Whilst the pros have been battling it out in Rio, we turn our attention to participants of the 2016 Cloud Office Games. In this series of highly competitive events, all sorts of businesses are vying to take the gold in their communications ability.
Below is a rundown of the key challenges behind these Games and what it takes to come out on top.
TELEPHONE TENNIS: 55% of customers expect to reach the right person first time when they call a business.
Today’s consumers have a limited tolerance for making multiple attempts to ring up a company to speak to someone. Getting passed from pillar to post in transfer or given multiple numbers to try can really start to test patience. The Telephone Tennis event is won by those that strike back straight away and respond to customer calls in the most effective way. Mobility is often the answer in this event. With a mobile phone integrated into the business phone system, work calls can be received anywhere. There’s no need to stay stuck in the office or confuse customers by handing out multiple numbers.
WORK-LIFE WRESTLING: 64% of employees who work flexibly have enhanced job satisfaction and work-life balance.
Unfortunately, there are still so many losing out in the Work-Life Wrestling. To redress the balance, the sensible thing to do is lessen the need to stay stuck at the office. Cloud communications tools can play a large part in this, as they enable essential business tools to be accessed wherever there is an Internet connection. Far greater harmony is achievable when you can manage work on your own terms.
MATURATION MARATHON: The average lifespan of an on-premise phone server is 8.5 years.
That’s a lifetime when you consider the pace of today’s technological updates. In the Maturation Marathon event, the winners are those that use technology that supports them in the long run and not a system that just suits the here and now. It’s more than just a case of staying updated, it’s also important the system is able to scale instantly in line with company growth. A cloud phone system will only get better with time.
WIRELESS WEIGHTLIFTING: By 2020, it is predicted we will all be competing in a cloud first world.
The days of requiring cumbersome and expensive communications equipment on-site are becoming numbered. The Wireless Weightlifting competition hinges on the ability to achieve the maximum technological advances with as few resources as possible. This is where the cloud comes to the forefront. Whereas on-site equipment will become more expensive to upgrade with new innovations, the cloud is always developing and evolving to best serve business needs.
FAILSAFE FENCING: 90% of businesses that experience a data disaster are out of business within a year.
However, our Failsafe Fencer understands the risks of cyber crime and the business impact of servers going down. They are able to protect themselves with a fully secure cloud PBX that instantly switches location to maintain a constant service should anything happen in one data centre.
AUTOMATION ARCHERY: 79% of businesses consider integration of voice capabilities with other business apps critical.
The winner of the Automation Archery contest demonstrates an ability to hit productivity targets by integrating their phone system with a whole host of other business tools such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Office365. They are even able to build their own custom integrations into other tools. No more unnecessary to and fro between different platforms.
SYNCHRONISED RINGING: 79% of businesses still operate their communications with multiple disparate tools.
The Synchronised Ringing event is all about how in tune colleagues are with one another. With everyone using the same collaboration tools across one system, teams can work in sync with each other by switching seamlessly between phone calls, audio conferencing, video conferencing and instant messaging.
RELIABILITY RINGS: Lack of resources and expertise is cited amongst IT managers as the largest concern with cloud applications.
In the Reliability Rings event, those that underestimate the importance of training and support are likely to get themselves in a bit of a muddle. Although cloud systems are often designed to be simple, understanding and implementing best practice can make all the difference to effective working and customer service.
PROFESSIONALISM POLEVAULT: 55% of businesses require responses to queries within 3 hours.
The winner of Professionalism Polevault has managed to setup an auto-receptionist with call forwarding to ensure they are always at their most responsive, wherever they happen to be. Plus with missed call notifications and access to voicemail on any device, they can really raise the bar on their company’s customer service.
In our fast-paced and ultra-competitive world, companies lose out on opportunities if they provide anything less than the gold standard in quality of service and responsiveness. The good news is, with the right cloud-based tools, it doesn’t take much to ensure communications are always in tip-top shape.
Originally published Aug 25, 2016, updated Mar 09, 2021
