INTERMEDIA’S 2018 WORKPLACE COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

How Technology is Redefining the Workplace, Workday, and Workforce

New research from Intermedia looks at how companies can utilize technology to foster a more collaborative, productive, and accessible workplace, all while helping to attract and retain top talent.

With millennials now making up the largest generation in the U.S. labor force and the gig economy estimated to grow to 43% by 2020, the definitions of both “workplace” and “workday” are shifting.

What does this evolution mean for businesses today? To find out, Intermedia surveyed 1,000+ U.S. knowledge workers about their preferred tools for sharing information, as well as where, how, and when they choose to work.

How Technology is Redefining the Workplace, Workday, and Workforce

THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS A NUMBER OF KEY FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS, INCLUDING:

How advancements in technology have altered employee expectations

What technologies are moving from “nice-to-haves” to “need-to-haves”

The impact tools have on helping (or hindering) work/life balance

Ways organizational leaders are doing things differently from others at work

Mobile work applications are redefining “office hours”

As a result of the continued proliferation and rapid adoption of mobile applications, employees are constantly on-the-go and getting work done outside of the office.
Mobility no longer means access to just email and mobile phone service – it now includes everything from chat, to video conferencing, to file sharing, to project management.

agree that mobile applications give them peace of mind on where their work projects stand

feel work apps allow them to be more efficient

OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS
believe that adding work applications to their mobile phone has made them more productive in their job

OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS
download applications to their phone for work purposes

Mobile applications have changed the way workers approach their commute

Instead of waiting to get into the office, workers are now leveraging their commutes as another opportunity to get work done:

of respondents begin their workday (e.g., checking emails, taking calls, etc.) on their commutes before reaching the office

Of this group:

say working during their commute helps get the day started on the right foot

work during their commute to be more efficient with their time in the office

say the work completed on commutes allows them to spend less time in the office

of organizational leaders highlight the value of utilizing time spent in-transit

Workers are trying to find the right balance

OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
limit the number of work applications they have on their mobile phones to avoid becoming overwhelmed, highlighting the value employees place on work/life balance even in an increasingly connected world

Mobility tech is influencing employee attraction and retention

Technology that enables greater mobility is now becoming a big consideration when potential employees accept job offers. In fact, the following percentages of survey respondents say they would not take a position if a company didn't offer communications tools such as:

MOBILE PHONE

VIDEO CONFERENCING

INSTANT MESSAGING

Video conferencing is becoming more common

OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS USE IT DAILY

OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS PREFER VIDEO CONFERENCING TO:

LANDLINE PHONE

MOBILE PHONE

Video conferencing also plays a critical role in helping companies and their employees save travel time and money

When considering their experiences over the last three years:

OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS
say their work travel has been reduced due to expanded video conferencing capabilities

OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
say they always prefer using video conferencing over work travel

Email still reigns as a high-value communication and collaboration tool

While tools like chat and video conferencing have become more prevalent, email isn't going away.

of respondents agree that email is the primary mode of communication within their organization

consider email to be part of their organization's unified communications toolset

Because email is still such a critical part of how businesses operate, it's important that organizations provide solutions that fully integrate email and file sharing with tools like video and web conferencing, voice solutions, chat and mobile applications. Effective communication and collaboration serves as the backbone of business success. By creating a more seamless experience, companies not only improve productivity, but also become more agile and are able to better adapt to changing employee expectations and needs.

IRINA SHAMKOVA,
SVP OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, INTERMEDIA

Virtual assistants and voice-activated tools are coming to the office

Just as personal assistant apps and voice-activated tools have entered our personal lives, it won’t be long until they become the norm in our work lives

knowledge workers say voice-activated virtual assistants would be helpful in a work setting for efforts such as:

calendar updates and voice prompts for calendar reminders

taking notes based on conversations

transcribing voice prompts into text to be sent in emails

OF MILLENNIALS
indicate that it would be helpful to launch video and voice meetings via voice-activated technology

As technology continues to advance and facilitate the future of work, it’s time for organizations to recognize the future of employee expectations as well. From mobile applications to video conferencing to email and voice assistance, employees want technology that works for them, not the other way around. Organizations that create a work environment that leverages the unified communications technologies that employees want to help them all work together seamlessly will be the ones that succeed in their digital transformation. As a result of removing location restrictions, companies can also experience a direct positive impact on their ability to recruit, hire, and retain top talent.

COSTIN TUCULESCU,
VP OF COLLABORATION PRODUCT, INTERMEDIA

Meeting expectations

Ultimately, our report shows that companies need to reexamine the way that their business is conducted to help ensure that the technology tools they put in place foster a more collaborative, productive, and accessible workplace, while helping to attract and retain an ever-evolving workforce. Companies that meet the changing expectations of their employees – their most important assets – will be the ones that will continue to thrive in the coming years.

Interested in learning more?

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¹For the purpose of this survey, organizational leaders are defined as respondents who communicated their title as being Vice President/Senior Vice President or C-level executive.

About Intermedia

Intermedia is a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and business cloud email provider hyper-focused on delivering easy-to-use and secure communication and collaboration solutions to SMBs and the partners that serve them. Intermedia’s broad yet tightly integrated suite of cloud applications is managed through one intuitive point of control, and is backed by J.D. Power-certified support and a 99.999% uptime service level agreement. Offerings include cloud voice, web/video/content sharing and conferencing, file backup, sync and share, business email, identity and access management, security, archiving, and more.

Survey Methodology

This study was commissioned by Intermedia and delivered by Branded Research Inc., an independent market research organization. Branded Research has an active proprietary panel of over 3 billion respondents, which is routinely validated with a stringent screening process including Verity^® and RelevantID by Imperium^®. Results were derived from a 17-minute online survey instrument with 51 total questions, fielded April 4-9, 2018 for a total of 1,040 responses. Setup questions were used to ensure that only U.S. knowledge workers were in the sample, which was defined as those who routinely work in an office environment. Overall margin of error of +/- 3% at a 95% confidence interval.

All trademarks, registered trademarks, service marks, trade names and product names appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

INTERMEDIA’S 2018 WORKPLACE COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

How Technology is Redefining the Workplace, Workday, and Workforce

New research from Intermedia looks at how companies can utilize technology to foster a more collaborative, productive, and accessible workplace, all while helping to attract and retain top talent.

THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS A NUMBER OF KEY FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS, INCLUDING:

Mobile work applications are redefining “office hours”