Telecommuting and remote work have quickly moved from relatively novel trends that only a few companies embraced to widely leveraged policies that most businesses need to have in place to be successful. The modern smartphone has made it more possible and affordable than ever before to allow employees to function from a larger range of environments and situations, strengthening the agility of operations significantly.
Evidence of just how quickly companies have embraced the smartphone and tablet for their operational processes can be found in many places. For example, MicroMarketMonitor recently forecast the global BYOD and enterprise mobility market to experience a compound annual growth rate of 27.6 percent between this year and 2020, at which time it will see $360 billion in annual investment, driven by the need for stronger control and enablement of mobility.
At the same time, unified communications systems are evolving rapidly, largely thanks to the increased prevalence and popularity of cloud-based services across industries and regions. This has allowed companies to at once integrate mobility into standing UC frameworks and provide access to core tools such as Voice over Internet Protocol and video conferencing to users connecting via a diversity of devices, including smartphones and tablets.
More on mobility
Zion Research recently released a new report on the enterprise mobility market, and placed the compound annual growth rate of the related management software market at 24 percent between 2014 and 2020. As of last year, the market enjoyed about $85 billion in revenues, while that number is going to explode to $500 billion by the end of the decade. The researchers argued that enterprises are likely to become more focused upon the optimal management of networks, mobile devices and other aspects of mobility in the next few years.
Additionally, they mused about the security question, which has been a significant pain point for virtually every organization that has embraced mobility. Regardless of whether a company chooses to leverage a BYOD policy or some alternative form of mobility enablement, security risks will inherently grow as the number and diversity of endpoints begin to rise. As such, Zion Research expects investment in security-centric mobility management solutions to rise significantly in the next few years.
As a note, this report includes everything from data management tools and security software to encryption technology and beyond, taking into account every piece of the puzzle with respect to comprehensive mobility oversight. Furthermore, the researchers stated that the right systems will be necessary to uphold security, use and privacy policies that have been created to govern mobility properly. In many instances, integration of mobility into UC can boost the efficiency of management and enablement.
Cloud is king
One would be hard-pressed to identify an organization that has not placed a large stake on mobility, and more enterprises continue to launch projects that will bring BYOD under the UC umbrella. Cloud-based UC is the best option when it comes to achieving these types of objectives, as legacy-based systems will be far more difficult to make available to individuals outside the physical workplace.
What’s more, the core UC tools most businesses use – VoIP, video conferencing and instant messaging – are transforming as well, meaning that companies need to remain agile to take advantage of newer, better options. Cloud-based services generally come with streamlined upgrade allowances and more flexibility with respect to expenses. At the end of the day, the best way to prepare a business for modern competition is to focus on collaboration and communication, and deploying next-generation UC is a great way to do so.
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