regardless of the location and the device used. The Cloud transforms the work environment from the traditional notion of a 'place' to a set of enabling tools and models. Using the technology, organisations can provide their employees with instant access to call analytics tools, instant messaging, file sharing, video conferencing facilities, and calendar and scheduling tools that can enhance their productivity.  

Evolving Cloud communication strategies

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 did not give organisations enough time to plan, and hence, most of them acted in haste to opt for the services that could ensure continuity of work. However, with the prevalence of the pandemic, they are reconsidering the tools and technologies to ensure better results, and Cloud is emerging as the most preferred tool. While the possibilities around cloud are becoming competitive, more enterprise businesses need to move towards this flexible, scalable, and integrated communications stack.  Cloud platforms can easily and seamlessly integrate with the existing on-premises technology to provide seamless communication facilities for the hybrid workforce. 

Cloud communication platforms have apparently shown versatile applications across businesses and organisational verticals. Post pandemic, Cloud based communication suites are helping various sectors transform rapidly, ranging from IT and ITEs, ecommerce, mobility solution providers, healthcare, and logistics, to adversely impacted sectors like education, manufacturing, hospitality, and even real estate. Cloud communication platforms backed by strong digital infrastructure are aggressively shaping the businesses of tomorrow by making them resilient to any future crisis and disruptions.  

The article has been written by Mannu Singh, Vice- President, Tata Teleservices