2015 Trends to Watch: Enterprise Collaboration and Productivity

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1 2015 Trends to Watch: Enterprise Collaboration and Productivity Adopting next-generation mobility, collaboration, and productivity tools for an empowered workforce Publication Date: 01 Dec 2014 Product code: IT Richard Edwards

2 Summary Catalyst Digitization has resulted in more than a decade of business, process, and technological change, and now corporate executives and chief information officers are turning their attention to the workforce and the digital workplace as the era of the deskbound, tethered employee comes to an end. This Trends to Watch report outlines the changes that are shaping the future of work, highlighting the trends that will have an impact on the way that work gets done in 2015 and beyond. Ovum view Ovum s global survey of 6,500 IT leaders presents some valuable insights into the primary business challenges, IT investment areas, and priorities for From the CIO s perspective, the central challenges are to continue improving customer/citizen satisfaction, comply with security demands, and align IT with the organization s overall goals. Each of these challenges has a human element at its core, and with it the intent to regain control of the end-user computing environment. Aligning IT with business goals will also lead to IT exerting more influence within the business, especially in relation to the business technology decisions that are reshaping industries and markets. The business challenge of complying with industry and regulatory security demands has been exacerbated by the proliferation of employee-owned devices and the general trend of IT consumerization. Somewhat perversely, this situation has arisen, at least in part, as a result of the draconian security measures that IT departments have applied to the corporate desktop computer as they struggle to make the traditional Windows PC "fit for purpose." The consumer and business worlds are moving on. Alternative, viable, end-user computing platforms and device form factors now exist. This has forced the PC industry and Microsoft in particular to re-think the genre, and in 2015 we will see a second attempt to make Windows once again "fit-for-purpose." From an end-user computing perspective, this and other changes mean that organizations need to re-think device and application strategies, together with the productivity tools and communication & collaboration solutions that sit on top of the modern, mobile-first, cloud-first, technology stack. Key messages The era of the tethered employee is coming to an end. Business challenges with human relationships at their core are driving collaboration strategies and investments within the enterprise. File sync and share, integrated business collaboration platforms, and enterprise social networking solutions will be the focus for IT investments in IBM, Google, and Microsoft may be front-of-mind when it comes to communication and collaboration technology, but they re not the only players in town Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 2

3 Recommendations Recommendations for enterprises The era of the tethered employee is coming to an end, and an increasing percentage of the workforce is now able to work independently of time and location. Those that are not in this position are seeking increased levels of flexible working, which realistically will only be realized through investment in modern communication and collaboration facilities. Enterprises should look for common communication and collaboration requirements when re-engineering internal and external human-centric business processes. These facilities should accommodate various device endpoints and be designed with the mobile, non-technical user in mind. Enterprises should assess the extent to which consumer-oriented communication and collaboration tools are being used across the business and then find ways to flip these into the managed IT environment. Start with file sync and share tools, as business content must be well managed for compliance, business continuity, and business efficacy reasons. To uncover new ways of working, enterprises should look beyond incumbent suppliers when considering next-generation communication and collaboration solutions. Hybrid deployment options on-premise and cloud are a necessity for large enterprises, so consider complementary offerings rather than trying to find one size/architecture that fits all. Recommendations for vendors The ICT requirements of businesses and institutions are infinitely variable, as are the opportunities for innovative suppliers that possess appropriate market knowledge, technology expertise, and a customer-adaptive approach. However, replicating that which already exists on-premise with a cloud-based version is unlikely to bring about real business transformation opportunities, so vendors should consider how to deliver additional value over the top of commodity offerings and popular services. Vendors should examine more closely the business challenges highlighted by Ovum s survey data, as undoubtedly there are recurring patterns and themes that can be addressed with a repeatable solution. File sync and share vendors should integrate their products with a broader range of enterprise social networking solutions (and vice versa) if they want to compete with the business collaboration suites being offered by Microsoft, IBM, and Google. "Microsoft's most strategic API is Office 365," says Microsoft s CEO. Ovum agrees. Developers and independent software vendors should assess the opportunities afforded by the new Office 365 APIs for mail, calendar, and contacts, the new mobile SDKs for native app development, and the new Office 365 app launcher Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 3

4 Business trends and technology enablers Trends to watch in enterprise collaboration and employee productivity Table 1: Business trends and technology enablers driving market change in 2015 Monitor the business environment Create the technology portfolio Select solutions and services Manage deployment outcomes Expectations are changing across all constituencies: customer, employee, partner, and investor. New devices, tools, and software services are appearing on a regular basis with the promise of increasing productivity at a lower cost. Businesses and institutions must invest in their digital workplace technologies in order to compete, survive, and thrive. Enterprise collaboration technologies enable the workforce to scale achieving an overall impact that is greater than the sum of its parts. Adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to communication, collaboration, and productivity tools will not result in an optimized workforce, so IT and business managers should look more closely at the specific needs of the employee rather than their pay grade. There are significant and measurable differences among vendor products and solutions within the enterprise collaboration, communication, and productivity markets. Enterprises should assess and evaluate offerings rather than adopt the "market leader," as a failure to do so will result in less than optimum deployment. There is a slow but steady shift to cloud-based solutions in the mid-market, but the constraints of large enterprises point to hybrid deployments. Adopting a hybrid approach presents a different kind of challenge to the IT department, requiring close attention to shifting business patterns and reconfigurations. IT departments should also pay particular attention to change management practices, as updates and changes to cloud and hybrid deployments are no longer under the complete control of the business. Source: Ovum The era of the tethered employee is coming to an end An increasing percentage of the workforce is able to work independently of time and location Organizations continue to experience skills shortages, and this is compounded by customers wanting their services to be delivered in new ways and 24x7. Employment studies show that employees are working longer hours yet producing relatively less. Ovum is not alone in its belief that part of the problem is linked to poor motivation and engagement of the workforce. Work-life balance is one of the many factors influencing employee engagement. A growing percentage of the workforce wants to work more flexibly, but the culture of "presenteeism" that exists within most organizations prevents this, with these organizations focusing on presence rather than productivity. Enabled by modern communication and collaboration products, most "knowledge work" today can be done, in whole or in part, independently of time and location, but other roles can benefit from 2014 Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 4

5 increased levels of flexibility when combined with new ways of working and modern mobile communication and collaboration tools. Britain s Equality and Human Rights Commission worked with employers that are leading the way on work transformation to produce a model to illustrate the nature of different work roles (see Figure 1). Using this model, organizations can consider how best to deploy communication and collaboration technologies to increase flexible working in roles that are deemed time and location dependent. Against this backdrop of workforce flexibility, 2015 will see more organizations contemplating flexible working. This will be enabled by more appropriate and cost-effective technologies, changes in working practices, and the reshaping of corporate cultures. Figure 1: Job roles and their dependency on location and time Source: Equality and Human Rights Commission Employees entering the workforce in 2015 will have different expectations than previous generations The graduate workforce entering the workplace in 2015 will have very different expectations than their counterparts just a decade ago. The consumerization of IT has been fuelled by increased choice within the consumer devices market, increased competition within the mobile telecoms industry, and enhanced capabilities from cloud-based providers of freemium productivity and collaboration services. This has introduced cutting-edge technology to more individuals, especially college and school leavers who have a propensity to try new things and engage proactively in social activities powered by cloud services. "Bring your own device" (BYOD) has been a major trend over the last two to three years, but 2015 will see this subside as organizations in established economies re-establish tighter levels of control over the primary end-user computing environment. Corporately owned, personally enabled (COPE) device strategies will become the norm, and this will drive a gradual return to a more actively governed communication and collaboration environment, albeit one that exhibits a range of flexibility Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 5

6 Most established communication and collaboration vendors have completed their initial transition to the cloud-first/mobile-first world, and are able to offer their customers a range of deployment options and transition strategies. Enterprises will consider these options in earnest in 2015 as they re-evaluate their collaboration strategies in the mobile-first/cloud-first era. We are not yet masters of our own information and communication technologies New devices, new form factors, and ever-changing vendor solution sets are clear and visible signs of the exponential technology curve that is propelling the world of business and commerce. This increasing differential in technology change is increasing the spread in adoption. While some individuals are able to keep up with the pace of change, both in terms of technology access and technology usage, others are not. The technology-ambivalent employee is unlikely to self-educate when new products and solutions are introduced to the workplace, so organizations must rethink their training plans and staff development programs. The value of the employee is amplified when they are able to work well with technology, but with little or no time in the working day to learn new skills, organizations are considering how communication and collaboration tools might be used to provide out-of-hours training and coaching. Education establishments have been using online meeting tools and social networks to extend the school day and increase learning opportunities, and 2015 will see this start to catch on in the enterprise. Business challenges with human relationships at their core are driving enterprise collaboration Business leaders need to find new ways to connect and communicate with employees and customers The primary business challenges for 2015 center on improving customer/citizen satisfaction, complying with security demands, and aligning IT with the organization s overall goals. Each of these challenges has a human element at its core. Business leaders need to find new ways to connect and communicate with the workforce and the customer base spamming these constituencies with , or publishing newsletters that are never read, is the not the way to go. It is still early days, but enterprise social networks are starting to prove their worth in some organizations, especially those with forward-looking corporate cultures and a customer-adaptive approach. Such platforms enable business leaders and customer teams to communicate and collaborate more effectively with those that matter, when it matters the most. These platforms also offer an opportunity to increase employee engagement, which itself is a key factor in increasing customer satisfaction. Organizations need to update their end-user computing and communication & collaboration strategies The business challenge of complying with industry and regulatory security demands has been exacerbated by the proliferation of employee-owned devices and the general trend of IT 2014 Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 6

7 consumerization. Somewhat perversely, this situation has arisen as a result of the draconian security measures that IT departments have applied to the corporate desktop computer as they struggle to make the traditional Windows PC "fit for purpose" in a world that has moved on to other computing platforms. From the employee perspective that is someone trying to get the job done as effectively and efficiently as possible there clearly needs to be a rethink of the end-user computing environment together with the communication and collaboration solutions that sit on top of the technology stack. Managing enterprise risk, security, and compliance is the primary IT trend cited by CIOs in Ovum s global ICT survey, and this is reflected in the spending plans of many organizations. Looking at communication and collaboration investment plans over the next 18 months, enterprise file sync and share comes top of the list for many organizations as IT departments try to regain control and security of enterprise content in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. Enterprise file sync & share, collaboration, and social networking are focus for IT investment Integrated collaboration platforms deliver the new digital workspace The enterprise communication and collaboration landscape is going through a period of profound change as vendor solutions emerge to reflect the transformations that are taking place in consumer and business-user computing environments. Mobile devices, first smartphones and now tablet computers, are replacing the Windows PC in the home and in the workplace as the primary screen for web access, , instant messaging, audio conferencing, video conferencing, online meetings, and of course general application usage. Mobile apps will increase in sophistication in 2015, especially for tablet computers, which offer plentiful compute, battery, and screen resources. Every enterprise employee is first and foremost a consumer, and the habits established away from the workplace are now becoming highly prominent within it. As a result, 2015 will be the year when IT managers try to reassert control over the communication and collaboration tools used by the workforce, especially when used in a mobile context. However, dictating which tools an employee should use to get the job done is easier said than done, and is unlikely to succeed unless the organization can offer the workforce a compelling, truly useful and well integrated digital workspace. Office 365, Google Apps for Work, and IBM Connections Cloud are just some of the offerings enterprises are considering as cloud alternatives to on-premise products, but there s still a long way to go before these cloud offerings match their data center counterparts from an IT management perspective. Small and medium-sized businesses will increase their uptake of cloud offerings in 2015, but more work is required to increase their overall appeal to systems administrators and enterprise architects. The enterprise file sync and share market will be a major area for IT investment in 2015 As can be seen in Figure 2, 2015 will see significant investment in file sync and share products, integrated business collaboration platforms, and enterprise social networking solutions. Together, 2014 Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 7

8 these priorities reflect the desire of enterprises to update or completely replace the traditional corporate intranet, with its PC-centric design and LAN-oriented connectivity model. The new investments described above fully accommodate the traditional computing model of desktop and laptop computers, while modern collaboration solutions natively support the new "norm" of mobile-first, cloud-connected, cross-platform, socially aware applications. Figure 2: Enterprise collaboration investment plans through 2015 Source: Ovum ICT Enterprise Insights The consumer file sync and share market is dominated by Google, Dropbox, Apple, and Microsoft. So too is the enterprise market, with 89% of employees that use this technology at work also using these products. Enterprise-focused commercial products, such as Box, EMC Syncplicity, and Citrix ShareFile, will continue to grow their user base during 2015, but according to Ovum s global employee survey, only 9% of file sync and share users are able to get the job done using a single commercial product. This presents a challenging scenario for IT management, as some of the products being used by end users are available as commercial offerings, but these might not align with business and/or industry compliance requirements. Microsoft s deal with Dropbox to add this popular cloud repository to the "places" that Microsoft s mobile Office apps can save/retrieve data is an important first step in opening up these important productivity apps to other cloud services. The move will strengthen Microsoft s position in the productivity applications market, where it has been under attack from Google and Apple. However, 2014 Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 8

9 there is no doubting Microsoft s intentions: it wants businesses and consumers to subscribe to Office 365 in at least some shape or form. The Ovum Decision Matrix for Enterprise File Sync and Share examines 19 vendors, and highlights the intense competition within this market as vendors seek to find new ways to provide business value. The vendors offering hybrid capabilities (both cloud and on-premise storage locations) will be favored by large enterprises, but more important for users is the ability to access all of their document collaboration and storage locations through a single interface. Vendor departures and acquisitions will undoubtedly take place in 2015, with those remaining focusing on user experience and information security management. Information rights management will return to the agenda during 2015 as vendors introduce workable and manageable solutions. Pure-play enterprise social networking solutions cement their place in the enterprise collaboration market Jive Software, a leader in the enterprise collaboration market, announced that it will target the mid-market during 2015 a sign that very large organizations have now either selected an enterprise social network product or do not regard it to be a strategic investment. In October, the vendor announced a more sophisticated partner program in an attempt to broaden the reach and range of its offering beyond its existing 1,000 or so customers. Cisco s decision to partner with Jive will lead to a closer relationship in 2015, but success will depend on Cisco s ability to command serious attention in the broader enterprise collaboration market. Yammer is now a key part of the Office 365 family, but its assimilation appears to have become bogged-down since the acquisition, with few visible signs of integration. After a long delay, Ovum expects Office Online integration with Yammer to appear in early 2015, followed by Microsoft s next-generation search and discovery technology Delve. Communications technology has advanced more rapidly in the consumer space than in the workplace Figure 2 shows that desktop video and voice conferencing/calling are still on the IT investment radar for many organizations. Despite third-party gateways and solutions, interoperability continues to be an issue within the video conferencing arena. Vendors have been saying that "this is going to be the year of video conferencing" for several years, yet their understandable interest in maintaining and growing their own market share, rather than solving the interoperability issues, does appear to be hampering broad adoption in the enterprise market. In the consumer market, Skype usage has grown with the introduction of smartphone, tablet, and console endpoints. The popularity of the ipad within the enterprise introduced the idea of ad hoc video meetings to more employees, thanks to FaceTime, but with no official announcement from Apple relating to a version for Windows, the product shows no real sign of crossing the consumer divide. Google Hangouts has similarly found favor with certain groups of users, especially those that have switched to a web-centric work style. Microsoft s decision to rebrand Lync as Skype for Business may turn out to be a non-event, but Microsoft is clearly expecting this change to strengthen its share of this important market Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 9

10 IBM, Google, and Microsoft front-of-mind for collaboration, but not the only players in town The enterprise communication and collaboration market continues to attract new entrants and re-entrants IBM, Google, and Microsoft are clearly front of mind when it comes to brand recognition in the enterprise collaboration market (see Figure 3), but so too are Cisco, Citrix, VMware, and a host of telecoms companies. And although they have single-digit shares, Jive Software, Box, and Dropbox also register on this list. However, what this chart doesn t display is the long tail of the enterprise collaboration market. Vendors are targeting offerings in every nook-and-cranny of this broad market category, and 2015 will see more newcomers, each with a novel industry approach or product feature capability. The horizontal market cannot possibly support more than a handful of vendors in each major category, so a number of vendors in 2015 will need to target discrete industry verticals and niche business requirements. Figure 3: Prominent vendors in the communication and collaboration market Source: Ovum ICT Enterprise Insights The combination of Cisco, Box, and Jive Software presents a compelling proposition for organizations that have invested in the best-of-breed solutions offered by these vendors. Cisco has developed 2014 Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 10

11 deep, separate relationships with Box and Jive during 2014, and in 2015 Ovum expects these to bear fruit as new offerings are brought to market that combine home-grown capability with recent acquisitions and established open APIs. Organizations evaluating enterprise social networking, enterprise file sync and share, and realtime collaboration will be able to assess the business value provided by these three vendors collectively as the three-way relationship matures. Citrix and VMware will need to redouble their efforts in 2015 if they are to grow their share of the collaboration market in any substantial way. Both vendors have strong core businesses, and the mobile-first world offers them a chance to diversify into adjacent areas as organizations investigate and invest in new digital workspaces. IBM, Google, and Microsoft IBM s tenacity has enabled it to hold on to a number of large enterprise accounts and even win some new ones. The vendor is delivering new offerings and updates on a regular basis to this appreciative and discerning community, and is building new bridges with partners as it does so. The company s social collaboration suite, IBM Connections, is now a cloud-first, mobile-first offering, and the vendor is intent on building market share by providing enterprises with a real alternative to Office 365 and Google Apps for Work. Not content with offering a best-in-class collaboration platform, 2015 will see IBM challenge preconceptions with the introduction of a new product, which has a radically redesigned front-end while maintaining a constant back-end. Google is determined to grow its share of the enterprise market, but its impact is still felt mostly in the small and medium-sized business market (and of course the consumer market). This isn t to deny Google its successes and some notable wins with large accounts, but the company will have to put more "skin in the game" if it is to achieve its targets in Organizations seeking to extend the reach and range of their collaboration infrastructure are attracted to Google Apps for Work and its pricing model, but the company needs to find a way to bring some elements of its collaboration platform into the data center to meet political and practical enterprise requirements, especially in the area of file storage and content management. Google is an innovative company, so every year sees something new. Ovum suspects 2015 will be no different, with the conferencing and online meetings market the mostly likely focus of its attentions. Microsoft s domination of the productivity and collaboration market may have been tested by Google, Apple, and others, but the vendor s position remains solid. Lync and Skype are holding strong in business and consumer realtime collaboration markets, with the former being rebranded as "Skype for Business" to denote function commonality while signposting a distinction in purpose. Microsoft OneDrive, the vendor s consumer file sync and share offering, is used by approximately 20% of employees in the workplace almost double that of OneDrive for Business, the file sync and share element of Office 365/SharePoint Online. Microsoft appears to be slowly unifying OneDrive and OneDrive for Business from an endpoint perspective, and Ovum believes this trend will continue in 2015 as Microsoft readies the next version of Office for desktops, smartphones, and tablet computers. Despite slow progress in terms of integration with Office 365, Yammer continues to be popular with businesses that are eager to add a social collaborative element to their working environments. If Microsoft delivers on its roadmap, then 2015 will see the harmonization of group collaboration across Office 2015 as it attempts to unify the underlying model Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 11

12 Appendix Further reading 2015 Trends to Watch: Enterprise Mobility, IT (November 2014) 2015 ICT Enterprise Insights on Information Management, IT (November 2014) 2015 ICT Enterprise Insights on Enterprise Collaboration, IT (November 2014) 2015 Trends to Watch: Unified Communications, EI (October 2014) 2015 Trends to Watch: Enterprise Content Management, IT (September 2014) Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting an Enterprise File Sync and Share Product, IT (August 2014) Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting an Enterprise Social Networking Product, IT (January 2014) Author Richard Edwards, Principal Research Analyst, Ovum Ovum Consulting We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Copyright notice and disclaimer The contents of this product are protected by international copyright laws, database rights and other intellectual property rights. The owner of these rights is Informa Telecoms and Media Limited, our affiliates or other third party licensors. All product and company names and logos contained within or appearing on this product are the trademarks, service marks or trading names of their respective owners, including Informa Telecoms and Media Limited. This product may not be copied, reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of Informa Telecoms and Media Limited. Whilst reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the information and content of this product was correct as at the date of first publication, neither Informa Telecoms and Media Limited nor any person engaged or employed by Informa Telecoms and Media Limited accepts any liability for any errors, omissions or other inaccuracies. Readers should independently verify any facts and figures as no liability can be accepted in this regard readers assume full responsibility and risk accordingly for their use of such information and content. Any views and/or opinions expressed in this product by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Informa Telecoms and Media Limited Ovum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Page 12

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