For years, we’ve seen UC&C providers striving to invent the perfect ‘killer’ tool for workplace collaboration. Promises were made of a single OS-style collaboration platform, in which messaging, voice, video, documents, and collaboration were all contained within one easy-to-use interface.
Now, in 2023, that dream seems further away than ever before. Teams, Webex, Pexip, Slack, Zoom, Google Meets, Yammer, Monday, Google Drive — the list of collaboration tools being used in any one company gets longer every year.
While some of this is due to rushed adoption during Covid-19, for many organisations it’s simply the practical reality of their day-to-day work. In fact, in some industries the need for multiple (seemingly conflicting) communication platforms is a fundamental part of business success.
Take the financial sector as an example. We all know the level of hoops that banks and financial intuitions must jump through to keep their internal communications secure. Strict laws, data sovereignty rules and cybersecurity governance make it impossible for these firms to rely on your typical consumer-grade apps for internal comms. Instead, secure meetings are required, managed via heavily tailored enterprise-grade UC&C solutions.
That’s all fair enough, but here’s the kicker.
The customers that banks deal with day-in and day-out still need consumer-grade applications. When your average consumer needs to update their mortgage options, they don’t want to log on to an enterprise-grade platform designed for internal comms. They want to jump on a Zoom call — an app that they already have installed and use regularly.
Suddenly you have two communication platforms which, on paper at least, appear to be delivering the exact same function. In reality, they provide totally separate and essential services for your brand.
Now, reading half of the thought leadership in the UC&C market today, you’d be excused for thinking that having multiple video platforms represents both a bad use of budget and a bad user experience. Of course, in the example above, the opposite is true. The end result of a multi-platform solution is a better experience for everyone — the business, its employees, and its customers.
The industry has become obsessed with simplification, but that shouldn’t always be our end goal. Efficiency isimportant, but not if it comes at the expense of effectiveness. The strive for a single, unified app for workplace communication risks pushing businesses in the wrong direction — particularly those working within specialist fields.
Business is complicated. Customers are complicated. People are complicated. There is no one size fits all solution to workplace communication. What we need now is intelligent, secure, tailored solutions; solutions that are focused on maximising business outcomes, minimising silos, improving interoperability and combining the best technology for the job. That means switching focus from finding the perfect app, to building the perfect workflow.
That’s it. That’s my argument in a nutshell. Now here’s the sales pitch. Kinly specialises in building those perfect workflows. Working with brands like Accenture, PWC, Shell, EDF and dozens more, we’ve created fully customised solutions that put effectiveness at the heart of workplace collaboration.
Want to know how we’ve done it? Check out our case studies to find out more.
