Welcome back! This is the final post of my four-part series on the future of communications for manufacturers. If you’re just joining the series, here’s a recap: Part One reviews research on the communications channels that companies consider most important going forward; Part Two uncovers the communications analytics that companies are using to support their future plans; and Part Three demonstrates the speed of AI adoption with business communications. In this final discussion, we’ll look at research showing how the buying process for communications has changed.

Why does this topic matter? No surprise—as 8x8 is a cloud communications provider, understanding the buyer is one of our favorite topics. Humor aside, the hypothesis is that if a company has changed its buying process, this may indicate that it is treating the topic of communications and its importance for delivering organisational resilience differently now than before the pandemic. If the buying process is changing to consider the broader enterprise architecture instead of individual components (e.g., not treating business phones, video meetings, chat, and contact centre as discrete projects), and more stakeholders are being included as part of the project, then real change is happening.

What did we find out? So glad you asked.

  • 75% of companies identified that their IT department has a strong influence over purchasing decisions around all communication platforms. Other departments show some influence over these decisions, such as Customer Service/Account Management, but only about one-third of companies highlight any other department as having influence over the purchase.
    • C-Suite executives, department directors, and presidents/CEOs are the company stakeholders with the final decision-making authority when purchasing any communication solutions.
    • Three-quarters of companies also find that the entire purchase process does not take them longer than six months.
  • External consultants are viewed by 75% of companies as being very influential in the purchase process of all communications solutions.
  • And a bonus point: what they are buying is shifting from Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) to Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS).

IT leads the buying process for a cloud communications platform

Lets dive into the details behind each of these three topics, starting with who leads today’s projects for buying just UCaaS vs just buying CCaaS vs buying a platform with both UCaaS and CCaaS. Interestingly, there’s not much difference, except for one key point: why they purchased. Across the board, increasing productivity is the primary motivation—not improving customer satisfaction or enhancing the customer experience. Additionally, and this reasoning is familiar to us as we’ve all just lived through it, enabling remote work is a primary motivation when buying a communications platform.

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That said, stories can get lost in the averages. Turns out, if we look just one layer lower, there’s a story in these details. The mix of departments involved with buying a platform are actually quite different than when buying only UCaaS or CCaaS. Although IT remains the project lead, when it comes to buying a communications platform, companies change which departments participate in the evaluation and final decision.

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For example, I would have never predicted that Human Resources would be such a strong influencer when buying a communications platform, but it makes sense now that I think about it. Establishing hybrid/remote working environments is essentially an HR topic. Enabling remote working is a key motivation for purchasing a communications platform. Hence, HR is actively involved in the evaluation and selection of the appropriate solution. Honestly, did you think HR would be ranked so high?

So, is there a difference when it comes to who is the economic buyer for communication capabilities? Not really. Leadership is maintaining about the same level of interest regardless of which communications capabilities are being purchased.

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So far, we can conclude that the mix of departments varies depending on which communications capabilities are being purchased, but the final economic execution stays the same

Next we checked to see if there are differences in how fast decisions are made. Turns out, the decision-making is happening at the same pace regardless of which communication capabilities are being purchased. Note, though, that it’s a blistering overall pace with 75% of companies making their decision, from start to finish, within six months.

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Just a quick aside regarding pace. It’s becoming a key competitive advantage. Those companies making decisions quickly, accelerating their responsiveness with customers and rapidly iterating on products and processes, are creating more economic value than their competitors. For example, McKinsey research finds that “Fast organizations outperform others by a wide margin on a range of outcomes, including profitability, operational resilience, organizational health and growth.”

“Fast organizations outperform others by a wide margin on a range of outcomes, including profitability, operational resilience, organizational health and growth.”

-McKinsey

Speed and complexity require outside expertise

It can be unnerving to move from treating communications as discrete projects to planning and deploying them from an enterprise architecture perspective at a highly accelerated pace. To aid with the evaluation and decision-making process, organisations are looking to outside experts for help.

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What is interesting is that the scope of communications capability being purchased doesn’t matter; the degree of outside support stays about the same: 75% of organisations leverage outside help in the form of partners and consultants when evaluating new communications capabilities. The inherent risk with this approach is the assumption that the outside support has both the latest technological expertise and an in-depth understanding of your industry. I’ve used “your industry” and not “your business” on purpose. How other companies and even other industries are doing things is an important perspective to avoid doing more of the same. A partner that brings an understanding of your industry and other industries, in addition to the latest relevant technology, will provide you with insights that push beyond the status quo.

Shifting the emphasis for communications investments

One definition of inertia is “a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.” It’s a powerful force that tends to limit the speed of change in organisations. You know it’s present in your company when you hear phrases like “we’ve always done it this way.” Organisational reactions to the pandemic demonstrated that when a fire is lit under the right part of our bodies, inertia is quickly replaced with action. That action has led to a shift in investment focus to prepare for the future. With the fundamentals in place, companies are moving to contact centre capabilities to empower staff with tools that enhance their ability to deliver new customer experiences.

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Although it seems like an obvious evolution, when it comes to evaluating the need for contact centre capabilities, there are roles in the organisation that are often overlooked. For example, the IT help desk and HR benefits teams would welcome the ability to manage call queues or see real-time dashboards for call hold times, calls in the queue, and abandonment rates. As you evaluate possible modern communications experiences, look for platforms that can enable this type of composed experience across your organisation.

Wrapping it all up

Regarding the buying process for modernising communications going forward, IT will continue to lead communications projects, but they may begin to involve different areas of the company depending on the scope of the project. Additionally, IT project leaders will continue to involve outside experts to support the evaluation and purchase decision process. And finally, companies will place a stronger emphasis on contact centre capabilities to further empower staff with the tools they need to deliver new customer experiences.

Taking all four parts of this series into consideration, there does appear to be a significant shift in how companies are characterising the role of communications. Evidence of change can be seen in an increasing number of communication channels, the use of analytics to better manage hybrid environments, an explosive rate of AI adoption, and subtle changes in the evaluation and buying process. Underpinning these changes are the advantages of moving to a communications platform to enable organisational speed and agility.

Well, that’s it for this series. Hopefully you found it informative and a useful resource as you plan what’s next for communications in your organisation. There’s a lot more information from this research that I would be happy to share with you. If you would like to discuss it further, I can be reached on LinkedIn or please feel free to schedule a call.