“Retail, in fact, is going through massive transformation about how they can stay ahead of their com- petitors,” he said. “Communications really define your company – how you communicate within your business, how you make decisions, where your bottlenecks are located, and how you communicate with your customers. So, not just providing the voice, but providing analytics can really change those companies, and I think retail is catching onto that really quickly because performance can be directly tied to numbers. Healthcare is also starting to understand that, but they’re lagging a little bit behind.” Initially, UCaaS saw limited uptake among regulated industries, especially the healthcare and finance sectors, given their specific privacy and compliance regulations. But as security within the UCaaS space has strengthened, a move to the cloud has become a much more viable option across the full range of verticals and company sizes. The advent of Coronavirus drew more practitioners and patients to telemedicine, and schools ex- tended their use of cloud for education, as many organizations look towards the cloud as a means of enabling the remote workforce. UCaaS also has profound implication in manufacturing, where QR codes could facilitate the availabil- ity of a wide range of data on contracts, warranties, maintenance, etc., all easily accessible via smart- phone. The global movement toward smart factories with increased technical integration is a case in point. Further advancements in computer-aided design is a similar example, in that UCaaS can be used to enhance communication among the team. 20 Copyright © 2020 AVANT Communications, Inc.