Most companies still don’t have a handle on workplace collaboration security, even as threats increase

As I get ready for my upcoming session at Enterprise Connect 2023 on unified communications and collaboration (UCC) security, I have some sad news to report. In Metrigy’s latest Workplace Collaboration: 2023-24 global study of 440 organizations we found that just 37.0% of participants say their company has implemented a proactive workplace collaboration security strategy that covers both real-time, and non-real time apps and services. That’s little changed from the last time we gathered security data in early 2020.

On the positive side, 18.0% say they have a security strategy under development, and 12.3% say they are evaluating creating one. Still, that means more than 30% of companies still have no overall strategy for UCC security and instead often rely on patchwork approaches managed by separate teams.

Security remains challenging for remote employees. Of our participant pool, 34.0% say that they continue to face issues in ensuring both security of remote employee devices and applications, while also ensuring that remote employees do not become an attack vector through their connections into enterprise networks.

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Eric Krapf, Enterprise Connect GM and program co-chair, talks about what to expect at this year’s event, from the mainstage to the expo floor.

Hear from this enterprise IT leader as he shares his insights into the trends shaping communications and collaboration going forward. We discuss vendor strategies, the role of video engagement, how to avoid meeting fatigue, conversational AI, and more.

Enterprise communications has undergone a profound transformation over the last several years as video meetings have largely replaced conference calls and as many organizations have moved from on-premises private branch exchanges, or PBXs, to unified communications as a service, or UCaaS. However, on-premises calling platforms and self-managed PSTN connectivity still play an important, if not a growing role, in the enterprise communications and collaboration landscape.

UCaaS isn’t always the answer

The use of on-premises calling platforms has largely remained unchanged over the last year, according to Metrigy’s “Workplace Collaboration: 2023-24” global study of 440 organizations. Nearly 32% of participants use them for their calling needs. Of those still on premises, just over 25% plan to move to the cloud in the next few years. Why are these companies bucking the UCaaS trend? It’s largely due to costs.

A company running a fully depreciated and paid-for on-premises calling platform may not want to incur additional costs for licenses for UCaaS, even if doing so may reduce operational time and costs. Other factors also come into play, including 36% of organizations who view their on-premises platforms as more reliable than cloud services — some of which only guarantee four-nines availability.

Additionally, some companies prefer to maintain control of the security of their calling platforms and to more easily integrate on-premises calling applications with contact center and other business apps. Some companies also prefer a private-hosted platform, which offers many of the benefits of on premises coupled with the ability to outsource day-to-day management and switch to subscription pricing.

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Enterprise continue to face E911 compliance challenges with mobility poised to introduce new concerns

For the last five or so years at Enterprise Connect I’ve had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion on the topic of Enterprise 911, or E911 for short. Each year, after the session, we ask ourselves if we’ve run out of things to talk about. And each year, the answer is a resounding “no”. Judging by the recent posts here on NoJitter, including “The Funding Needed to Upgrade Our Public Safety Infrastructure Just Went Away” by Martha Buyer, “911 Is Getting a Lot Smarter. Here Are Several Things You Need to Know” by Martha and Mark Fletcher and “The Basics: Enterprise E911 vs NG911” by Melinda Sensabaugh, E911 topics are still top of mind for enterprise IT leaders, vendors, and consultants.

The challenges of implementing and maintaining a compliant, and manageable E911 strategy are reflected in Metrigy’s latest Workplace Collaboration study of 440 organizations, approximately 65% of which have operations in the United States. Among this group we found some surprising results. Today, just 62.7% of participants believe that they are fully compliant with the dispatchable location transmission requirement in RAY BAUM’s Act, and the direct dial to a 911 emergency call center with notification requirements in Kari’s Law. Of those organizations which have not yet achieved compliance, 100% say they will be Kari’s Law compliant by the end of 2024, and almost 87% say they will be RAY BAUM’s Act compliant in the same timeframe. While it’s nice to see that the vast majority of companies are heading toward compliance, anything short of 100% creates potential legal and civil risk.

As we’ve noted in our past sessions, and as others have written about, defining “compliance” remains a challenge. The laws provide compliant requirement dates for installation of new multi-line telephone systems, but many companies read that requirement to say that their older phone systems are somehow exempt from compliance.

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The era of hybrid work has ushered in new opportunities and challenges for employee engagement. In this MetriSight we’re joined by Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst, to discuss the key findings from our latest study on workplace collaboration and communications.

Roxanne Bisby Davis, senior director for people research and intelligence at Cisco, discusses the company’s data-driven, research-based approach to keeping people in the spotlight and maximizing employee experience.

Ross Williams, chief product officer at Virsae, and Metrigy’s Robin Gareiss discuss how today’s management platforms can help improve the quality of customer interactions, and talk about what’s to come with AI, self-service, and more.

There are a handful of stories in the unified communication and collaboration space that stand out in 2022, with Microsoft Teams’ expanded calling capabilities being front and center. It’s a story that starts in 2021 and picked up momentum in mid-2022.

Microsoft Teams has become a leader in the unified communications as a service (UCaaS) market but success with voice has never been at its core compared to most other providers. However, the demand for Microsoft Teams calling is high. The launch of Microsoft Operator Connect towards the end of 2021promised easier implementation of calling with Microsoft Teams. The cost and complexity of Microsoft Teams direct routing solution had previously put PSTN calling out of reach for many businesses, so Operator Connect had the potential to give Microsoft Teams users an easier path to PSTN-enabled voice connections.

The reality ended up being much harder than promised with Operator Connect and its SIP trunking partners. By summer 2022, Microsoft had launched the Operator Connect Accelerator Program, providing network operators with a turnkey solution to bring calling services to Microsoft Teams. The Accelerator program provides a suite of capabilities, including managed SBC as a service, API bridging to the Operator Connect APIs, integration into OSS/BSS platforms, and network as a service into the Microsoft Teams cloud. Vendors benefiting from the program include Audiocodes, NuWave, Ribbon, Sippio and Microsoft’s own Azure for Operators (formerly Metaswitch). And then there a number of UCaaS providers including RingCentral, 8×8, and Vonage that are taking advantage of the challenges around Microsoft Teams calling by aggressively marketing their own direct routing services coupled with their voice solutions.

Another story that shaped the UCaaS landscape this past year: While operators continue to be successful with voice trunking, they continue to see demand for UCaaS services but many are choosing not to manage and maintain their own platforms. Instead, there are more operators opting for partnerships. Notably, Lumen partnered with Alianza for its own branded UCaaS service, Lumen Cloud Communications, in April.

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