olive.co.uk Technology Trends 2015 An Olive Communications report into which approaches are proven, which are safe for early adoption, and which should be planned with care. This report is a peer-to-peer exchange of the views, experiences and plans of IT teams drawn from large UK private sector businesses. It is designed to help inform the big decisions IT leaders need to make about what to include in their 2015 strategy.
1 Executive summary The main learning from this research is that emerging technologies, in the words of the IT executive respondents, have proved less risky than expected. In fact the reverse is true. The average satisfaction levels of early adopters, and the return on investment (ROI) these emerging technologies are delivering, actually exceed that of better established, more proven, trends. Specifically: - Fixed Mobile Convergence is delighting early adopters: Of all the emerging technologies, the increasingly popular practice of unifying mobile and fixed line contracts (Fixed Mobile Convergence FMC) is of particular interest. Although still experiencing fairly low adoption levels, it has seen particularly high levels of satisfaction amongst early adopters, and high levels of ROI. This would explain why 2015 is clearly going to be a big year for this trend. - CYOD is beating BYOD for satisfaction: The competing Bring Your Own Device and Choose Your Own Device models are both proving increasingly popular as a tactic to speed up the widespread deployment of smartphones across large businesses. In fact a majority of large businesses will have implemented one or other by the end of 2015. Interestingly, CYOD seems to be delivering significantly higher levels of satisfaction and adoption is gaining pace, whereas BYOD is proving less satisfactory and adoption seems to be slowing down. - Cloud deployments are on the rise but on-premise telephony upgrades are dragging on despite poor experiences: It is no huge surprise that more businesses are still upgrading their onpremise telephony systems rather than move telephony into the cloud. However, there is a stark difference in satisfaction levels between those adopting these two opposing approaches: there is a substantial 25% satisfaction premium from those who have moved their telephony to the cloud.
2 Who took part? This research (carried out independently by Inbox Insight in Nov/Dec 2014) was deliberately highly focused, targeting IT executives within large (500+ employee) UK private sector organisations. The breakdown of respondents is as follows: IT Leaders IT Managers IT Team Members 21% 51% 28% 10% 10,000+ Job roles of respondents 40% 500-999 5,000-9,999 47% 1,000-4,999 The industry sectors of respondents 17% 15% 1 12% 10% 10% 5% 5% 4% 4% 5% Financial Services Hospitality & Leisure Engineering, Construction & Manufacturing Professional & Business Services IT & Telecoms Transport & Logistics Education & Training Healthcare Utilities Retail Other The company size of respondents
3 Technology Adoption Levels 2012-2014 & Priorities for 2015 The graph opposite shows the proportion of respondents that have implemented the technologies we are focusing on in this report. When the lighted shaded areas are similar in size or bigger than the deeper shaded areas you can assume that this technology approach is still growing in popularity. This is because it is in the early stages of maturing, or becoming established for the first time. During the period between 2013 and 2015 smartphone adoption is significant this graph shows that we are in the midst of a smartphone revolution, with these devices becoming a must-have device for employees of large organisations. ESTABLISHED MATURING EMERGING Introduced Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) Moved an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Unified mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introduced Cloud based email productivity applications Introduced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introduced other collaboration tools Introduced videoconferencing via the desktop Enhanced an existing on-premise telephony system Introduced industry-specific software application Widespread introduction of smartphones Implemented in past 2 years In progress Planned for 2015 7% 10% 16% 16% 2% 2% 26% 28% 2 24% 30% 2% 14% 8% 40% 1 8% 17% 1 16% 16% 17% 17% 12% 1 The graph opposite demonstrates this:
Adoption Levels & Priorities Implemented in past 2 years In progress Planned for 2015 Introduced Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) 10% 2% 8% ESTABLISHED MATURING EMERGING Moved an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Unified mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introduced Cloud based email productivity applications Introduced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introduced other collaboration tools Introduced videoconferencing via the desktop Enhanced an existing on-premise telephony system Introduced industry-specific software application Widespread introduction of smartphones 7% 2% 16% 16% 26% 28% 2 24% 30% 2% 14% 40% 1 8% 17% 1 16% 16% 17% 17% 12% 1
4 BYOD vs. CYOD This has led to two different tactics to encourage adoption: Bring Your Own Device (where employees own a device/contract for personal and business use) and Choose Your Own Device (the employee chooses a single device for personal and business use, but the business owns the device/contract). Notably, a majority of large businesses will have implemented one or the other approach by the end of 2015, and where CYOD seems to be speeding up and delivering high levels of satisfaction, BYOD is proving less satisfactory and adoption seems to be slowing down.
5 What s next? In terms of what s next? other exciting developments where future adoption is similar or higher than past adoption are: 1. Unifying mobile and fixed line contracts: This is particularly interesting because it has seen a great deal of satisfaction amongst early adopters. 2. Moving telephony and email productivity applications into the cloud: The cloud has been a hot topic in the media for some time now and it is great to see it finally moving off the trade press pages and into enterprise deployment in these two key areas. It is probably no surprise that email and productivity applications are moving into the cloud faster than telephony, but it is worth noting that over the same period, substantially more businesses are still upgrading their on-premise telephony systems, negating a move into the cloud. Possible explanations for this are sunk investments and financial investments in existing systems, giving firms less room for manoeuvre. However, there is a stark difference in satisfaction levels between those adopting these two opposing approaches. As the next section outlines, there is a 25% satisfaction premium from those who have moved their telephony to the cloud, over upgrading an on-premise system. The early adopters of cloud appear to be realising financial and operation gains from this new deployment model.
6 Which technology approaches would respondents recommend to their peers? The graph on the following page shows how likely respondents would be to recommend specific technologies. We filtered these results to give us just the views from those who had actually implemented the technology. As you can see, hindsight is a powerful thing, and the recommendations of those with experience vary tremendously from one decision to another:
Recommended Approaches Introduced Cloud based email productivity applications 52% ESTABLISHED MATURING EMERGING Moved an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Unified mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introduced Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) Introduced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introduced other collaboration tools Introduced videoconferencing via the desktop Enhanced an existing on-premise telephony system Introduced industry-specific software application Widespread introduction of smartphones 32% 57% 50% 5 45% 55% 6 67% 67%
7 Which technology approaches delivered a return on investment? In the words of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): The CIO can and must add value, or IT will be seen as a problem instead of a recognised strength. With this in mind we asked Which are delivering a net ROI? and we defined this as those that are delivering, or probably will deliver an improvement in productivity or performance worth more than the investment. The graph on the following page shows the proportion of those who have adopted each, and also ticks the ROI box. 100%, for example, would mean all those who have adopted it agree it adds value in excess of the investment so well worth considering. It is no surprise that this graph bears a resemblance to the graph about recommendation, but it s not quite the same. Clearly the more value it adds, the stronger the recommendation, but that is not the only factor the pain associated with implementation and the benefits felt across the business were also major factors. Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is still the front runner of the emerging technologies here, and the best performing of the mobile communications options.
Which Approaches have delivered ROI? Moved an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud 4 EMERGING Introduced Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) Introduced Cloud based email productivity applications 44% 45% Unified mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) 61% MATURING Introduced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introduced other collaboration tools Introduced videoconferencing via the desktop 42% 48% 64% ESTABLISHED Widespread introduction of smartphones Enhanced an existing on-premise telephony system Introduced industry-specific software application 42% 48% 52%
8 How much do IT leaders truly embrace new technology approaches? In large organisations, like those we surveyed, IT departments are large enough to offer career paths through multiple layers of management. Ultimately it is up to the departments most senior leaders, the CIOs and IT Directors of this world, to make the big decisions but do their direct reports support them? In the survey we asked people whether they were the most senior member of the department, and if not, how many levels of management down. What was striking was that the support for some emerging technologies varied tremendously between the levels of management. - The IT Leaders seem to be, in general, the strongest advocates of many emerging themes. Examples here include the widespread introduction of smartphones (which more junior colleagues are surprisingly less in favour of), videoconferencing and cloud-based email productivity applications. ESTABLISHED EMERGING - IT Managers appear to be a rather cautious bunch and there are no areas where they are dramatically more in favour of an emerging theme than IT leaders. - IT Team Members are similarly cautious but seem to be the strongest supporters of CYOD. Clearly they want a device for both business and personal use, but can see the value of the business owning it more than their senior counterparts. MATURING IT Leader IT Manager IT Team Members Introducing Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) Moving an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Unifying mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introducing Cloud based email productivity applications Enhancing an existing on-premise telephony system Introduing industry-specific software application Widespread introduction of smartphones Introducing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introducing other collaboration tools Introducing videoconferencing via the desktop
Seniority vs. Appetite for new technology IT Leader IT Manager IT Team Members Introducing Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) ESTABLISHED EMERGING Moving an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Unifying mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introducing Cloud based email productivity applications Enhancing an existing on-premise telephony system Introduing industry-specific software application Widespread introduction of smartphones MATURING Introducing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Introducing other collaboration tools Introducing videoconferencing via the desktop
9 The 2015 technology approach adoption quadrant A consumer, when buying products online, will often look at buyer ratings. The two key variables are: 1) How popular is the product? Sometimes having a lot of reviews is reassuring, but it could also indicate that the product has been around for some time and is therefore not the latest version. 2) How satisfied were previous buyers? Clearly the average satisfaction score, whether stars or a score out of 5.0, is hard to ignore. We have therefore applied a similar principle here, but as a quadrant rather than star system. All the options explored in this research have been laid out on one graph (see following page), with the two axis being the two metrics above. Of note is how the three categories used in all the graphs have bunched together, with the emerging technologies in the top left quadrant. They have all generally outperformed the maturing and established technologies in terms of satisfaction. In fact, the technologies least likely to deliver satisfaction are the maturing technologies. This would indicate that 2015 is a good time to be an early adopter.
The Technology Adoption Matrix - likelihood of recommendation vs. popularity Safe to adopt early Introducing Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) Unifying mobile and fixed line contracts/ systems (Fixed Mobile Convergance) Introducing video conferencing at the desktop Proven Moving an existing on-premise telephony system to the cloud Introducing BYOD and device management Widespread introduction of smartphones Introducing Cloud based email productivity applications Introducing other collaboration tools Introducing industry-specific software application Enhancing an existing on-premise telephony system Too soon to adopt Tread with care
10 Next Steps? All businesses will have unique legacy systems, culture, needs and strategy. However, if you are in the process of deciding your priorities, why not learn from the experiences of your peers? We appreciate that deciding whether these approaches to technology and telecoms are right for your business isn t necessarily straightforward. So if you have any questions about the findings or about how Olive could help you move forward, please email dan.roche@olive.co.uk or call on 0203 675 3300. Dan Roche Marketing Director Olive Communications About the research sponsors Sales Enquiries 0203 675 3300 sales@olive.co.uk Media Enquiries 0203 675 3000 pr@olive.co.uk Olive Communications is the UK s fastest-growing business communications provider, recognised by the 2014 UK IT Industry Awards, 2014 CRN Awards, and 2014 Comms Business Awards as the best in their sector. They hold accreditations with all the major networks and vendors, including Vodafone, 02, Microsoft and Mitel as well as a range of Mobile Device Management (MDM) providers. Olive provide its customers who range from SMEs to large enterprises with a range of telecommunications-related services from provision of mobile devices through to a comprehensive managed service, covering mobility, fixed line, data networks, contact centres and business applications.