Collaboration trends, insights, and strategies in the digital age

2016

Connected Enterprise Report

Welcome to the 2016 Connected Enterprise Report!

We’re excited to bring you a report that highlights the trends, strategies, and challenges facing collaboration decision makers today. I’d like to thank the respondents in 900 enterprises — 580 IT departments and 320 line of business (LoB) respondents — in 15 countries and 10 industries who’ve made this report possible.

The Report, the first of its kind from Dimension Data, raises some fascinating findings that challenge much of the hype surrounding today’s enterprise market place.

As an industry veteran, I’ve seen the time-division multiplex market (TDM) evolve into voice over IP (VoIP), which then added video and data to become unified communications (UC).

So why do we now talk about collaboration?

The change we see today from UC to collaboration is really the shift in focus from technology to human interaction. It’s the evolution from the success of UC projects, as defined by successful technical implementation, to collaboration projects, as defined by user experiences and strategic business outcomes.

Right now, collaboration is one of the ‘hot topics’ of many technology discussions — with analysts, or vendors, and Silicon Valley start-ups all vying to define what the enterprise collaboration market means. One thing is for sure, though: this is a market is on the cusp of unprecedented change.

One of the most striking elements of the Report is the focus on driving business return and, encouragingly, how the collaboration prophecy is being fulfilled by many of our clients through areas such as productivity gains and increased top-line sales. This sharpened focus on tangible business return is a strong vindication for Dimension Data.

For several years now, we’ve believed that the user should be placed firmly at the centre of all collaboration strategies. This focus on the experience of the collaboration application and how it integrates with business process has led to our own organic and acquisitive strategy. I’m encouraged that the investments we’ve made are relevant to our clients’ strategic enterprise goals.

The rise of the app and hybrid IT

What I didn’t expect, especially given the market hype surrounding cloud, was the focus respondents placed on applications rather than infrastructure. Without a doubt we’re seeing a mature buyer community that views the application as the truest enabler of business outcomes. The next-generation infrastructure debate now pivots of how to build a flexible platform that provides scale and mitigates risk. This may mean cloud migration; it may not. Either way, the application will determine future infrastructure strategies — not the other way around.

I predict this will mean a move to hybrid delivery models for different workloads in the collaboration stack over pure-play cloud strategies. We already see this in the enterprise today, with only a small portion of the 220 million enterprise phones in the world hosted on cloud-based call-control.

The shape of the digital enterprise

The focus on the user, and as such on the application, will be at the top of the transformational agenda in 2016 and the CIO will face significant structural decisions in the coming months.

In the world of the digital enterprise where brand advocacy – whether it be with internal or external stakeholders – is king, technology and business leaders are grappling with new challenges. Where does collaboration fit in the digital enterprise? Does it continue to exist in the network and communications tower, or does it move under the control of new digital practices?

Of course the answer is different for every client, but our senior executives have contributed excellent opinion pieces in the Report — offering practical advice, insights, and recommendations based on their experiences in engaging with clients and delivering collaboration strategies at the coalface.

I’m confident that you’ll find the 2016 Connected Enterprise Report as compelling and relevant as I do. I hope it will accelerate your thinking, strategy, and ambition in this exciting, ever-evolving market place.

Joe Manuele

Group Executive: Customer Experience and Collaboration

Foreword: the changing collaboration landscape

3

Contents

04PageIntroduction

14PageChoosing the path that

leads to success

05PageKey findings

17Page

Cloud migration: transform on your terms

07PageMethodology

20PageUC underpins collaboration

08Page

Collaboration must accommodate a global

base of customers

22PageVideo is becoming pervasive

10PageProductivity, teamwork,

and profit

25Page

Enterprise social transforms communications

29Page

Emerging from the shadow

12Page

Collaboration is key to workplace flexibility

27PageWe’re all in this together

32PageConclusion

4

Collaboration: turning the promises into reality

Greater agility. More productive employees. Lower expenses. Better engagement with customers and partners. Higher revenues.

Ask to see any CEO’s wish list and you’re bound to see these factors – or some variation of them – at the top of it. And ask how they’re achieving these goals, and many business leaders will point to a digital transformation strategy that has collaboration as a major component. Yet, ask most organisations about collaboration or unified communications (UC) today and many will cite costly proprietary silos of technology that are difficult to use, and direct or indirect business return is hard to tangibly gauge.

As a set of technologies, collaboration includes tools that provide real-time voice and video communications, as well as text-centric tools for messaging, file sharing, project management, and social networking. Yet, collaboration isn’t just about the technology. For organisations, it’s a strategy that affects almost every part of the business – from developing products and responding to competitors, to making decisions and interacting with customers. For employees, collaboration represents the promise of an easier, more productive way of working with colleagues and business partners who might be on the other side of the city, country, continent, or world.

Enterprises are turning to digital technology to transform the way they do business, respond faster to market opportunities and threats, and improve the experience of their customers, employees, or partners. Collaboration is fast becoming the key that unlocks many of the productivity, agility, and business process improvements at the heart of organisations’ digital transformation initiatives. It requires changes to how employees work, how managers make decisions, and how firmly entrenched business processes can be modified and ultimately improved.

Some enterprises have done a better job than others at leveraging collaboration technology to achieve their various business goals. And different enterprises are at different stages of implementation.

To help organisations gauge their progress in implementing and benefiting from collaboration relative to others, Dimension Data has created this Report. Based on responses from 900 participants in 15 countries and spanning 10 industry sectors, this study provides insights into:

• enterprises’ strategic goals for collaboration

• how successful have enterprises been in benefiting from collaboration

• how collaboration technology is selected

• what collaboration tools are in use

• to what degree cloud-based collaboration is a reality or a strategic objective

• how the migration from UC to collaboration is taking place

The report also provides considerable insight into the role lines of business (LoBs) are playing in selecting, implementing, and benefiting from collaboration. Whether business units, regional divisions, functional departments, or other parts of the company, LoBs often work closely with IT in determining what collaboration technology will be rolled out to their employees and how best to enhance teamwork and productivity within their organisations. And in some cases, it’s LOBs – not IT – that have the primary responsibility for implementing and supporting the collaboration they’ve selected.

We hope that you find this report a helpful tool as you unlock the many benefits that collaboration can bring to your organisation.

For further information, including an interactive benchmarking analyser tool of the 2016 Connected Enterprise Report results, please see: www.ConnectedEnterpriseReport.com.

Introduction

5

Key findings

Many enterprises have not included collaboration in their technology strategy.

Nearly 40% of organisations don’t have a defined unified communication and collaboration strategy.

However, with the remaining 60% that do have a strategy, line of business (LoB) managers and other non-IT executives have a pivotal role in defining and executing their company’s collaboration strategy – an astounding 89% of research participants. An increasing number of LoBs – one in four organisations – are also taking responsibility to pay for and implement the solutions as well, without the express consent of IT.

Enterprises rely on collaboration to drive sales and new revenue.

Increasing sales is the most important collaboration strategy at 14% of enterprises, second only to increased productivity, which is most important to 19%.

Organisations are turning to collaboration to improve sales, with 14% – the second highest number of respondents – saying improving sales is the top goal of their collaboration strategy. And one in three organisations say increased sales is among the top three most important ways of measuring the success of their collaboration projects.

Few enterprises view return on investment as the main way they measure the success of their use of collaboration technology.

Only 4% use return on investment (ROI) as the primary method of determining whether their deployment of new collaboration technologies has been a success.

A demonstrable ROI is the least relied on method that organisations use to gauge the success of their use of collaboration technology. Only 4% of organisations measure success by calculating ROI, whereas employee productivity data, user uptake data, and cost savings data are much more common ways to justify their investments in collaboration technology. This is problematic because ROI is an important way of justifying any kind of technology investment.

6

A quarter of organisations focus more on the successful implementation of collaboration technology, rather than how it’s used and adopted.

One out of every four IT departments measure the success of their collaboration projects by how well they’ve implemented the technology. This is a rather dangerous mindset, since the success of collaboration projects hinges as much on what comes after the technology is implemented as before.If employees don’t use the collaboration tool – and use them effectively – then organisations will neither benefit from the technology nor achieve a ROI on it. Related to this, 17% of organisations haven’t implemented collaboration training programmes, and 16% haven’t changed travel policies to encourage the use of videoconferencing and other collaboration tools. This is a recipe for disaster for many organisations looking to derive maximum value of their use of collaboration technology.

81% of enterprises say collaboration has enhanced their ability to engage with customers and improve customer service.

Collaboration technology has a wide range of uses in customer engagement scenarios. Rich communications leveraging technology lets businesses interact with clients in the manner and on the device they prefer. And it improves how contact agents work together and with others in the enterprise to resolve customer issues. However, very few – only 2% of enterprises – identify customer service improvements as the topmost goal of the collaboration strategy. The implication is that better customer experience is an accidental rather than pre-planned outcome for many organisations implementing collaboration technology.

88% of enterprises say collaboration has improved the decision-making process in their organisations.

Not enough focus on what happens after the technology is deployed.

Collaboration improves enterprises’ ability to interact with customers.

Collaboration accelerates decision-making, but many organisations fail to leverage it to improve their competitive position.

Nearly one in three IT departments see moving UCC to the cloud as the most important technology trend affecting their collaboration strategy.

However, organisations are taking a very cautious approach to the cloud, with only 20–25% currently relying on hosted collaboration services. This isn’t expected to grow significantly in the next 12 months as enterprises carefully and deliberately execute on their cloud strategies.

Cloud-based collaboration is a strategic goal for many enterprises, but it will take some time to achieve.

Almost 60% of lines of business (LoBs) have their own budget – independent of IT – to purchase collaboration technology. And 57% have staff within the department to both implement and support collaboration technology.

Selecting, purchasing, and implementing collaboration technology are no longer just the IT department’s responsibilities. At many enterprises, IT needs to work hand-in-hand with LoBs that not only understand what they seek to gain from collaboration but are also capable of purchasing and supporting the technology.

Enterprises have also become very adept at leveraging collaboration technology to make their employees more productive, with 84% saying collaboration has improved the productivity of individual employees. But many struggle to leverage collaboration to compete in their respective industries, with 20% of organisations saying their use of collaboration technology has failed to improve their competitive positioning.

LoBs have a prominent role in deciding which collaboration technology to use.

7

To construct the 2016 Connected Enterprise Report, Dimension Data surveyed 580 IT managers, IT directors, CIOs, and others responsible for information systems at their organisations, as well as 320 line of business (LoB) managers.

They work at organisations with at least 1,000 employees in a range of industries, including:

• financial services

• manufacturing

• fast-moving consumer goods

• pharmaceutical

• energy

• media

• professional services

• education

• government

• healthcare

• Australia

• Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands)

• Brazil

• Canada

• France

• Germany

• Hong Kong

• India

• Malaysia

• Mexico

• Singapore

• South Africa

• Spain

• UK

• US

To get a global perspective, we included participants at organisations based in 15 different countries, namely:

The goal of this study was to paint a complete picture of how enterprises are using various types of collaboration technology (including real-time communications, conferencing, collaborative workspace solutions) to enhance communications and teamwork among employees, customers, and trusted partners. To this end, we asked IT and LoB leaders detailed questions about:

• corporate strategy as it pertains to improving communications and collaboration within the company

• which collaboration tools are used the most widely

• how employees most benefit from collaboration

• how collaboration technology is purchased and deployed now and how this will change in the future

• how collaboration technology is integrated with other business applications

• how collaboration technology improves business processes

• how shadow IT and the consumerisation of IT is affecting the collaboration tools in use within the company

• how the success of collaboration technology is measured

Methodology

8

International partnerships more common than international operationsBecause collaboration technology is the medium that interconnects concentrated and geographically distributed stakeholders, we asked a number of questions about where respondents’ offices, employees, business partners, and customers are located. Unsurprisingly, some organisations operated in a single country, while others had operations that span a particular region or the globe.

More interesting, it’s more common that an organisation’s customers and partners are geographically dispersed than it is for its own employees to be located around the world. Specifically, 62% of organisations said their employees are located in multiple countries, whether within a certain region, such as Asia or western Europe, or around the world. But 72% said the same about their customers and business partners. This is directly relevant to how collaboration technology is deployed and utilised. All too often, enterprises emphasise internal communications and teamwork among co-workers at the expense of providing employees with the tools they need to have rich interactions with partners, customers, and others outside the organisation.

Because collaboration technology is the medium that interconnects concentrated and geographically distributed stakeholders, we asked a number of questions about where respondents’ offices, employees, business partners, and customers are located.

Collaboration must accommodate a global base of customers and partners

9

Collaboration must include outsiders A base of customers and set of partners that are geographically distributed to a much greater degree than an organisation’s own employees can pose a significant challenge to business use of collaboration technology. Improving the productivity of employees within the company tends to be a high priority for enterprises deploying collaboration technology. In fact, the largest number of enterprises surveyed (19%) said productivity enhancement is the most important goal of their collaboration strategy. Much fewer (6%) ranked improving teamwork with customers and partners as highly.

This is reflected in the rather insular nature of collaboration solutions and services deployed within an organisation. A corporate instant messaging (IM) application might provide a secure communications channel between employees, but federating it with another company’s instant messaging (IM) platform can, at best, be difficult and, at worst, impossible. Similarly, enterprise social software and videoconferencing systems might do a good job of enhancing communications across an international workforce at an organisation. But in many cases, they’re not optimised for connecting employees with customers and partners.

Figure 1: Enterprises support a very highly distributed set of customers and partners

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

All in a single country Mainly in a single country, but there are a few elsewhere

Many in a single region Many around the world

38%

20%

28%

34%

21%

17%

24%

18%

Where employees are located Where customers and business partners are located

Enterprises need to make sure that, when it comes to collaboration, they’re providing employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done better and consistently.

Enterprises need to make sure that, when it comes to collaboration, they’re providing employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done better and consistently. For organisations that have a large number of geographically dispersed customers and partners, this means providing your employees with messaging, conferencing, and other tools. These allow them to interact with people outside the company in an equally rich and effective way as when they use those tools to interact with colleagues within the company.

10

Top objectives for the collaborative enterpriseEnterprises have long understood increased productivity of individual employees and improved teamwork among colleagues as one of the main objectives and top benefits of collaboration. After all, collaboration technology is specifically designed to streamline communications, making it easy to interact with one’s co-workers from any place, over any device, and from any application. When used effectively, collaboration breaks down barriers – both geographical and organisational – letting people share knowledge with one another and rapidly turn that knowledge into action.

Collaboration can also improve customer service. Contact centres leverage collaboration tools to facilitate better communication and teamwork among customer service agents, as well as between agents and experts elsewhere within the organisation. The goal is to respond to customer requirements quicker and more efficiently.

Enterprises have also long relied on collaboration to reduce operational expenses. This typically takes the form of a reduced need for air travel.

Contact centres leverage collaboration tools to facilitate better communication and teamwork among customer service agents, as well as between agents and experts elsewhere within the organisation.

The formula is simple: fewer plane tickets plus fewer hotel bills equal lower expense reports. Videoconferencing is typically the chief enabler, allowing face-to-face meetings without the need to travel anywhere. And the reduced time en route to meetings means more time can be spent in the office getting work done. So reduced travel not only results in reduced expenses, but can also translate into increased productivity.

It’s little surprise then that enterprises most often cite productivity improvements as their top objective when it comes to collaboration, with faster decision-making and lower expenses also very high on the minds of enterprises when it comes to how they hope to benefit from collaboration.

Productivity, teamwork, and profit

11

Leveraging collaboration to improve salesA surprising number of enterprises say that they’re turning to collaboration technology to increase sales, improve revenues, or otherwise make top and bottom line improvements. Of all enterprises, 14% identified increased sales as the topmost goal of their collaboration strategy, making it second only to improving productivity as the single most important objective for our respondents.

Sales improvement is likewise a key indicator that a company is successfully using collaboration technology, with 31% of organisations saying it’s among the top ways they measure success. By comparison, data that demonstrates an increase in employee productivity is also an important success indicator at many organisations, though only 4% or organisations say they rely on a demonstrable ROI as the most important indicator of the success of their use of collaboration technology.

For a few types of organisations, there’s a direct correlation between their use of collaboration technology and higher revenue. A university’s adept use of collaboration technology can result in increased enrolment and, as a result, tuition revenue. And hospitals with sophisticated telemedicine programmes have successfully used videoconferencing to increase revenue generated by both consultative services and patient transfers.

But for most businesses, collaboration will take a more circuitous path toward increasing sales and improving revenues. One company’s ability to increase decision-making via collaboration improvements will result in faster product development which will, in turn, improve sales.

Another company using collaboration to improve customer service will benefit from better customer satisfaction and less churn which will, in turn, improve revenue.

This indirect correlation between improved collaboration and improved sales undoubtedly contributes to many enterprises finding it difficult to turn their investments in collaboration technology into concrete sales improvements. Nearly one out of five (17%) say they’ve failed to improve sales using collaboration technology. The same number of enterprises (18%) say that their use of collaboration technology hasn’t improved sales-related business processes.

Interestingly, healthcare organisations seem to be struggling with translating improved collaboration into improved sales. Only 40% say they have succeeded in doing so, whereas on average 70% of organisations in other industries report some success in improving sales through their use of collaboration technology. And 30% of healthcare organisations say they have failed at this, compared with an average of 17% at other kinds of organisations. As noted above, healthcare institutions have a clear path toward financially benefitting from advanced communications and collaboration via telemedicine programmes that have been in place for years. The fact that so few organisations in the healthcare field are having success indicates how difficult it can be to turn improved collaboration into tangible financial improvements.

Enterprises seeking to drive sales or revenue improvements through collaboration will want to carefully chart how they’ll accomplish this. It isn’t necessarily straightforward, so CIOs and others in charge of their company’s collaboration strategy need to carefully map how improvements in teamwork and enhanced customer communications will translate into increased revenue.

20%

18%

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

Impr

ove

indi

vidu

al

empl

oyee

pro

duct

ivity

Mak

e bu

sine

ss p

roce

sses

m

ore

effic

ient

Leve

rage

clo

ud t

o m

igra

te r

isk

Impr

ove

sale

s / r

even

ue

Impr

ove

team

wor

k w

ith

peop

le o

utsi

de t

he c

ompa

ny

Impr

ove

cust

omer

ser

vice

Acc

eler

ate

deci

sion

-mak

ing

Impr

ove

mob

ile

colla

bora

tion

expe

rienc

e

Impr

ove

wor

kpla

ce fl

exib

ility

/ s

uppo

rt r

emot

e

Redu

ce b

usin

ess

expe

nses

Faci

litat

e tr

ansf

orm

atio

nal

obje

ctiv

es

Redu

ce c

arbo

n fo

otpr

int

Impr

ove

team

wor

k am

ong

empl

oyee

s

Expa

nd o

pera

tions

Gai

n co

mpe

titiv

e ad

vant

age

Single most important objective for collaboration

Figure 2: Most enterprises see productivity gains as the top goal when deploying collaboration technology

12

Tying in remote workers with conferencingThough we still commonly say ‘I’m at work’ or ‘I’m on my way to work,’ it’s understood that for many employees work is not a location. Rather, work is an activity that can take place in a variety of settings: an office building, a home office, a customer’s site, a coffee shop, or other public places.

Generally speaking, three-quarters of enterprises say the average employee works away from the office at least sometimes, with a quarter saying the average employee works remotely all or most of the time. This, of course, varies by job function, with sales and marketing personnel typically working away from the office more than executives, and executives working off-site more often than personnel in accounting and legal.

For example:

• Of the average company’s sales reps, marketing staff, and executives, 82–85% work away from their office at least some of the time.

• Working away from their company’s offices all the time are 11% of IT staff and 10% of marketing personnel.

• Working away from the office most or all of the time are 15% of employees in the legal department, 18% of those in procurement, and 12% of R&D personnel.

Figure 3: A majority of employees work remotely at least some of the time

Never

Always

Most of the time

Sometimes

How often the average employee works away from the office

27%

48%

20%

5%

Collaboration is key to workplace flexibility

13

Collaboration has long been a key enabler for supporting remote and mobile workersAudio and Web conferencing is the most widely utilised communications tool, enabling employees to collaborate with remote colleagues, with between a quarter and one-third of enterprises making them available to all employees. Their popularity is due to audio and Web conferencing being based on a mature technology that’s stable, relatively easy to use, and has been used long enough so that most employees are comfortable with it. Often delivered as cloud-based services, they’re also easy for enterprises to deploy and, thanks to fierce competition among providers, comparatively inexpensive to adopt.

Videoconferencing, while it may not completely replace the need for face-to-face meetings, is another invaluable way enterprises are interconnecting geographically. It helps remote workers feel like they are more present to colleagues working at headquarters. Because it’s based on newer technology, desktop videoconferencing isn’t as widely deployed as audio and Web conferencing. Only 16% of lines of business (LoBs) say everyone in their department regularly uses meeting room videoconferencing systems for individual use, compared with 24% and 27% of enterprises that said the same about Web and audio conferencing, respectively. Yet 53% of enterprises say that at least half of their employees regularly use desktop video for their work – evidence that it’s becoming more widely utilised across organisations.

IT underestimates the extent to which employees work remotelyBecause enterprises have been using conferencing and other types of collaboration tools for so long, they’ve become particularly successful at using them to support remote and mobile users. Nearly eight out of ten say that collaboration has resulted in improving the work experience for remote workers (79%) and employees using mobile devices (76%).

However, the ability of collaboration technology to improve the work experience of remote and mobile users is taken for granted at many enterprises. Very few organisations count improved support for remote and mobile workers among the most important objectives of their collaboration strategy. And few identify improved support for mobile workers as the topmost trend affecting their collaboration strategy. This is perhaps because leveraging collaboration to create a more flexible workforce was a priority in previous years, and something that many enterprises feel they have either addressed or are in the process of addressing.

IT departments traditionally support employees and provide them with the tools they need to communicate and collaborate. But it’s very likely that employees work away from the office much more often than the IT departments think:

• LoBs and IT agree that relatively few employees (5%) work away from the office all of the time, and that 20% of employees work away from the office on most days. This makes sense, since individuals in sales, marketing, field operations, and other roles can be highly mobile.

• IT estimates further that more than a third of their employees (35%) never work away from the office, with workers in legal, accounting, and HR particularly bound to their desks. By comparison, less than half as many LoB managers (14%) indicated that employees in their department never work away from their office.

Assuming that LoBs can more accurately identify the number and habits of remote workers within their department than IT can estimate for various departments company-wide, enterprises tend to have a surprisingly large number of employees who work remotely at least periodically. This can have a direct and potentially negative effect on the collaboration technologies deployed within a company. An IT department will purchase and deploy a very different set of collaboration tools for employees working mainly from corporate offices than employees who regularly work from partner sites, customer locations, home offices, and other remote locations.

Always Most of the time

Sometimes Never

Figure 4: IT overestimates how many employees never work away from the office

38%

20%

28%

34%

21%

17%

24%

18%

LoBIT

How often the average employee works away from the office

14

Achieving some goals are fairly straightforward Enterprise adoption of collaboration technology starts with a strategy that sets out clear goals. As we’ve seen, increasing productivity, accelerating decision-making, and improving sales are among the most popular. Others include reducing the company’s carbon footprint, mitigating risk through the use of cloud technologies, and expanding operations.

The enterprise then purchases (or in some cases, develops) the types of solutions needed to execute on the strategy, and makes them available to employees. But all is for naught if employees don’t embrace the new technology, effectively integrating them into their work processes. It they do, an enterprise stands a good chance of having succeeded in leveraging collaboration to achieve the goals of their strategy.

When it comes to leveraging collaboration to improve their business, enterprises are reporting a remarkable degree of success:

• Of all enterprises, 72% say their use of collaboration technology has met their expectations to accelerate decision-making, with another 13% saying it’s exceeded expectations.

• Some 59% say collaboration has met expectations for making business processes more efficient, with another 20% saying it’s exceeded them.

• Some 66% say collaboration has met expectations for improving customer service, with another 20% saying it’s exceeded them.

• Many IT departments are particularly happy with collaboration’s ability to help achieve their company’s transformational objectives, with 19% saying it has exceeded their expectations. (LoBs aren’t as sure, with only half as many saying the same.) Meanwhile, LoBs are very bullish on collaboration’s ability to rein in business expenses, with 21% saying it’s exceeded expectations for this. (Half as many IT departments agree.)

As many as one out of every four IT departments measure the success of their collaboration projects by how well they’ve implemented the technology.

Choosing the path that leads to success

15

Figure 5: Satisfaction not guaranteed, but achievable

Enterprises satisfied that collaboration technology has met their expectations

Reduce carbon footprint

Reduce business expenses

17% 57% 13%

13%15% 60%

Make business processes more efficient

Leverage cloud to mitigate risk

16%20% 59%

11%14% 59%

Improve workplace flexibility / support remote workers

Improve teamwork with people outside the company 11%14% 67%

12%21% 61%

Improve teamwork among employees

Improve sales/revenue

9%22% 64%

11% 62% 13%

Improve individual employee productivity

Improve customer service

16% 68% 11%

20% 66% 10%

Improve mobile collaboration experience

Gain competitive advantage

22% 56% 17%

12% 53% 20%

Facilitate transformational objectives

Expand operations

16% 58% 18%

13% 60% 16%

Accelerate decision-making 13% 72% 9%

Exceeded expectations Met expectations Failed to meet expectations

Measuring the success of collaboration projectsSuch a degree of success in deriving demonstrable benefits from collaboration is testament to the careful planning that enterprises put into deploying it, as well as ensuring that employees understand how best to use it after it’s been made available to them.

There are many ways that enterprises ensure their employees benefit from collaboration, but the most effective include:

• creating a corporate culture that encourages and fosters collaboration among employees –39% say this is very effective

• using internal communications to promote the use of collaboration technology – 51% say this is very effective

• training programmes that enhance employees’ collaboration skills – 46% say this is very effective

Some of the less effective include:

• tasking a ‘change manager’ to ensure employees are using collaboration technology and using it effectively – 14% say this is not effective

• seeking executive sponsorship to encourage others in the company to use new, potentially unfamiliar collaboration technology – 13% say this is not effective

• changing travel policies so employees must use collaboration technology in lieu of business trips – 12% say this is not effective

IT departments responsible for deploying collaboration technology need to make sure they fully appreciate the importance of these activities, all of which take place after the technology is implemented. When asked how they measure the successful deployment of collaboration technology, IT departments pointed to cost savings data and demonstrably faster time to market as two of their top three metrics.

But the most popular metric by far is a successful technical implementation. As many as one out of every four IT departments measure the success of their collaboration projects by how well they’ve implemented the technology. It’s a rather dangerous mindset. Any IT project, of course, needs to have the technology that underpins it correctly implemented. If it’s not, the solution will fail until all technical issues are resolved.

16

Other goals are more challengingHowever, enterprises have found it more difficult to achieve some of the improvements that their use of collaboration technology was intended to provide. Leveraging collaboration to gain an advantage over competitors is particularly troublesome. A fifth of enterprises say they’ve failed at it. Making business processes more efficient and helping to facilitate the company’s transformational objectives are other difficulties, with similarly high failure rates.

There are many reasons why enterprises struggle with some of the objectives. Enhancing business processes with communications technology is notoriously difficult. Sometimes technical issues are at the root of the problem, with the systems and software that underpin the business processes not easily integrated with communications and collaboration solutions. At other times the problem is more financial, with complex custom integration projects making deployment costs unreasonably high. And cultural and workforce issues can add complications. If the company doesn’t have a corporate culture that promotes teamwork, or if employees are resistant to cooperating with one another, even the most technically sophisticated collaboration solution will fail to deliver the improvements that an enterprise seeks.

But the success of collaboration projects hinges on what comes after the technology is implemented. End users need to be trained on how to use the technology and integrate it into their workflow. Often times they need to be repeatedly reminded that it even exists. Collaboration is not a ‘build it and they will come’ scenario where IT provides the solution and everyone in the company flocks to it. Awareness of it needs to be fostered for weeks or months after implementation. Best practices need to be gathered and shared. Analytics need to provide clear evidence that collaboration technology is being used and used well. Executive sponsors and change managers need to help drive new collaboration practices in organisations where they didn’t previously exist. In general, organisations need to put more consideration not just into the completion of the project at a technology deployment level, but also into the organisation’s change process.

Executive sponsors and change managers need to help drive new collaboration practices in organisations where they didn’t previously exist. In general, organisations need to put more consideration not just into the completion of the project at a technology deployment level, but also into the organisation’s change process.

17

Collaboration part of larger cloud initiativesThe cloud has become essential to enterprises executing on a wide range of digital transformation initiatives. Whether internally managed servers running in a company-controlled data centre or externally provided services that require little or no capital investment, cloud technology is the underlying platform that lets enterprises deploy applications efficiently, affordably, and at scale.

As they embrace cloud technologies to accelerate the provisioning of applications, increase their availability, and reduce costs, enterprises have their sights squarely set on cloud when it comes to their collaboration applications. In fact, migrating collaboration applications to the cloud has become fundamental to the ability of many enterprises in making collaboration technology available to the largest number of end users in the most cost-effective manner.

It’s little wonder that the top technology trends affecting most enterprise collaboration strategies are cloud related:

• Adopting collaboration applications as hosted services, rather than deployed on-premise – 27% of IT departments see this as the most important trend affecting their collaboration strategy.

• Adopting collaboration applications via a subscription model, rather than more traditional licensing – 14% of IT departments see this as the most important trend.

• Moving collaboration applications to private data centres, rather than running them on dedicated hardware – 10% of IT departments see this as the most important trend.

The cloud has become essential to enterprises executing on a wide range of digital transformation initiatives.

Cloud migration: transform on your terms

18

Many reasons to move collaboration to the cloudThere’s no one reason enterprises are moving collaboration to the cloud. Rather, a diverse set of strategic, operational, and financial motivations underpin enterprise collaboration cloud initiatives. The most important of these are:

• An organisation-wide cloud strategy is in place, so that’s the direction collaboration applications will also take.

• Cloud potentially costs less (at least initially), and when adopted as a hosted service, it can become an operational rather than capital expense.

• Applications in the cloud are easier to administer and keep up to date, resulting in a less onerous management process.

For most enterprises, however, cloud-based collaboration is a future objective , rather than the current state of affairs. On average 75% of collaboration applications are still deployed on-premise, either managed by an internal IT department or with a third-party provider managing them on the behalf of the company.

This makes sense, since enterprises have traditionally purchased collaboration technology – whether it’s videoconferencing equipment, PBXs, instant messaging (IM) apps, or enterprise social software – as a capital investment, with the software and systems deployed on-premise and managed via internal IT resources. For many enterprises, this is how their IT and procurement departments are used to purchasing collaboration technology, and changing them takes time.

Many enterprises also have made very large investments in premise-based technology, and they are reticent to move to a cloud-based model until those assets have become obsolete. As a result, it will be a process of several years for many enterprises to completely migrate collaboration technology to the cloud.

Most popular collaboration strategy trends

Figure 6: Cloud: The future of collaboration

Break down silos of collaboration technology 3%

Move collaboration to the cloud via hosted services 27%

Adopt collaboration as-as-service 14%

Move collaboration to the cloud via private data centers 10%

Embrace consumerisation of IT for collaboration apps 9%

Embrace enterprise social 8%

Make video communication pervasive 8%

Reduce reliance on email 8%

Accommodate BYOD 8%

Accommodate increased use of mobile devices 5%

19

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

26%

46%

28%

1%

51%

22%

23%

3%

Aud

io c

onfe

renc

ing

Web

con

fere

ncin

g25%

59%

15%

1%

20%

57%

20%

3%

26%

48%

21%

5%

18%

58%

19%

4%

22%

48%

27%

3%

17%

61%

19%

3%

22%

46%

29%

2%

19%

56%

23%

2%

Doc

umen

t/fil

e sh

arin

g

Ente

rpris

e so

cial

Ente

rpris

e vo

ice

Inst

ant

mes

sagi

ng (I

M)

Offi

ce p

rodu

ctiv

ity

Vid

eoco

nfer

enci

ng f

or

dedi

cate

d vi

deo

room

s

Vid

eoco

nfer

enci

ng

for

indi

vidu

al u

se

Vid

eoco

nfer

enci

ng

for

mul

tipur

pose

co

nfer

ence

roo

ms

How enterprises deploy collaboration technology

Figure 7: For many enterprises cloud-based collaboration is more of an objective than a reality

Hosted by third party providing multi-tenant service

Hosted by third party providing dedicated service

Premise-based, third party managed

Premise-based, internally managed

That said, many enterprises are well on their way to migrating at least some of their collaboration applications to the cloud.

• Desktop video and instant messaging (IM) are particularly popular as cloud-based apps, with 31% of enterprises saying this is the way they’ve deployed each of them.

• Some 29% have adopted Web conferencing as a cloud-based app, such as Cisco WebEx.

• Of all organisations, 26% get business telephony in a hosted model.

Certain industries are embracing cloud-based collaboration considerably faster than others. More than half of healthcare organisations, for instance, have deployed telephony, desktop videoconferencing, and instant messaging (IM) applications via hosted services. Professional services firms have been enthusiastically adopting Web conferencing, office productivity, and enterprise social as hosted services. Pharmaceutical firms, on the other hand, show a marked disinterest in cloud-based collaboration, preferring to deploy video, telephony, messaging, and other software on-premise.

20

Other collaboration tools supplement rather than replace corporate telephony Telephony was, and remains, the cornerstone of corporate communications. An organisation might deploy videoconferencing systems in conference rooms, replace its intranet with enterprise social software, install messaging applications on employees’ laptops and mobile devices. But, inevitably, this is alongside the telephony system or service that underpins communications among employees, customers, and partners.

The telephony system also tends to be the starting point for enterprises migrating to unified communications (UC) solutions that combine voice, instant messaging (IM), desktop videoconferencing, and basic document collaboration capabilities. There’s essentially no enterprise telephony system or service on the market that cannot be deployed as a UC platform with integrated video and instant messaging (IM). Enterprises have been migrating traditional telephony systems to UC for a decade or more, resulting in a comparatively high number of employees with access to corporate instant messaging (IM). More specifically, 19% of enterprises say all employees have access to and regularly use an IM application, while another 24% say most employees do.

Despite the growing importance of other forms of communications, such as video and text-based messaging, enterprises neither see a decline in the use of traditional telephony systems, nor do they expect to see this in the near future. When asked about employees’ use of enterprise voice technology, 39% of IT departments say they expect usage to increase over the next year, with half saying it will increase greatly. Comparing telephony with other, in many cases, newer collaboration technologies, employees’ use of only Web conferencing and video systems deployed in multipurpose conference rooms is expected to increase more.

UC underpins collaboration

21

The telephony system also tends to be the starting point for enterprises migrating to unified communications solutions that combine voice, instant messaging (IM), desktop videoconferencing, and basic document collaboration capabilities.

Increase greatly Increase slightly Remain same Decrease

Enterprise voice 13% 26% 8%53%

48% 11%16% 25%Audio conferencing

6%18% 39% 38%Web conferencing

12%18% 18% 51%Instant messaging (IM)

43% 14%16% 27%Enterprise social

Videoconferencing for multipurpose conference rooms

11%6% 39% 44%

Videoconferencing for individual use 15%12% 25% 48%

How employees’ use of collaboration technologies is expected to change over the next year

Figure 8: Telephony remains in high demand

22

Enterprises turn to visual communications Videoconferencing has emerged as a widely accepted form of business communications. Businesses use it internally to help geographically dispersed teams work more closely with one another. Businesses also use it for external communications, as a way to facilitate face-to-face communications with partners, suppliers, investors, and sales prospects.

Once available only via expensive, difficult-to-use systems deployed in conference rooms, video communications is now readily available via a range of applications (such as instant messaging (IM), Web conferencing, team collaboration platforms like Slack and Cisco Spark, virtual meeting rooms) and devices (such as laptops, tablets, smart phones, and dedicated desktop video systems).

The ability to launch video conversations from a wide range of applications that employees already use to do their jobs is making it pervasive within many enterprises. That is to say, employees can start videoconferences from a wide range of systems, devices, and applications available to them at work. In many cases, it’s very rare for organisations not to be investing at all in video technology, with nine out of 10 enterprises investing in and making it available to employees.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of videoconferencing technology that enterprises make available to their employees:

• videoconferencing via dedicated video rooms, such as conference settings devoted to immersive telepresence

• videoconferencing via multipurpose conference rooms, which have been equipped with videoconferencing systems which may or may not be used in any given meeting

• videoconferencing for individual use, spanning desktop applications, video-capable desk phones, and desktop video terminals

Each of these is widely used within the enterprise. Three out of four LoBs say at least some in their department regularly uses desktop videoconferencing and other kinds of personal video technology, with one in six saying everyone in their department regularly uses them.

Different types of videoconferencing tend to appeal to organisations in different industries. Retailers tend to have a lower number of employees regularly using video systems in conference rooms, and more conducting video communications over personal devices. It’s the opposite at manufacturers and government institutions, which tend to have room-based videoconferencing systems more widely available than organisations in other industries.

Video is becoming pervasive

23

All employees Most employees (~75%) Some employees (~50%) Few employees (~25%)

Videoconferencing for individual use 16% 14% 23% 23%

27% 15%17% 17%Videoconferencing for multipurpose conference rooms

Videoconferencing via dedicated video rooms 17%24% 16% 27%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Figure 9: Video communications pervasive within the enterprise

Employees regularly using videoconferencing technology

Three out of four LoBs say at least some in their department regularly uses desktop videoconferencing and other kinds of personal video technology, with one in six saying everyone in their department regularly uses them.

Ensuring employees understand the value of video communications As with many types of collaboration technology, purchasing and deploying videoconferencing technology is only the first step in making sure it’s widely used within the company. As noted in the discussion on how enterprises successfully benefit from collaboration technology, there are many things that IT departments and LoBs both need to do post deployment. One of the first tasks on any company’s post-deployment to-do list should be ensuring that employees are aware that the collaboration tools exist in the first place.

Many enterprises’ collaboration initiatives are hampered because employees don’t know they have access to the technology, whether it comes in the form of telepresence rooms at corporate headquarters or the personal video application that IT could deploy on their PCs or laptops. Only 9% of IT departments say they haven’t deployed videoconferencing in conference rooms, but 24% of LoBs say they don’t have access to such systems. The implication is that, while IT departments might have successfully deployed cameras, MCUs, and other video equipment in conference rooms throughout their company, end users are either not aware it exists or not aware that they can use it.

Similarly just 15% of IT departments say they’re not providing employees with desktop videoconferencing apps, but, again, 24% of employees say they don’t have such tools. In this case, IT may have purchased rights for their company’s employees to use personal video communications software, but this has perhaps not been communicated to the employees themselves. IT departments should make sure employees within the company are fully aware of the collaboration tools available to them. Simply deploying the videoconferencing systems doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in the company knows that it’s there and how to use it.

24

Video communications will become a common way employees interact with one another. Video capabilities are being embedded into more and more business applications, making the set-up of a video call as easy as a click of the mouse. Complicated video systems that have long lurked in the corners of conference rooms, requiring trained IT professionals to operate them, are being retired and replaced with newer solutions with ease-of-use foremost in their designers’ minds.

Increase greatly Increase slightly Remain same Decrease slightly Decrease greatly

11%6%

12%

29%

39%

25%

48% 48%44%

12% 14%10%

0% 1% 1%

Videoconferencing for multipurpose conference rooms

Videoconferencing for individual use

Videoconferencing via dedicated video rooms

Expected change in video technology usage over next year

Figure 10: Use of video communications technology set to rise

All this will result in a steady increase in video usage within enterprises. Nearly half of IT departments are anticipating that usage of video systems in multipurpose conference rooms will increase in the next 12 months, while only slightly less will foresee a similar increase in other types of videoconferencing technology.

Many enterprises’ collaboration initiatives are hampered because employees don’t know they have access to the technology, whether it comes in the form of telepresence rooms at corporate headquarters or the personal video application that IT could deploy on their PCs or laptops.

25

Widespread use of social applications central to many organisations’ collaboration strategiesSocial networking has transformed the way individuals interact with friends, family, and acquaintances in their personal lives, and enterprise social software is likewise transforming interactions in the workplace. A cornerstone of many organisations’ collaboration strategies, enterprise social enhances the way employees share, find, and organise the information they and their co-workers need to do their jobs. It’s also key to reducing email, providing employees with an alternative, more engaging way to message one another.

Social software has entered the enterprise in many guises:

• all-encompassing platforms, such as Jive and IBM Connections, which are designed to be used company-wide and can replace traditional intranets

• lighter-weight social applications, such as Yammer, that provide fewer features at a much lower price point

• micro-blogging applications, such as Salesforce Chatter, that are associated with a specific function such as CRM

• team collaboration applications, such as Slack and Cisco Spark, designed to provide activity streams that streamline workflow and enhance project management

• consumer-grade social applications that have been modified for enterprise use, such as Facebook for Business

A cornerstone of many organisations’ collaboration strategies, enterprise social enhances the way employees share, find, and organise the information they and their co-workers need to do their jobs.

Enterprise social transformscommunications

26

Because of the many ways social software enters the enterprise, it’s uncommon for it to be entirely absent at most organisations. And for many businesses, its use is quite widespread. At one enterprise out of every three, social software is used by all or most employees, with nearly half of all organisations expecting usage to increase over the next year. Educational institutions and financial institutions have particularly embraced enterprise social. Very few enterprises – between 10% and 30% – provide employees with no social software whatsoever.

Social networking has transformed the way individuals interact with friends, family, and acquaintances in their personal lives, and enterprise social software is likewise transforming interactions in the workplace.

All employees

Most employees (~75%)

Some employees (~50%)

Few employees (~25%)

Employees have no access to this now, but IT will provide it in next 12 months

Employees have no access to this now, and there are no plans to provide it

Employees regularly using enterprise social software

Figure 12: Enterprise social established in many organisations

10%

14%

21%

21%

33%

1%

Employees regularly using enterprise social software

Figure 11: The expanding reach and range of enterprise social networks

Scope of engagement StructuredAd hoc

Scal

e o

f en

gag

emen

tEn

terp

rise

Pers

onal

Activity streams,workflow,

and integration with LoBapplications, informationsystems, and enterpriseapplications - CRM, ERP,

and HR

IM and real-time collaboration

Events and calendars

Blogs, microblogs, andstatus updates

Social business

intelligence and analytics

Company meetings

Wikis and document sharing

Communities, groupdiscussions, sharedworkspaces, projectmanagement, and

modellingDecision making

Blogs Micro-blogs Status updates

‘Social’ email polls,surveys, ideamanagement

dashboards, andgamificationLeaderboards

27

LoBs have a prominent role in choosing collaboration technologySelecting, purchasing, and implementing collaboration technology has traditionally been part of IT’s remit. The IT department, after all, has the technical expertise to support the systems and software, and the budget to buy it in the first place. Most IT departments still have a very prominent role in steering their company’s course toward collaboration. The CIO and IT directors responsible for communications technology are chiefly responsible for crafting the collaboration strategy at 60% of enterprises. And IT managers in charge of business applications tend to be actively involved as well – testament to the increasingly software-centric nature of collaboration technology and its effect on business applications that are not themselves communications or collaboration centric.

However, at many enterprises, LoBs are taking a significant amount of control over the technology they need to conduct business:

• Nearly six out of 10 LoBs have their own budget – independent of IT – to purchase collaboration technology.

• More than half of LoBs have staff within the department to both implement and support collaboration technology.

• At nearly half of enterprises, general managers, regional vice presidents, and other executives without a role in IT take a leading role in formulating their company’s collaboration strategy. And at a third of enterprises, the influence these executives have is increasing.

Far fewer LoBs are authorised to purchase collaboration technology without IT’s knowledge and consent. This speaks to the ongoing role that IT can (and should) have in the technology decisions made by a company’s various departments and lines of business. This said, 24% of enterprises say LoBs can in fact purchase and implement collaboration technology without IT’s approval or involvement. This points to a certain degree of autonomy that LoBs have over what tools their workers have to collaborate with one another. It’s a situation that could challenge IT departments that want to exercise a high degree of control over the collaboration technology in use within their company. But it has the potential benefit of quickly getting the right tools in the hands of those that need them. LoBs are much more familiar with how workers in their departments interact with each other, as well as with partners and clients. With that knowledge, they can identify what collaboration tools would best improve their workflow and implement them independently.

We’re all in this together

28

Communication and coordination are key to resolving conflicts between LoBs and IT LoBs exercising control over what collaboration technology is made available to them will be a mixed blessing for most enterprises. On the one hand, IT becomes less autocratic, selecting and delivering what collaboration technologies are provided to departments and lines of business. This could be problematic if this is done without taking into account the social dynamics particular to one department, or how much more lines of business needs to collaborate with partners compared to the rest of the company.

But with LoBs more active in the technology selection and deployment process, IT has the opportunity to enter into more of a partnership with the various corporate divisions that make up its user base. LoBs are now in a better position of making each of their requirements known when it comes to collaboration.

However, LoBs with an active role over IT decisions can also create complications and misunderstandings. LoBs may think they have more technical expertise than they actually do, which could result in implementation and support problems that IT will need to solve. And LoBs may not necessarily coordinate with each other, resulting, for example, in the acquisition of different vendors’ collaboration products, when sourcing from a single provider would have been less complicated and less expensive.

Ability for LoBs to purchase, implement, and support collaboration and other kinds of technology

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

LoB has budget to purchase

LoB can purchase and implement without IT’s express consent

LoB has staff to support the technology

LoB has no independent IT-related capabilities

LoB has staff to implement

LoBs saying this is the case IT departments saying this is the case

Figure 13: LoBs have significant control over collaboration technology

And there may be confusion over where IT’s authority and activity ends and where LoB’s begins. In enterprises where LoBs and IT share responsibility for selecting technology, more than half of IT departments consider themselves to be the primary decision-makers, whereas less than a third of LoBs think IT has the leading role:

• LoBs are much more likely than IT to think general managers’ influence over the selection of collaboration technology is increasing, pointing to questions over leadership.

• LoBs are more likely than IT to think IT pays for and implements collaboration technology, pointing to questions about budget and purchasing processes.

• LoBs are more likely than IT to think various types of collaboration technology is unavailable to them, pointing to communication issues.

• LoBs are more likely than IT to say various types of collaboration technology are being actively and widely used within their various departments and divisions, implying that IT might not be aware how vital collaboration is to employees.

In enterprises where selecting and implementing collaboration technology is a joint responsibility, LoBs and IT departments must work together to select and implement the collaboration tools that are best suited to the company and its employees.

29

Use of consumer-grade applications widespread in the workplaceUntil recently, shadow IT and the consumerisation of IT plagued IT departments tasked with ensuring that all communications and collaboration technology used by their company is reliable, highly available, secure, and compliant with governmental regulations.

Shadow IT, technology used inside businesses without the knowledge or explicit approval of IT, continues to be problematic since it circumvents IT policies, and potentially exposes a company to risk. This includes:

• portable storage drives and cloud storage instead of secure network storage

• rogue access points that affect network security

• messaging applications that send and archive sensitive company information

• personal email accounts used for business purposes

• employee-owned smart phones whose loss can result in the loss of corporate data stored on them

However, enterprises’ attitudes toward consumer-grade technology has become more nuanced. In the context of collaboration, this technology typically includes:

• Skype and Google Talk for voice communications

• Hangouts, WhatsApp, and Facetime for messaging

• Gmail and Yahoo Mail for email

• Dropbox and Evernote for cloud storage

• Google Apps for office productivity

• YouTube for video content sharing

IT departments once simply banned the use of consumer-grade collaboration applications, but this is becoming less common. Most enterprises – nine out of every 10 – have no ban on them. Of these, a few – one in five – let LoBs use consumer-grade technology without informing IT, while the majority have instituted policies governing which applications can be used.

Emerging from the shadow

30

Why consumer-grade collaboration applications are popular There are many reasons why the use of consumer-grade collaboration applications is so widespread within the enterprise. Often delivered in a software-as-a-service model, they tend to be easy for either IT or end users to adopt. Often sold in a freemium model, they tend to be less expensive than business applications. The top reasons LoBs say they use them include:

• Employees are more familiar with how to use consumer-grade collaboration apps than business apps.

• Employees want to use the same applications for personal and business use.

• Employees need to communicate and collaborate with customers, partners, and collaborators outside the company, and collaboration applications provided by IT are for internal employees only.

Why employees use consumer-grade collaboration apps without IT’s approval

Can’t collaborate with people outside company with business apps from IT

IT turned down employees’ approval request for consumer apps

IT’s approval process for consumer apps is slow and difficult

IT isn’t delivering the collaboration apps employees need

Employees want same apps for personal and business use

Consumer apps easier to use than business apps

Consumer apps meet employees’ needs better than business apps

Employees already familiar with consumer apps

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Figure 14: LoBs looking for ways to collaborate with partners

LoBs saying this is the case IT departments saying this is the case

IT may not realise the importance of this last point. Many business-grade messaging, enterprise social, and other types of collaboration applications that IT has deployed allow for interactions with others inside the company, but not with people outside the organisation. Sending instant messages to colleagues is certainly useful, but there will be occasions when the end users will want to send messages to external participants. If the business messaging application doesn’t allow for this, the end user will turn to the consumer-grade equivalent. Similarly, if a company’s enterprise social software can only be used among co-workers, an employee needing a similar tool to collaborate with outsiders will turn to other personal tools to get the job done.

Interacting with people outside of one’s company is, in fact, the second most common reason employees have adopted consumer-grade communications and collaboration applications, with two-thirds of LoBs saying this is their motivation. Conversely, it is at the bottom of the IT department’s list.

31

Consumer-grade collaboration increasingly favoured by ITThe consumerisation of IT is not only changing end users’ expectations for business applications in terms of accessibility and ease of use, it’s also changing IT departments’ attitudes toward consumer-grade collaboration technology. As noted, most IT departments have implemented formal processes through which employees can request permission to use a particular consumer application. This lets IT ensure that it meets the company’s security and compliance standards and doesn’t duplicate technology that IT has already purchased and deployed. It also lets IT know what consumer-grade applications are used by which departments, so they can make it available to other departments or negotiate for better pricing, as needed.

More and more, IT departments have fully embraced consumer-grade collaboration technology, acquiring it for the company and making it available to employees. Audio conferencing, Web conferencing, and file-sharing applications are among the most popular consumer-grade collaboration technology that IT departments make available to their constituents.

Part of the reason IT is embracing consumer-grade collaboration technology is because of how pervasive it has become across their organisations. Of consumer-grade collaboration software used by employees without IT authorisation:

• Consumer-grade collaboration applications are used in 50% of enterprises.

• Consumer-grade web conferencing applications are used in 75% of enterprises.

• Consumer-grade document-sharing applications are used in 70% of enterprises.

• Consumer-grade videoconferencing applications are used in 60% of enterprises.

Additionally, a small but growing number of consumer-grade applications have enterprise versions that address many IT concerns. Subscribing to these, IT can address its various reliability, security, compliance, and other concerns, while at the same time delivering the familiar, easy-to-use applications to end users.

Voice

Audio conferencing

Collaboration/teamwork

Document/file sharing

Enterprise social

Videoconferencing

Web conferencing

Messaging

10% 14% 31%25% 20%

7% 12% 32%23% 26%

7% 18% 38%20% 17%

17% 15% 18%18% 31%

4% 10% 19%21% 47%

28% 24% 13%17% 19%

13% 21% 11%32% 23%

21% 22%19%27%11%

All Most Some Few Not provided

Employees regularly using consumer-grade collaboration applications purchased by IT

Figure 15: Many IT departments are providing and supporting consumer-grade collaboration apps

32

Your transformation, your termsWith 86% of respondents showing improved productivity, 70% improved sales, and 63% improved competitive advantage, it’s clear from the 2016 Connected Enterprise Report that collaboration is an essential element in the digital business of the future.

To achieve transformation, the needs of lines of business (LoBs) have to be recognised, as they’re the key to unlock and fund business return. A worrying aspect in the Report is the ongoing disconnect between IT and the LoB, which will lead to shadow IT behaviour, siloed decisions, and business inefficiency. This is compounded by technology budgets being aggressively reduced — typically by 20% per year.

What does this mean for the modern CIO?• The CIO must tap into LoB budget to align to meet strategic enterprise objectives.

• The CIO must ensure shadow IT doesn’t get out of control, leading to indirect operational costs, as well as infrastructure, governance, compliance, and security issues.

Being relevant to the LoB means you must be flexible to business change, which is often difficult when restricted by limitations of the past. CIOs often state their goal is to provide more services to the end user, but don’t have the budget to remain relevant: as much as 60% of their budget is tied to carrier costs, or they’re in an existing depreciation cycle for their core infrastructure.

To achieve transformation, the needs of lines of business (LoBs) have to be recognised, as they’re the key to unlock and fund business return.

Conclusion

33

Optimise to transformThe key is to create sustainable relevance. This approach is called ‘Optimise to Transform’, and it has four strategic considerations:

• cost down

• risk out

• speed up

• innovation in

With this approach, you will ensure that your current investment is being optimised and adopted. This may seem self-evident but consider the following influences:

• The use of consumer applications in the business environment is growing.

• The chasm between IT and the LoB is widening.

• The awareness and adoption of collaboration tools remains relatively low.

With these factors in mind, can cost control be maximised? Is the scarcity and scalability of expertise risk truly mitigated? Of course, the answers will be different for every workload and every organisation. A first step is to identify your risk exposure — because this should determine your strategy, not the hype around cloud or next-generation infrastructure.

IT and business coming togetherOnce your existing environment is optimised, the platform is now open for speed, innovation, and agility. The LoB can take their entrepreneurial nature and understanding of their customers to bring innovative ideas into the collaboration strategy.

However, they still need to work with IT. While IT’s relevance is more important than ever, the reason for this relevance is changing. More and more, the modern CIO views IT as an entity that is inextricably tied to the LoB. No longer just a provider of technology, IT now maximises the business outcomes defined by the LoB’s technology strategy.

Although we rank top globally with many of the world’s largest vendors, we remain proudly client-centric. Working with preferred vendors, we’re able to leverage multiple technologies to create a customised, flexible solution in line with your business needs.

34

Dimension Data and collaboration

Dimension Data is the world’s leading solution provider in the collaboration space. We deliver the most complete range of consulting, professional, supply chain, managed, and cloud services. We have direct presence in 58 countries and in a further 140 countries through our Preferred Partner Programme.

Although we rank top globally with many of the world’s largest vendors, we remain proudly client-centric. Working with preferred vendors, we’re able to leverage multiple technologies to create a customised, flexible solution in line with your business needs.