In today’s hybrid work era, IT leaders often invest heavily in voice and cloud communications infrastructure—yet employees still struggle with the tools. Why? Because the design process often starts with the architecture, not the user. A traditional “architecture-first” mindset leads to clunky workflows, low adoption, and support headaches.
It’s time to flip that thinking. Before selecting platforms or providers, CIOs and CTOs should ask a different question: How do our users need to work and communicate? From there, build infrastructure that supports those habits—securely and intuitively. In this post, we’ll explore why infrastructure planning should begin with the user experience, what happens when it doesn’t, and how a user-first approach leads to better results.
Designing around features instead of users often leads to a familiar set of problems:
1. Low Adoption & Wasted Investment
Organizations wasted an estimated $104 million globally in 2024 on underused tech. You might roll out a high-end platform, only to watch employees stick to their cell phones or default to other tools. Why? Because if it’s not intuitive, they won’t use it.
As one expert put it: “UC isn’t about where it lives – it’s about what it delivers for the user.” A flashy backend means nothing if the front-end experience is a mess.
2. Productivity Drains
Every extra step - logging in again, navigating clunky menus, toggling between chat apps - slows teams down. Constant context switching eats up nearly five work weeks per year. One study found employees waste 36 working days annually dealing with tech frustrations. That’s 15% of their time lost.
3. App Overload
When IT doesn’t offer a seamless solution, users patch together their own. One platform for meetings, another for chat, personal phones for voice. Executives think they’re using 30–40 apps, but in reality, it’s more like 625. The result is fragmentation, poor visibility, and ballooning support overhead.
4. Security Risks
If the approved tools are clunky, users go rogue. Nearly 80% admit to using software not cleared by IT. That “shadow IT” is hard to secure and introduces real compliance risks. One report found unsanctioned tools may make up 50% of total IT spending.
5. Poor Support and Trust
Without user-centered training and support, even great tools flop. Imagine deploying a new voice platform without onboarding—then watching tickets pile up as users fumble with basic tasks. Over time, they lose trust in IT. That’s hard to win back.
The takeaway? Infrastructure that ignores the user leads to inefficiency, frustration, and risk. Instead, we need a better starting point.
Here’s how to flip the model and design your stack around how your people actually work:
Understand Their Workflows
Survey your teams. Observe their habits. Do sales staff need one-click dialing from a CRM? Do engineers prefer async chat over scheduled meetings? Map real user journeys across roles and devices.
Modern organizations have diverse needs: in-office, remote, frontline, and hybrid workers. Any solution should support all of them—whether they’re at a desk, in the field, or on mobile.
Prioritize Ease of Use and Integration
Put usability at the top of your platform checklist. If the interface isn’t intuitive, it won’t matter how many features it has.
A frictionless experience drives adoption, improves productivity, and cuts support requests.
Don’t Rely on One-Size-Fits-All
Standardizing has benefits—but rigid, monolithic tools often can’t flex to different needs. Instead:
Flexibility lets you match tech to task, not force-fit users to a fixed solution.
Involve Users in the Process
Invite user groups into planning early. Their feedback surfaces needs you may miss—and earns buy-in when it’s time to roll out.
Some organizations form task forces or pilot panels for this reason. Treat your employees as stakeholders, not just recipients.
Invest in Support and Training
Even simple tools need onboarding. Offer guides, videos, and human help desks. Post-launch, keep listening and improving.
Support is part of UX. When users feel confident and supported, they get more from the platform, and IT gets fewer tickets.
Designing with UX at the center pays off fast:
Higher Adoption and ROI
When users actually use the tools, your investment pays off. Communication improves, teams collaborate faster, and license waste goes down.
Organizations with strong internal communications tools are 3.5x more likely to outperform peers.
Productivity Gains
Smooth workflows mean less frustration and more focus. Teams make decisions faster. IT teams spend less time firefighting.
Remember: 86% of workplace failures are blamed on poor communication. Fix that, and results follow.
Stronger Security
When tools are easy, users stick to them. That means fewer unsanctioned apps, less data leakage, and better compliance.
If official tools are also the most convenient tools, people use them. It’s that simple.
Better Morale and Retention
Modern, user-friendly tech tells your team you value their time. It improves morale and supports retention—especially in hybrid or competitive environments.
Top performers want great tools. Give them the tech they need to thrive.
Long-Term Agility
A modular, user-aligned stack is easier to evolve. You can swap tools, scale up, or adopt new tech without overhauls.
You’re not locked into one vendor. You’re locked into your people—and that’s a good thing.
In 2026, a modern communications strategy starts with the end user—not the network. By understanding how people communicate and building solutions around those behaviors, IT leaders unlock adoption, security, and ROI.
Put simply: infrastructure should serve the user. Not the other way around.
Want to Get Started?
Maverick Networks helps organizations align cloud and voice solutions with how their people actually work. As a vendor-neutral advisor, we deliver clear, unbiased guidance—from assessing workflows to building a smarter, simpler tech stack.
If you're planning your next phase of infrastructure, start with the people. Then let's design the right tools to support them.