3 minute read

03/02/2022

Collaboration solutions for transforming your business

Vodafone Business and RingCentral's new collaboration solution helps companies successfully adapt to a new way of working.

The world has just experienced one of the fastest work transformations in history – during the pandemic, companies sent people home en masse, leaning on technology to maintain some form of business as usual. What was once a perk is now the norm. In some nations, working from home accounted for up to two-thirds of economic activity.

This all led to an increased focus on agility, business continuity and integration, and a move to cloud-based services. Companies quickly learned that updating IT systems from in-house servers to cloud providers made it easier to manage them from afar.

It also gave employees instant access to business applications from home. According to a recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey of over 12,000 professionals, 87% of employers now say that ‘they anticipate prioritising tech and digital infrastructure investments that support sustained remote work.’

Many companies had to quickly react to changing working habits, and some are adopting these changes full-time.

But what exactly does this long-term strategy entail?

A world of change

The global crisis fuelled a shift in where and how we work and collaborate. As we cautiously edge further away from lockdown, organisations are looking at what’s next.

An example of a change yet to arrive is the UK’s 2025 shutdown of existing Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) networks, on which most businesses rely.

The PSTN is the traditional copper wire telephone system, originally set up for analogue voice communication. It’s been in place since the late 1800s and was revolutionary at the time. While it has been maintained and updated over the years, the technology underpinning it has essentially remained the same since its conception. It was once the most reliable method of making and receiving voice calls. But now it's old-fashioned, and too expensive to run.

In the 1980s, ISDN succeeded the analogue PSTN system. Now, new broadband technology has changed voice communications and removed the need for costly, outdated wiring in faour of complete digital functionality.

So, what can businesses do to prepare for a new era of work where collaboration and communication are not limited to fixed devices and locations? And what can they do to get ready for the switch off?

Introducing Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral

Vodafone Business UC is a highly secure solution that combines RingCentral’s state-of-the-art technology with Vodafone’s innovation and expertise in emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Developed using RingCentral’s award-winning Message, Video and Phone™ (MVP™) platform, the joint solution enables businesses to transform the way they collaborate internally and externally and lets them move from legacy communications infrastructure to cloud connectivity.
 

 Companies can run Vodafone Business UC standalone or integrate it with various business applications, including Microsoft 365 and leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Helpdesk services. This means everything works in sync.