PGi Blog Resources for UCaaS and Global Collaboration for Business Clients
“Millennials in the workplace” started out as a topic of discussion almost a decade ago, as employers began to recognize that those born in the early 1980s to the mid-1990s had a significantly different approach to work than the typical Baby Boomer and Generation X employees.
The differences in the generations had a lot to do with how Millennials were raised. Their focus on teamwork began in school, encouraged by teachers who emphasized group dynamics in which students were able to work better together to achieve a goal. Technology in general, and the Internet in particular supported their group interactions with an always-on and constantly connected environment.
Today, Millennials are not the topic of discussion – they are guiding the conversation and making the decisions – still influenced by the very important concepts of teamwork and anytime, anywhere connectivity. This is why Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a perfect match for today’s workforce.
By its very nature, Unified Communications is designed to foster better communication and collaboration throughout the workday—and that spans many different types of communication (voice, video, text, instant messaging, and screen sharing) that millennials want for interacting with colleagues and clients. Putting this functionality in the cloud provides even more opportunities for employees to share ideas and information while giving them the flexibility to work where and when they want.
What’s Attractive About UCaaS to Millennials
Built-in Mobility: UCasS lets Millennials share information and collaborate with coworkers while giving them the flexibility to IM/chat over their lunch break, in the car, or video conference from their home offices.
BYOD:With UCaaS, companies can provide a single, converged IT solution free of hardware constraints and device limitations. Bring your own device (BYOD) provides convenience for employees, so they only have to manage one device, and saves companies from investing in, protecting and updating devices.
Instant Response: UC features like chat and presence, which display the availability of each employee on all devices, eliminates unproductive time spent waiting for a response to an email or voicemail. Employees on calls with customers or in meetings can seek assistance from their colleagues in seconds.
CRM Access:Employees interacting with customers and prospects save valuable time by eliminating the need to manually create records of each call placed and employers have more accurate and complete analytics on all employees’ interactions with customers.
Easier Telecommuting: Millennials are among some of the most likely workers to telecommute. Working remotely can be an isolating experience, but UCaaS connectivity mitigates that isolation by ensures that remote workers will be able to access the same high-quality services they’d use in the office.
Short and Quick Communications: Raised with ubiquitous smartphone texting, millennials prefer short and consistent real-time communications over long emails or time-consuming phone calls. UCaaS can enable SMS and IM solutions to adhere to this preference.
As Millennials comprise more and more of the workforce (by 2025, 75% of the workforce will be Millennials), the conversation is shifting away from “how can we work better with Millennials” to “how can we make sure the entire workforce is engaged and productive – no matter when they were born.”
Choosing UCaaS is a great start to a beautiful relationship with all employees.
