Another Look at Unified Communications – Labor Force (Labor Day)

Business Speak

It’s Labor Day and I wanted to do a “labor” contribution as part of the holiday weekend.

I’ve used the summer to write about Unified Communications (UC) from a couple different viewpoints. I explored the concept that Managed Services Providers (MSP) should look at the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) as seeing the ocean (of opportunity through the day-to-day trees of IT infrastructure (read HERE). Then I followed with a piece on MSPs helping clients rejigger business operations by using UC as a tool to accommodate the burgeoning mobile workforce (read HERE). Finally I did a piece on catching your customers at mid-funnel with a robust UCaaS system (read HERE) and leading to robust conversion rates!

Today I want to further explore the modern office. And I’ll do it by drafting behind Regus, the worldwide co-worker, office sharing company. Years ago I started tracking Regus as it was leading the way on the mobile, co-worker movement. It has work lounges in over 1,500 locations and I’m a frequent visitor when I travel. Fast forward the movie and Regus has engaged with other parties on offers and incentives (see the deal with Concur here).

It got me thinking about UC and how it dovetails right into the modern office that the Regus paradigm has helped define. Regus is running an online advertising campaign right now that has a couple themes I’m going to co-opt.

Talent War. As companies compete for top talent in a tight labor market, the ability to attract rock stars necessitates the sprinkling of WOW into the mix. I contend a robust UC solution facilitates efficient workflow. Professionals just want to do their job and, since the audience we address concerns both MSPs and information workers, UC is a critical success factor.
Lonely. One way Regus attracts customers to its co-worker spaces is they play on the loneliness of working alone at home. It’s a compelling argument and can be extended to UC. The ten plus features of UC help mitigate the loneliness factor
Mobile Workforce. In my aforementioned “Recast with UCaaS” blog , I cited the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) study that said the workforce will have 75% mobile workers by 2020 (just under 18-months away). Regus contributed to this thinking. “Our parent company IWG reveals that 53% of professionals work remotely at least half of the week; Flexjobs takes a deeper look into the report. “ All of this research, in my eyes, bolsters the case for a rock solid UC system.

MSP Play
The above missive could be viewed as a customer-facing conversation. True that. The MSP play is very simple. Check out the SMB Nation UCaaS program (we’ve teamed with a major solution provider) HERE and explore how you can make money with UCaaS, delivering a UC solution to business customers capitalizing on the above talking points.

Happy Labor Day!

PS – Yes – you could easily use the UC solution we’re highlighting as a member of Regus!

Drafting behind Regus