Mitel Survey Reveals Motives for Migrating to Cloud Phone Systems

Maximising availability is a key factor. Seventy-seven percent of UCaaS adoption is based on prioritising a single requirement with strong attention given in the survey to maximising availability. Other potential benefits, such as the ability to integrate with existing business applications such as CRM tools, are also being considered. The survey revealed that business currently migrating to the cloud are technical in approach and also are focusing on choosing an opex spending model.

Enhanced IT security is driving adoption. Security remains a question for businesses considering cloud deployments and is often flagged across enterprises as a key blocker. Mitel’s survey reports that this trend exists in SMBs too. The good news is that UCaaS security has proved itself as the technology has matured. As platforms prove their security credentials, businesses are increasingly confident in using cloud to modernise their IT and communications. Almost a third of companies in the survey have started to virtualise their ICT.

Innovation is a driver. Innovation is a key factor in improved user and customer experience. Mitel’s survey identified that European companies associate cloud technology with innovation. Generally, companies looking for innovation place a lower priority on price and the need to outperform the competition often outweighs budgets constraints. The survey also reports that the technology requested most includes classic functions such as presence, instant messaging and video.

The need for specialised support. Sixty-two percent of companies that responded to the survey said that they want to work with a cloud specialist in the sector and establish a meaningful working relationship. It is clear that while working with multiple vendors is important to the selection and deployment of communications, businesses do prefer to work with a single partner for effective management.

Remote and flexible working. Forty-one percent of the companies had nomadic workers and 14% use distance working. These figures show a strong evolution toward the new working models expected by the employee of today.