Collaboration solutions for transforming your business

Summary

• Working from home requires companies to update their IT systems.

• Businesses need safe and secure cloud solutions for agility, continuity, and integration.

• Vodafone Business and RingCentral's new collaboration solution helps companies adapt to the new ways of working.

Moving your business to the cloud is essential

The world has just experienced one of the fastest work transformations in history – during the pandemic, companies sent people home en masse, leaning on technology to maintain some form of business as usual. What was once a perk is now the norm. It’s reported that in 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% follow a hybrid model.*

The global crisis fuelled a shift in where we work and how we collaborate. Now, after the pandemic, organisations are looking at what's next. This all led to an increased focus on agility, business continuity and integration, and a move to cloud-based services. Companies quickly learned that updating IT systems from in-house servers to cloud providers made it easier to manage them from afar.

According to a survey, 71% of remote workers say** that remote work helps balance their work and personal life which can be beneficial for productivity and business efficiency.

Many companies had to quickly react to changing working habits, and some are adopting these changes full-time. But what exactly does this long-term strategy entail?

A world of change 

The global crisis fuelled a shift in where and how we work and collaborate. As we cautiously edge further away from lockdown, organisations are looking at what’s next.

An example of a change yet to arrive is the UK’s 2027 shutdown of existing Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) networks, on which most businesses rely.

The PSTN is the traditional copper wire telephone system, originally set up for analogue voice communication. It’s been in place since the late 1800s and was revolutionary at the time. While it has been maintained and updated over the years, the technology underpinning it has essentially remained the same since its conception. It was once the most reliable method of making and receiving voice calls. But now it's old-fashioned, and too expensive to run.

In the 1980s, ISDN succeeded the analogue PSTN system. Now, new broadband technology has changed voice communications and removed the need for costly, outdated wiring in favour of complete digital functionality.

So, what can businesses do to prepare for a new era of work where collaboration and communication are not limited to fixed devices and locations? And what can they do to get ready for the switch-off?

Introducing Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral 

Vodafone Business UC is a highly secure solution that combines RingCentral’s state-of-the-art technology with Vodafone’s innovation and expertise in emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

Developed using RingCentral’s award-winning Message, Video and Phone™ (MVP™) platform, the joint solution enables businesses to transform the way they collaborate internally and externally and lets them move from legacy communications infrastructure to cloud connectivity. 

Companies can run Vodafone Business UC standalone or integrate it with various business applications, including Microsoft 365 and leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Helpdesk services. This means everything works in sync.