Introduction
When internet-pioneer Ray Tomlinson sent the first email between two nearby ARAPNET-connected computers in 1971, he helped open a whole new world of possibilities. Since then, communications technologies have evolved and improved considerably.
Today, everyone benefits from the availability of myriad solutions allowing for real-time, high-quality voice chat, screen sharing, video conferencing, and file sharing via the internet. These communications apps have been hugely beneficial in the workplace, allowing coworkers to collaborate more effectively and helping geographically distant workers stay in touch anywhere there’s internet connectivity.
To find out how prevalent various communications solutions are in the workplace, how workplace communications are evolving both internally and externally, and which communications providers are most commonly used, Spiceworks surveyed more than 750 IT decision makers in businesses across North America and Europe.
Key Findings
- Two-thirds of organizations believe their communications solutions effectively meet their business demands.
- However, nearly a quarter of businesses report employees are overwhelmed by the number of communications solutions available to them.
- Despite the availability of IT-sanctioned communications apps, employees are using SMS text messaging for business communications in nearly 70% of businesses.
- With data security a top concern, a third of businesses have adopted secure communications platforms to enable encrypted messaging channels.
Business Communications Trends
Email platforms are ubiquitous in the workplace, but this asynchronous communication tool is far from perfect. Anyone who’s used email in a business setting knows what it’s like to have messages lost in crowded inboxes or get dropped from an email thread. Or maybe you’ve been caught in a frustrating, seemingly-never-ending “reply all” loop that inundates you with unwanted emails.
Additionally, spam and phishing emails still create major vulnerabilities in the workplace. Although email will continue to be one of the primary communications channels for the foreseeable future, many businesses also turning to more modern communications apps and solutions designed with security in mind.
Real-time business chat apps now commonplace
Certain workplace interactions make more sense using real-time chat platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams, which are inherently more conversational than email and often include built-in encryption. In fact, according to our survey, nearly a third (31%) of IT decision makers reported employees at their organization prefer to use business chat apps over email for internal communications.
This might explain why adoption is now widespread and will continue to grow. Currently, 82% of enterprises with more than 1,000 employees and 65% of SMBs use business chat apps. Growth is also expected to continue, with an additional 10% of all businesses considering adoption within the next two years.
According to a separate 2018 Spiceworks study on business chat apps in the workplace, Skype for Business is the most commonly used business chat app with 44% adoption, followed by Microsoft Teams (21%), Slack (15%), and Google Hangouts (11%). However, adoption of Teams is expected to double to 41% by the end of 2020, and recently Microsoft has transitioned many Skype for Business users to Teams.
The rise of secure communications platforms
In an age where data breaches often make headlines, the need to protect sensitive data should be clear, but not all organizations follow security best practices and use encryption to secure internal and external communications. However, many businesses are increasingly taking proactive steps to safeguard sensitive communications. In fact, a third of all businesses surveyed now use secure communications platforms, which provide encrypted messaging channels to protect sensitive information, often for legal or compliance reasons.
33% of businesses now use secure communications platforms to enable encrypted messaging channels
Among industries, healthcare organizations have the highest current adoption rate (60%) of these platforms, likely due to the sensitive nature of patient data and regulatory requirements.
Looking forward, an additional 12% of businesses are considering adopting secure communications platforms by 2021. Examples of these encrypted communications that often offer end-to-end encryption include Signal, Wickr, and WhatsApp Business.
Use of unencrypted SMS text messaging is pervasive
Despite increasing use of secure communications platforms, Spiceworks survey data also indicates 69% of businesses use unencrypted SMS text messages to communicate either internally among coworkers or externally with partners, clients, or customers. Additionally, 43% of survey respondents reported that in recent years, employees in their organization are more frequently sending SMS text via mobile phones to facilitate potentially sensitive internal business communications, which is especially concerning if employees use personal devices that fall outside of IT’s control.
Because text messaging is often used to stay in touch with friends and family, use of SMS for business purposes could also open the possibility of awkward situations arising from sending less-than-professional messages to the wrong person, or accidentally leaking sensitive business information.
Many employees overwhelmed by communications options
One reason employees are turning to text message could be due to an overabundance of workplace communications options. According to Spiceworks research, most businesses actively use three to four different communications solutions, between email, business chat apps, VoIP, video conferencing, and more. Additionally, 25% of businesses indicated they actively use five or more communications solutions.
This wealth of options each come with a learning curve, in addition to overlapping functionality between solutions — most allow for voice, video, and text-based communications — and even shadow IT if users want to stick to what they know, rather than use the approved apps. In fact, nearly a quarter (24%) of IT decision makers report employees in their organization are overwhelmed by the number of communications solutions available to them.
24% of businesses report their employees are overwhelmed by the number of communications solutions available to them
This communications confusion likely contributes to employees going rogue via unapproved communication channels they’re more familiar with, such as SMS text messaging.
Workplace Communications Today
Looking at the bigger picture, there’s a healthy mix of business communications solutions in use today. Across all company sizes, the vast majority of organizations use email and VoIP, while more than half use web conferencing tools, SMS text messaging, real-time business chat apps, and analog voice for internal and/or external communications. Although fewer organizations use secure communications platforms, more businesses will consider adopting them by 2021 than any other communications solution.
Because they have more employees to support (often split between multiple offices) and typically larger budgets compared to SMBs, it’s no surprise that enterprises are more likely to use a wider variety of communications solutions to meet the demands of their business. For example, 81% of enterprises use web conferencing apps compared to 75% of mid-size businesses and 57% of small businesses. Additionally, 30% of enterprises use unified communications solutions compared to 20% of mid-size companies and 23% of small businesses.
Internal vs. External Communications
When it comes to how often businesses use specific solutions, Spiceworks survey data indicates businesses still frequently use email and VoIP. In fact, more than 90% of businesses “frequently” use them for both internal and external communications. However, among other emerging communications solutions in the workplace, there are some important usage distinctions between internal vs. external communications.
For example, real-time business chat apps, often designed to help improve team collaboration, are primarily used internally. Among businesses using business chat apps, 69% frequently use them for internal communications compared to only 29% frequently using them for external communications.
We see a similar trend among organizations using potentially problematic SMS text messaging for business communications: 58% frequently use it as a means of internal communications, compared to 39% using it for external communications.
On the surface, use of web conferencing solutions appears to be evenly split between internal and external use among all businesses. However, because larger organizations are often spread out geographically, enterprises tend to use them for internal communications more often than SMBs. For example, 74% of enterprises that have adopted web conferencing solutions frequently use them for internal communications, compared to 50% of mid-size companies and 38% of small businesses.
Purchase Considerations for Communications Tools
To gain insights into how businesses make the decisions to purchase communications solutions, we set out to understand IT buyers’ most important consideration factors. According to our research, 77% of IT decision makers believe it’s critical for a communications tool to provide consistent reliability, making this the most important attribute.
77% of IT decision makers believe it’s critical for communications tools to provide consistent reliability
User friendliness and great value for money round out the three most important purchase consideration factors. Other important attributes IT buyers pay attention to include advanced security features, ease of integration, manageability, and customer support.
Of note, SMBs indicated they’re more price sensitive when evaluating communications solutions: 41% of small businesses and 38% of mid-size businesses said it’s critical for communications tools to offer great value for money, compared to only 24% of enterprises.
Web Conferencing Solutions
Web conferencing solutions enable real-time video and audio communications that allow organizations to hold group meetings online. Because they’re one of the most mostly commonly used communications solutions in the workplace, we’re taking a closer look at web conferencing solutions in the workplace. According to business adoption data from our survey, Cisco WebEx (37%), GoToMeeting by LogMeIn (37%), Zoom (21%), Join.me (13%), and Adobe Connect (6%) are the most commonly used web conferencing solutions in businesses today.
Breaking down usage by company size, Cisco WebEx is the top web conferencing provider in enterprises with 56% adoption. Enterprises are also more likely to use Zoom and Adobe Connect than their smaller counterparts. Conversely, the top choice among SMBs is GoToMeeting by LogMeIn, closely followed by Cisco WebEx.
Other smaller but still notable players in the space include BlueJeans, Lifesize, and Zoho Meeting, each with 3% adoption across businesses of all sizes.
It’s also worth noting that because of the overlap of audio, video, and real-time chat functionalities in many communications solutions, some organizations indicated they’re using business chat apps for their video conferencing purposes. In our survey, 53% of IT decision makers said their organization is using “other” solutions to meet their web conferencing needs, such as Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, and Google Hangouts. While these solutions aren’t purpose-built web conferencing tools, they do include a video component.
We also examined how satisfied users are with the top web conferencing solution providers. The results show the following brands earned the highest user satisfaction scores across the top five most important purchase consideration factors:
- Consistent reliability/stability: GoToMeeting and Zoom
- User friendliness: GoToMeeting
- Great value for money: Zoom
- Advanced security features: Cisco WebEx
- Ease of integration with existing services: Adobe Connect
However, no provider stands out when it comes to offering exceptional customer support. In fact, 28% of businesses reported having regular technical difficulties with their web conferencing solution. This represents an opportunity for providers to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Growth Opportunities for Communications Providers
Looking towards the future, the way companies communicate will continue to evolve. For example, in our State of Corporate Connectivity report, we discussed how the adoption of VoIP will continue to grow as businesses move away from legacy landlines. Additionally, while tried-and-true email isn’t going away anytime soon, adoption of video conferencing and messaging platforms will continue to grow as companies look for more interactive, real-time communications solutions. While 67% of organizations believe their communications solutions effectively meet the demands of their business, this still leaves room for improvement.
As business demands evolve, organizations will continue using a mix of different communications applications and providers, which could in turn lead to more confusion among end users in the workplace. This prevalence of multiple communications solutions indicates there isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all communications solution that meets all business needs today.
But as the lines between distinct communications apps continue to blur as tools evolve and add new functionalities, it’s likely these tools will converge and potentially consolidate going forward. In fact, 41% of IT decision makers reported their organization would prefer to use a provider that offers an all-encompassing suite of communications solutions instead of using multiple, piecemeal solutions.
41% of businesses would prefer to use a provider that offers an all-encompassing suite of communications solutions
This presents an opportunity for vendors that can offer a fully-featured communications suite that’s reliable and easy to use … all at a price that’s attractive to businesses of different sizes. And looking forward, communications vendors will also need to make security a top priority as more employees turn to unsanctioned and potentially risky communication channels and businesses realize the importance of deploying encrypted communications platforms.
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