Communication: The key to success

1. Enable contemporary working methods.

Mobile and networked working is a development no company can avoid today. We check e-mails on the smartphone while traveling or naturally talk to colleagues via voice or video over IP. This requires modern means of communication. In digitalizing your working environment, we recommend making sure that all relevant data are provided on a secure (keyword: information protection) central platform, regardless of the device or operating system being used. Performance can be assured through scalable cloud solutions, offering benefits for economic growth and new locations among other things.

2. Does it always have to be new? Modernize your existing solid foundation.

Few companies are going to replace their old communication technology entirely. Get advice on how you can optimally integrate the new technologies into your existing business processes, at no added cost if possible, notwithstanding remaining lease terms or amortization (of the telephone system for example). Today's technologies permit the transparent integration of cloud services into existing IT infrastructures. Hybrid scenarios in particular ensure optimum support for the core business processes. Against this background, it is important to find a partner with a comprehensive understanding of both the cloud and on-premise worlds of IT.

3. Ensure correct licensing.

Especially in communication, the digital transformation raises a lot of new questions about software asset management. Introducing cloud PBX technologies can quickly lead to the impression that you are automatically licensed correctly at all times. Often however the perils and resulting unnecessary added costs lie in the details. Cloud services make the issue more complex, especially in hybrid scenarios. It is all the more important to have control, and to determine what solution fits which user, whether software will be standardized, and where you are paying for licenses or subscriptions with no productive use.

4. Ensure security and compliance.

Security and compliance play a permanent and important role in the age of the cloud. These partly new and additional challenges are generally very difficult for midsize enterprises to overcome with their own specialist resources. That is why the trend is to outsource ITC management to a service provider. The service provider manages the complexity of service orchestration for midsize enterprises. While communication applications are perceived as less critical compared to business applications, complexity and mutual dependence begins with the dovetailing of these applications. Here too, you need to be on the safe side. Choosing the "right" partner is crucial in this context. As a company, you need to allow sufficient time for this and question all critical points in detail: How will the service provider ensure that the compliance and security requirements are met? Do the stated methods fit your own business model? Examining the service provider's portfolio is also recommended in a networked world. Do they focus on just a few topics? Do these harmonize? NO? Then they may not be suitable to meet the requirements of a hybrid and dynamic, networked world, even if they have become a well-liked partner over the years.

5. Remember the people.

Acquiring the latest technologies is too costly if they waste away unused while the people in your company continue working as before. Often their meaning is questioned, or the employees are simply left to their own devices with the innovations. User training and active change management are essential to make users aware of new working methods. Generation conflicts are often underestimated. Ideally, representatives of various age groups are brought to the table to analyze and harmonize their needs. Only then does it make sense to consider what communication and collaboration tools are appropriate.