What a difference a year can make. At the beginning of 2014, I announced that this was the year for the New Way to Work (NW2W). As we expected, it was one of the most exciting times for the Unified Communications industry to date. Players transitioned from being hardware to software centric, strove to acquire their competitors, restructured their sales, and partner models as they vied for leadership. For Unify in particular, 2014 marked its shift from a hardware company to a true Software as a Service (SaaS) company, culminating in the launch of Circuit, where it delivered a radical shift in the human work experience.
We’ve always had our finger on the pulse of today’s professional—the anywhere worker. Our research from the NW2W Index, a series of global surveys throughout 2014, revealed the following insights:
- 94% of teams work with “virtual” team members
- Employees want flex work. Badly. More than 1/3 of employees surveyed—including 34% of directors and 38% of managers—said they would change companies for an employer that embraces flexible work.
- The highest flight risk is among those in the sought after Gen-Y or “millennials” demographic—43% said they would change employers for a job that offers flexible work.
- 43% of employees surveyed would prefer flex work over a 10% pay raise.
This research has greatly influenced our approach in how we develop optimized technology, like Circuit, which launched in October. It’s also helped us have foresight to lead the unified communications market.
