As the workplace continues to evolve, the communication tools and technologies used and preferred by employees are also changing. As businesses work towards improving workplace collaboration in an evolving remote work environment, more modern technologies are being adopted. B2B marketers have a great opportunity to connect in a more relevant way with businesses using or planning to adopt modern communications technologies.
We recently surveyed 1,000+ IT decision makers in businesses across North America and Europe to reveal Workplace Communications Trends in 2022 and Beyond. For example, we found that members of the buying collective are overloaded with communications from multiple channels – making messaging, timing, and channel important aspects to consider. The following key takeaways for B2B marketers give insights into how workplace communications preferences and adoption are evolving:
1. Connect with in-market prospects based on how they prefer to communicate
Our research found that email, while ubiquitous, is gradually losing relevance over time. For internal communications, employees in 51% of organizations now prefer real-time messaging apps (e.g., Teams, Slack) over email, compared to only 31% from the same survey run in 2019. If prospects are spending less time in email apps, vendors should make efforts to optimize email campaigns – for example, using intent data more effectively to target the right prospects when they’re actively in-market to buy.
2. Know which business communications tools are popular and leverage their interactive features
With the state of remote work shifting, tools that allow for more natural communication between remote workers (e.g., chat, video conferencing, collaboration solutions) are commonplace. To connect more meaningfully with buyers and improve engagement, sales and marketing professionals can leverage and optimize for these new interactive, communication channels.
3. Understand tech adoption plans to identify high opportunity areas
- Enterprises are looking for unified communications solutions – Organizations currently use many tools and vendors for video conferencing, instant messaging, email, and VoIP solutions. Many organizations now have a desire to consolidate tools by using all-in-one communications solutions – which is a great opportunity for vendors. Nearly one-third (31%) of businesses now use unified communications solutions, up from 22% in 2019. Affirming continued growth in the future, 51% of IT professionals reported that their organization prefers to work with vendors that offer an “all-encompassing suite of communications solutions.”
- Enterprises are adopting more secure communications platforms – Findings from our State of IT Report reveal that 44% of organizations cited security concerns as a reason for increasing IT budgets in 2022. Organizations are currently looking to make workplace communications tools more secure by strengthening encryption. More than a third (39%) of businesses now use secure communications platforms, up from 32% in 2019.
The biggest opportunity for vendors is connecting with large enterprises (500+ employees) as they are more likely to adopt modern communications technologies in the future. For instance, high level findings from our research indicate that 39% of large enterprises already use unified communications solutions, and an additional 37% of enterprises plan to start using them within the next two years. A majority of businesses of all sizes are now utilizing advanced workplace communications technologies to ensure seamless communication, foster collaboration, maintain productivity, and improve security. Over the next two years, the focus will be on partnering with vendors offering more secure communication technology and/or an all-encompassing solution to simplify and consolidate communications tools.
To learn more about technology adoption plans and the evolution of workplace communications solutions, read the complete report.