New Technologies Prompt Many Organizations to Re-examine Approach to Communications, CompTIA Research Finds

Emergence of cloud, mobility solutions opens doors to new tools

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Feb 26, 2014, 08:45 ET

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The rapid acceleration of modern technology – with cloud computing and mobility at the forefront – is prompting many organizations to re-examine their approach to communications, according to research from CompTIA, the non-profit association for the information technology (IT) industry.

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Data from the CompTIA study Trends in Workflow Automation and Communications shows that there is clear momentum towards considering cloud computing systems for real-time systems, such as voice and video.

"This is a definite change from early cloud adopters, who mostly shied away from these areas," said Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA. "Today, both virtualization and networking technology have improved to the point where it's feasible to conduct real-time communications over virtual or cloud systems."

The connection between mobility and communications in present, too, though somewhat surprisingly, in a less proactive approach for some companies. The majority of firms claims to be taking a proactive approach to mobility, but less than half are tying mobility decisions to a comprehensive communications strategy,

"If mobility is handled separately from communications, there's a much greater chance of extra work to integrate tools, as well as lower productivity from having multiple options and data silos," Robinson said. "Companies should ensure that mobility plans are in line with overall communications goals."

Among the 500 firms surveyed by CompTIA, top priorities for overall communications strategy include:

Reduce costs (61 percent of companies)
Improvement engagement with customers (59 percent)
Improve employee productivity (57 percent)
Improve collaboration ability (49 percent)
Improve business metrics (48 percent)

A challenge faced by a majority of organizations is relatively low usage of existing communications tools.

The good news is that low utilization is not a technical issue. For the most part, the communications tools that companies have invested in work as advertised.

The main reason for low utilization centers on the users of the tools; specifically, individual behaviors and preferences.

"Because workers are more accustomed to certain forms of communication, either in their professional or private lives, they may default to those tools even if other, more powerful and efficient options are available," said Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA.

The Trends in Workflow Automation and Communications study was conducted in two parts: an October 2013 online survey of 500 IT and business professionals in the United State involved in IT decision making; and a separate survey of 500 U.S. IT firms. This study is the latest example of how CompTIA re-invests resources into the IT channel to help IT businesses expand and grow. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members. Visit www.comptia.org or contact [email protected] for details.

CompTIA is the voice of the world's information technology (IT) industry. Visit http://www.comptia.org/home.aspx, http://www.facebook.com/CompTIA and https://twitter.com/comptia to learn more.

SOURCE CompTIA