Vodafone released a study a few weeks ago examining the technology habits and investments of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Perhaps the most eye-catching figure was that WhatsApp (47 percent) was the communications app most commonly used by those SMEs surveyed, with Microsoft Teams in second place, way down at 22 percent.
At first glance, this might be surprising. Anyone with a passing interest in UC and collaboration recognises Teams’s market dominance, even if they prefer a different solution. Meanwhile, Meta’s WhatsApp lacks many of the advanced features we expect from the most prominent business communications platforms, whether AI assistants, sophisticated conferencing capabilities, or integrated collaboration tools for tasks like file editing.
Peer behind the curtain, however, and it certainly makes sense, mainly due to the immutable truth that many SMEs don’t need such sophisticated or advanced feature sets.
For many organisations, particularly in industries like hospitality, retail, manufacturing, logistics and transport, being able to smoothly share their screen to present a quarterly update to 300 people isn’t a necessity. Their priorities likely revolve around a simple but effective UI that even the least tech-savvy users can navigate, a low-cost solution to deploy and manage, a secure and compliant platform, and a service that already has wide adoption among people or can be quickly introduced across the workforce.
WhatsApp ticks all those boxes and goes two better — it’s free, and its messages are securely end-to-end encrypted.
UC Today asked its LinkedIn Community for its thoughts on Vodafone’s study and what it might reflect about enterprise communications among SMEs.
Of 40 respondents, two-fifths said it illustrated that SMEs value the simplicity of WhatsApp’s functionality, which makes it easy to manage. As Martin Finlayson, Head of Visual Communications at SCC Collaboration, eloquently put it in a reply to UC Today’s poll, “Probably because the lack of time/dedicated skills in the business means shadow IT becomes the strategy driver by default.”
Another two-fifths said the figure underlined that cost (or its absence in WhatsApp’s case) drives platform selection. Andrew Wood, Global – Senior Strategy Leader at Vodafone, expanded upon this note: “WhatsApp is a free public square to collaborate with consumers, partners and employees. Teams is chargeable walled garden.”
Thirteen percent said their key takeaway was that wider adoption informs choice. WhatsApp is already a popular messaging app for personal use, making it easier to transition users into leveraging it in a business context.
However, Christopher Kuelling, Unified Communications Architect at Sutherland, suggested another reason why WhatsApp is so prevalent among SMEs.
“I would say even in the presence of dedicated/skilled resources/strategies, the infosec based limitations placed on enterprise products can deter folks from utilising the company supported platforms,” Kuelling said in response to UC Today‘s poll. “The fear of ‘big brother’ watching and content restrictions can make people feel like they need to end run around the controls put in place to protect the company just to get done what it is they feel they need to do their jobs.”
That concluding point, about empowering companies in what they feel they need to do their jobs, feels particularly salient and tackles the crux of the issue. The factors behind SMEs choosing WhatsApp might be legion and nuanced, but fundamentally, if it fulfils all business communications needs with the least hassle, that’s all that’s needed.
WhatsApp’s popularity in its current guise might only be the beginning, too.
WhatsApp Is Almost Ready For Third-Party Messaging – And, Eventually, Third-Party Voice And Video Calling
Last week, Meta outlined that WhatsApp is almost ready to send messages to third-party apps for EU-based users, revealing details about the upcoming update’s new features and enhanced user experience.
The update will add new options to the WhatsApp platform, including the capability to place WhatsApp messages in the same inbox as third-party chats or keep them distinct. Among the other new features Meta is introducing are notifications that inform users about third-party conversations and reminders of a third-party app becoming available.
Meta also teased cross-platform voice and video calling within WhatsApp, which is planned for rollout in 2027.
Could This Reinforce WhatsApp’s Quiet Dominance?
Suppose WhatsApp’s current dominance stems from its ease of use, wide adoption, and cost-effectiveness. In that case, cross-platform messaging will amplify these advantages by allowing businesses to communicate seamlessly with clients and partners who use other messaging platforms, such as Telegram, Signal, or even iMessage. Could Teams, Slack, and Zoom also be included? We can only speculate.
Regardless, cross-party messaging would reduce the friction associated with app silos, enabling companies to reach more customers without requiring them to switch to WhatsApp. This could bolster customer experience, increase engagement, and likely improve operational efficiency, as businesses would be able to manage a broader set of communications from a single interface.
If WhatsApp extends this interoperability to voice and video calling, the impact could be even more profound. SMEs often rely on these features for client or customer meetings, remote support, and internal dialogue. Cross-platform voice and video calls would reduce the dependency on multiple tools like Zoom or Google Meet, streamlining business communication and potentially cutting costs.
Additionally, this could position WhatsApp as a more comprehensive business solution, attracting new users from platforms that offer standalone video and voice services. Such developments could lead to tighter competition with UC platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack, driving further innovation across the sector and potentially making WhatsApp the go-to platform for all business comms needs.
This is all before exploring the updates WhatsApp has already introduced over the last couple of years, which are gradually making it more of an enterprise-friendly app—and not only for SMEs but also for large businesses.
In July, WhatsApp introduced a new file-sharing feature, “Nearby Share,” that works similarly to Apple’s AirDrop. Nearby Share enables users to quickly transfer large files, including documents, photos, and videos, between Android and iOS devices without an internet connection.
Over the last 12 months, WhatsApp has also added WhatsApp Communities as a new way to organise events and the capability to reply to administrator announcements. Then there’s the recently added capability for users to pin a message to the top of their chats for up to 30 days, an enterprise-friendly voice chat upgrade that empowers users to host large groups of up to 128 participants in audio calls, and a call scheduling feature within group chats.
Monitoring how Meta positions WhatsApp over the next few years will be interesting. It could go seismic.
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