The future of Unified Communications is mobile, report finds

Over the past five years, desk phone usage for conference calls has declined by 70%. Instead, a PGi report indicates that 44% of leaders would rather use a smartphone for Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C).

The demands of collaboration

Over the past decade, collaborative time demands have risen by over 50%. As a result, the average leader spends over 85% of their time in a meeting, on the phone, or using email.

With respondents from around the globe, the PGi report surveyed 333 industry leaders on UC&C. 26% of respondents were device and network equipment vendors, while 24% were mobile operators.

In just the past year, 55% of users said that their desk phone usage for conference calls had declined. Instead, 44% respondents chose to use the mobile phone and 43% utilised their PC or laptop.

A mere 9% of users said that their go-to device was their desk phone, while 4% chose a tablet. Although tablets were mobile, they did not offer the same capabilities as a corporate mobile phone.

The drivers behind mobile

Above all, 43% of respondents said that the smartphone’s ability to provide HD audio with background noise suppression encouraged greater usage. 25% also said that ease of access was a driving factor.

16% of users also cited enhanced battery life as a driver behind mobile use in UC&C. Meanwhile, 12% of the respondents said that the improved data plan usage motivated their mobile use.

Looking ahead, 33% said that improved network coverage would have the ability to drive UC&C mobile adoption. In addition to this, 29% said that enhanced call quality would be an important factor.

Moreover, 13% of respondents indicated that faster download speeds would be helpful. The same number of people also said that enabling 5G would improve mobile adoption in the UC&C sphere.

Almost 50% of users said that they require mobile devices for over half of their conference calls. As a consequence, PGi estimates that over 50% of endpoints on its audio or web conferences will be from a smartphone by 2020.

Frank Paterno, vice president, global carriers, PGi, said that “collaboration fuels enterprise success” and the smartphone is now the “go-to device” for UC&C. “Mobility is a standard professional tool that enables better productivity, more flexibility and powers global, digital workers to get more done from anywhere at any time,” he concluded.