Organisations have shifted to hybrid work models and adopted new mobile communications strategies due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Evaluating Mobile Communications Solutions for the Hybrid Workforce, finds that companies’ increasing adoption of mobile-first communications allows them to address work from anywhere at any time.

This helps them achieve crucial goals, such as empowering diverse workforces and retaining employees. Additionally, technology advancements, including 5G connectivity and improving device capabilities, enable better user mobile experiences and increase decision-makers’ comfort in adopting mobile solutions.

“Organisations are expected to adopt mobile-forward strategies whereby future communications investments will be aligned with permanently shifted work styles and a strong appreciation for the benefits of mobility,” says Elka Popova, connected work vice-president at Frost & Sullivan. “Among other approaches to workforce mobile enablement, all-inclusive UCaaS seat licenses that provide mobile access to calling and UC features will drive further fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) adoption.”

Popova adds: “Emerging and evolving native, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) core-based mobile calling solutions will find strong appeal among users. In many cases, native mobile calling may be deployed alongside collaboration apps that already provide flexible access to meetings, messaging, and calling on a variety of connected devices.”

To capitalise on growth opportunities in the expanding mobile communications solutions market, providers can leverage the following growth strategies:

* Address users’ shifting requirements with tailored bundles that include services and devices that support new use cases. Mobile and desktop apps and mobile UCaaS solutions provide a strong fit for remote workers.

* Integrate communications and collaboration solutions with Microsoft Teams. The Operator Connect Mobile program creates considerable growth opportunities for mobile operators among Teams users.

* Leverage existing assets or acquire mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) resources to capitalize on the growing demand for mobile business communications services.