Business Messaging: The future of mobile communication

Business messaging is not as new as one might think. Gartner first mentioned the term "enterprise instant messaging" in its Hype Cycle back in 2001. And in 2007, the market research expert states that enterprise instant messaging had reached its productivity peak - at a time when neither smartphones nor WhatsApp existed. Many innovations have only emerged in the last five years, so the functionalities of messengers have evolved considerably. In addition, the Corona crisis and the increase in cyber attacks reinforce the need for holistic and, above all, DSGVO-compliant communication - both internally and externally. On the one hand, it is necessary to ensure smooth information flows to enable effective collaboration. And on the other hand, to find a solution that meets the standards of a secure IT landscape.

A viable alternative to WhatsApp

To prevent the emergence of shadow IT, a privacy-compliant alternative to consumer apps such as WhatsApp is needed. Such a communication solution must not only be intuitive to use and thus user-friendly, but also ensure uncomplicated exchange. What's more, it must be flexible enough to constantly evolve in line with future trends in instant messaging.

Trend 1: Messenger as a communication hub

In contrast to consumer apps, business messaging solutions will develop into a communication hub. This means that a messenger acts as a central hub where data from different source systems converge and from there reach different target systems. In short, the communication hub ensures holistic data exchange by intelligently linking all communication and information systems via open interfaces. Many processes are still inhibited by data silos, which make information exchange slow, costly and error-prone. A communication hub makes it possible to digitalize exchange processes and workflows to the greatest possible extent and to provide them automatically - and consequently to accelerate them. In this way, both internal communication between employees and external exchange with partners and customers can be improved. In addition, it will be possible to have different providers, services and clouds communicate with each other through a federation. In this way, different companies can be connected with each other via a communication hub.

Trend 2: Individual use cases

Messaging solutions are integrating more and more functions to cover any use case and make information exchange even easier. Sending text and voice messages is as much a part of the standard repertoire as sharing digital content. Beyond that, they have long offered more:

• Distribution liststo quickly set up group chats, even with more than 2000 recipients;
• Alertsto ensure direct emergency communication and coordination using acknowledgement options and alarm reports;
• Live location transmission, to send whereabouts in real time;
• Open APIsto automatically and quickly retrieve data and information from connected third-party systems;
• Chat widgets for website and WhatsApp connection, to facilitate the exchange of information with customers and partners.

In the future, dedicated communications solutions for individual industries, organizations or even departments will also emerge. These holistic solutions offer special functions that reflect both employee needs and individual requirements. Already today, for example, there are tailored business messaging solutions for blue light organizations and the healthcare sector.

Trend 3: AI-optimized communication

Artificial intelligence is the next logical step in the digital transformation. And it will also increasingly find its way into communication solutions. While general chatbots, which can be defined as an AI precursor, are almost old hat, a far more complex AI-optimized communication, keyword: Conversational AI, will support employees. Conversational AI agents will use information from disparate systems, aggregate it and, based on it, recommend actions. For example: a sales representative is on his way to a customer. The app records his live location and passes this information to the connected CRM system. Using the geo and CRM data, the algorithm checks which customers are nearby or on the way. For example, the Conversational AI Agent can recommend visiting another customer because the last meeting took place some time ago. In this way, the efficiency of work processes can be sustainably increased.

Trend 4: Employee Experience

Messenger and intranet, in the sense of a social intranet, are becoming increasingly intertwined. It is conceivable, for example, to integrate a social intranet application into a messaging solution to create a comprehensive employee channel. In addition to group and 1:1 chats, for example, there are separate channels that keep employees up to date on company news. These are displayed as an activity stream that functions like a news feed updated by the second. Unlike the classic intranet, which disseminates information via top-down communication, the social intranet allows employees to interact with the content. That is, all employees can like, comment and share it. As a result, they are more likely to feel heard and can better identify with the company.

Trend 5: New devices and user interfaces

It's not just messengers that are becoming more sophisticated. In addition to smartphones, new end devices will emerge with unprecedented user interfaces that are ideally suited to individual use cases and make use even more intuitive. Promising candidates for this are smartwatches, which have undergone rapid technical development in recent years. They are lightweight, robust, and offer an increasing number of functions, making them particularly suitable for mobile forces such as police officers and rescue workers. Smartglasses or data glasses are also conceivable. These can offer remarkable advantages in situations where it is important to have both hands free. For example, they enable doctors to view patient records quickly and easily during examinations. Smartglasses also help logistics employees locate stored goods. It is conceivable that the position of the goods to be loaded - including directions in the case of a large warehouse - can be called up while the employee is on the move with the forklift truck.

Trend 6: Even higher data protection

In step with the functionalities, which are continuously evolving, the technical security requirements for business messaging solutions will be even more comprehensive in the future. By linking systems, a secure container on the end device will be just as important for data management as holistic data and access management. At the same time, the threat of cyber attacks is growing along with the technical possibilities. It will therefore be essential to further strengthen the encryption algorithms used for communication and to establish additional security functions.

AI and smart devices are just the beginning in business messaging

Messaging solutions already enable device-, time- and location-independent collaboration. Their potential is far from exhausted. This is illustrated not least by the trends that can be identified for the next few years. The move away from e-mail to instant messaging will change corporate communications in the long term and offer new opportunities. That much is certain.

To the author:
Tobias Stepan is founder and managing director of Teamwire GmbH (teamwire.eu), which specializes in secure and confident instant messaging for enterprises, government agencies and healthcare. Previously, he implemented growth and turnaround projects at high-tech companies as a consultant and built up the European business of the American IT start-up Servo until its exit to the Japanese Kii Corporation. Tobias Stepan is committed to mobile digitization and a strong, European IT ecosystem.