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Cloud Communications Week in Review

By Rory J. Thompson
Web Editor

The cloud as a force for clear communications continued to garner more attention his week.

It started out west as TMC (News - Alert) Senior writer Peter Bernstein reported from an industry conference. “Attendees such as myself at the Gigaom Structure event in San Francisco, got a sneak peak at 2014 Future of Cloud Computing survey, done by Gigaom Research in conjunction with North Bridge Venture Partners, and even had a chance to compare how the experts in the audience stacked up against the opinions of survey respondents,” Bernstein wrote. “Spoiler alert!  They pretty much matched.” This is the fourth annual survey and it included collaboration by a record 72 organizations, and hence is arguably the industry’s deepest and broadest examination of how the cloud revolution is progressing. The link above provides access to the full report. Its 124 slides are definitely worth spending more than a little time with. It is a real slide turner analyzing the inhibitors and drivers behind cloud adoption, separating the hype from true industry trends and real world cases across a sample of 1358 respondents. Bernstein’s full report can be accessed HERE.

In other news, according to the New Q1 data from Synergy (News - Alert) Research Group, hybrid deployments are making way for UCaaS growth. Though the hybrid cloud has scaled up to 14 percent of total UCaaS subscribers as of the end of the first quarter of 2014, the report from the Synergy Research indicates that the hybrid deployments increased 46 percent over the past year. “In common with developments seen in other enterprise cloud markets, hybrid deployments are relatively small but gaining a lot of traction with UCaaS customers,” said Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and Chief Analyst.

Cloud-based phones are now gaining wider acceptance. It is imperative that businesses move to cloud-based communication systems, as the FCC (News - Alert) is already discussing the end to using a traditional public phone network. Cloud-based phone services are the solution of the future and it is recommended that businesses should make the change now. Easy Office Phone (News - Alert), a provider of cloud-based business phone services to companies of all sizes, has highlighted the five most common misconceptions that businesses have with respect to cloud-based communications systems and its security. Adam Simpson, CEO and co-founder of Easy Office Phone said, “Cloud-based phone is an increasingly mainstream choice for business communications, yet some companies are still holding back. We believe the hesitation is often due to inaccurate perceptions, and we aim to change that with our education-based approach.”

There’s more news happening all the time, so be sure to check in daily.