In V12’s Covid-19 Business Impact Survey* (May 2020) we looked at the collaborative communications platforms companies were using before lockdown, and about which ones would be used over the longer term.

We found that the majority of respondents used more than one collaborative communication tool. Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Slack were the most popular, with 13% using a bespoke Unified Comms solution. Under 5% used an in-house solution.

0%
Under 5% used an inhouse platform
0%
Zoom was new to 58% of organisations
0%
of the companies expect to keep Microsoft Teams after the lockdown
0%
of companies are planning to implement a unified comms solution

Whilst Zoom was new to 58% of the organisations we polled, Microsoft Teams is the technology that most companies (65%) expect to keep using going forward to communicate and collaborate. There have been some well-publicised security issues with Zoom, but this has not deterred the majority of respondents from using it.

Going forward, 16% are planning to implement a Unified Comms solution, which could include Microsoft Teams with Direct Routing. This is a flexible solution for companies needing powerful disaster recovery capabilities as well as enhanced security. At lockdown, organisations using Teams with Direct Routing, could immediately add team members to their system and carry on without interruption.

Slack was new to 14% of the respondents we polled, with 25% saying that they would use Slack through the lockdown period, but only 23% expecting that to continue long term.

12 months ago, we would have expected to see Skype for Business as one of the primary forms of communication, however with this no longer being supported by Microsoft, it hardly registers in our survey.

Zoom has experienced explosive growth in the past quarter, and while this collaboration communications platform has increased in popularity, it isn’t the most widely used service for the workplace.

Things to consider are the collaboration features. Many have a free version so you can try before you buy. Do you want to be able to manage projects, share files, have the ability for instant messaging and video calling? Do they have great customer support? All of this must be taken into consideration.

This survey is for UK mid-market enterprises, a global survey might see more usage for Cisco Webex and GoToMeeting.

*Survey commissioned by V12 and conducted by Larato, May 2020.