In today’s “new normal”, many businesses are allowing some or all employees to work from home. Some companies have moved formerly in-office workers to remote work full time. Other groups are now shifting remote employees back to the office. This creates a need for new methods of communication, so that team productivity and collaboration can be maintained across any work setting.
IT spending has been increasing across multiple fronts, and 2026 is expected to be even bigger. Gartner expects global spending to surpass $600 billion in 2026. Communication services spending is on the rise, so too is software and IT services. Businesses understand an evolving workforce needs more tech behind it to maintain and escalate business growth.
Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
Source: Gartner (February 2026)
Aligning teams through technology in unified communications, allows for seamless collaboration among team members. Read on to learn how businesses just like yours are utilizing unified communications and collaboration.
The Cloud
Cloud services allow for ease of access to tools and information employees need to get their job done. If an application or information has cloud hosting, it can be accessed from nearly anywhere, including while working remotely. While not all businesses are completely moving to the cloud, many are utilizing it for business operations, with some additional on-premise servers.
Businesses are leveraging the advantages of the cloud – flexible, easy access for employees no matter their location. Outages can cost businesses significant time and money, and recent large scale outages have organizations rethinking their cloud stance. Businesses see advantages for local infrastructure too, for stronger predictability, greater control, and resiliency.
Web Conferencing Tools
Web conferencing and digital communication tools facilitate collaboration, and can encompass web, social, and software tools. These tools facilitate one-to-one or many-to-many employee and customer communications. You can access them via phone, tablet, computer, or a smart watch. These tools are excellent solutions for meeting “face to face” when one or many individuals cannot meet in person, or are geographically distant.
For hybrid workplaces, web conferencing allows employees to connect inside and outside of the office. There’s been an increase in in-office collaboration as teams recognize the value of being together, without formal mandates.
Today, web conferencing tools are aplenty. From Zoom to Google Meet, Webex and Microsoft Teams, there are several well known conferencing applications for organizations of all size. Depending on your business needs and budget, there are tools as simple or as complex as you need to fulfill digital conferencing needs.
Instant Messaging, Presence, and Group Chat
Instant messaging (IM) and group chats are a useful tool to communicate with quick questions or discussions, usually one on one, but sometimes in group settings as well. Presence refers to the fact that individuals can appear online, offline or “away” from their computers, so even when coworkers cannot physically see each other, they have an idea of their teammates’ availability. These tools can help support team collaboration even when all individuals are not in the same office space.
Slack, Discord, and Google Chat are all common tools for team chats within businesses. Messaging is now replacing phone calls as a more common means for coworkers to communicate. It makes sense as to how and why these tools have become so popular!
Video Conferencing
Perhaps one of the technological tools for unified communications and collaboration that is most similar to meeting face to face, is video conferencing. Video conferencing allows employees and supervisors to connect even when they cannot meet face to face. From one-on-one meetings, to team huddles, to company-wide virtual happy hours, seeing some bright smiling faces allows the company as a whole to feel more connected.
AI Tools
Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in unified communications platforms, helping SMB teams streamline collaboration and reduce administrative work. AI features offer real-time transcription, automated meeting summaries, and action-items to improve meeting workflows. AI does the work for you by capturing key decisions and next steps without requiring you to take manual notes. Platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom now include AI assistants that generate recaps, highlight tasks, and help draft follow-up messages after meetings. These capabilities allow teams to spend less time managing communication and more time acting on the outcomes of conversations.
Staying in Touch
In the modern business world, having tools for unified communications and collaboration is essential. It allows for optimized productivity and flexibility, even in the face of adapting to a new way to work. AI is helping to bring unified communications to the next level, by automating a lot of manual work to help streamline communication management. Whether they’re in the office, working from home, or on the road, your communication tools should empower your workforce to stay connected and productive.
