Unified Communications and Collaboration User Adoption and Training Study - 2021

Executive Summary

Unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions offer an increasing number of features and benefits for end users and organizations – but adoption and effective usage of these tools and technologies are required to reap those benefits.

With the support of Platinum Sponsor Vonage and Gold Sponsor Zoom, BCStrategies conducted a survey of both end users and implementors, those that are responsible for deploying UC&C in their organizations. The intent was to understand what is being done in terms of training and what methods are driving effective adoption.

The results of this study highlight what organizations can do to optimize usage and adoption to deliver optimal returns on technology investments.

Survey Methodology

An online survey was sent to hundreds of organizations, based on mailing lists from Vonage, the study’s Platinum sponsor, Zoom, and BCStrategies. In addition to Vonage and Zoom, survey participants represented a range of UC&C platforms including Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya, 8x8, Nextiva, AT&T, Comcast, Mitel, Verizon, and others. Participants were primarily in the U.S. but represented several other countries as well.

The survey targeted two types of individuals – members of the UC implementation team, which includes IT professionals (53% of survey respondents), and end users (47% of respondents), with different questions addressed to each group. While the majority of organizations responding represent small- and medium-sized businesses with under 1000 employees, several respondents’ organizations are large enterprises with over 5,000 employees.

About the Study Authors

Kevin Kieller

Kevin and his team at EnableUC help organizations select, successfully implement and use analytics to drive adoption and deliver positive business outcomes for leading collaboration, communication and cloud technologies. He helps vendors better understand the market, position their product, and make the most of the Microsoft ecosystem. Kevin is a globally recognized Unified Communications, Collaboration and technology thought-leader, strategist, implementation leader and software developer. He is a proud to be a member of the elite BCStrategies Expert group, the No Jitter (nojitter.com) technical analyst team and is the author of the "Taming Teams", "Turbocharging Teams" and “Office Origami” recurring columns. He presents regularly at Enterprise Connect and keynotes many other webinars focused on technology effectiveness.

Blair Pleasant

Blair Pleasant is President & Principal Analyst of COMMfusion LLC and a co-founder of BCStrategies. As a communications industry analyst, she provides strategic consulting services and market analysis on business communication applications, technologies, and markets, aimed at helping end-user and vendor clients both strategically and tactically. Her primary areas of focus are Unified Communications and Collaboration, contact center and customer engagement. Blair provides clients with a variety of custom consulting services, including market analysis, surveys and research, white papers, product assessment, competitive analysis, strategic development, vendor analysis, marketing and product positioning,