“Before then, respondents say it would have taken more than a year to implement the level of remote working that took place during the crisis,” said McKinsey researchers. “In actuality, it took an average of 11 days to implement a workable solution, and nearly all of the companies have stood up workable solutions within a few months.” And it’s not just management that is showing signs of approval. “Increased adoption of IT-provided messaging tools appears to have reduced at least some shadow IT,” said Spiceworks researchers. While 43 percent of businesses said employees frequently used personal mobile devices for internal communications in 2019, that figure dropped significantly to 38 percent in 2020. Getting the Message Among the most obvious changes in behavior is the increased use of web and video conferencing for both internal and external communications. Adoption of web conferencing apps was up by an additional 10 percent in 2020, according to Spiceworks findings, growing from 69 percent of businesses in 2019 to 79 percent in 2020. Adoption was greater among larger organizations, at 88 percent. Employees utilized web conferencing tools more often, as well, a long-time challenge among proponents of the technology. Adopters reported frequent use of web conferencing tools increased 7 percentage points for internal communications and 8 percentage points for external communications between 2019 and 2020. Use of web conferencing solutions appears to be closely split between internal and external usage. However, because larger organizations are often spread out geographically, enterprises tend to use them for internal communications more often than SMBs. For example, 68 percent of enterprises that have deployed web conferencing solutions use it frequently for internal communications, compared to six in 10 mid-size and just less than half of small business adopters. The growth in web conferencing was countered by a drop in adoption of analog voice technologies, which fell 7 percentage points when comparing Spiceworks 2020 findings to a similar 2019 survey, down to 45 percent. This drop came even though in-person meetings were severely limited. Incidentally, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 percent of organizations said end users regularly experienced technical difficulties with web conferencing solutions, which Spiceworks analysts suppose cloud be the result of inadequate bandwidth when relying on residential internet connections. In general, more than a quarter of respondents said employees in their organization were overwhelmed by the number of communications solutions available to them, suggesting the need for partners serving in advisory roles. The somewhat rapid rise of business chat also greatly accelerated in 2020. As of June 2020, 81 percent of businesses were using business chat apps, a jump from 67 percent a year earlier. Business chat app adopters reporting frequent use went up about 10 percentage points between 2019 and 2020. “Previous estimates from our 2019 study,” said Spiceworks, “were for 77 percent adoption of apps like Slack and Teams by the end of 2021, and we already blew past that figure in mid-2020.” All the while, three months into the COVID-19 crisis, 37 percent of IT decision-makers reported employees in their organization preferring to use business chat apps over email for internal communications — up from 31 percent in 2019. 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Biggest Changes Among Business Adopters Frequently Using Communications Medium Between 2019 and 2010 Source: Spiceworks Web Conferencing (Internal) Web Conferencing (External) Business Chat Apps (Internal) Business Chat Apps (External) SMS Text Message (External) 2019 2020 Executive mindsets on technology’s strategic importance have changed radically during the crisis. Percentage of Business Ad pters u ing Communica ions Tech Frenquently (Internal vs. External, Among Organization Using Them in 2020) Organization’s current strat gic posture toward technology, % of respondents, 2020 Source: Spicew rks Intern l External Email VoIP Web Conferencing Apps Text Message (SMS) Business Chat Apps (Stacks, Terms) Analog Velos Secure Cummunications Platforms Unified communications Primarity a source of savings Modernizing c re technology capabilities (i.e. to keep up with competitors) Investing more in technology to make it a competitive advantage Refocusing the entire business around digital technologies Don’t know 30 19 3 10 38 49% 56% 51% 59% 69% 79% 30% 41% 39% 46% 96% 96% 85% 85% 56% 59% 60% 79% 41% 62% 68% 51% 46% 68% 60% 46% Cyber Attacks Partners’ Customers Were Victims of in 2020 Phishing 69% Malware/Virus 54% Ransomware 47% Data Breaches 16% None 15 Cryptojacking 14% DDoS 12% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Source: Untangle Biggest Changes Among Business Adopters Frequently Using Communications Medium Between 2019 and 2010 Source: Spiceworks Web Conferencing (Internal) Web Conferencing (External) Business Chat Apps (Internal) Business Chat Apps (External) SMS Text Message (External) 2019 2020 Percentage of Business Adopters using Com ications Tech Frenquently (Internal vs. External, Among Organization Using Them in 2020) Source: Spiceworks Internal External Email VoIP Web Conferencing Apps Text Message (SMS) Business Chat Apps (Stacks, Terms) Analog Velos Secure Cummunications Platforms Unified communications 29% 29% 29% 49% 56% 51% 59% 69% 79% 30% 41% 39% 46% 96% 96% 85% 85% 56% 59% 60% 79% 41% 62% 68% 51% 46% 68% 60% 46% 20 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK
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