Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

You’ve probably been there before: sitting in a meeting when someone asks a question that you could have sworn was covered in last week’s email. There’s no time to search your inbox. The conversation has moved on and now you are trying to reconstruct bits of information from colleagues on the hallway or over lunch.

You’ve been there – dialing your doctor’s office, hanging in hold limbo, and seemingly transported into a communications black hole. Or, perhaps, you have gotten a voicemail concerning an appointment that was scheduled but didn’t realize, until days later, you needed to return the call. Poor or irregular communication is much more than an annoyance for the patient-it could even mean their life.

‍ In August 2005, during Hurricane Katrina in the US, emergency responders and national leaders struggled to react effectively due to incompatible military communication systems. Similar issues were observed during NATO’s 2023 Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, where senior military and civilian leaders identified the operational challenges posed by incompatible military communication systems among allied forces.

The 2025 Allianz Risk Barometer has just been released, and it couldn’t be clearer that the threat of cybersecurity breaches is now the preeminent corporate risk point. And AI is raising the stakes of that risk even higher.

In today’s fast-changing work environment, adaptability isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a research-backed superpower. As AI integration and other technological advances continue to redefine workflows and industries, organizations that prioritize adaptability and flexibility will be the ones that build the resilience to thrive. But adaptable teams don’t grow on trees. They’re the result of organizations and leaders that embrace continuous learning as a core value.

‍ In November 2024, a ransomware attack on Blue Yonder, a supply chain software provider for Starbucks, disrupted the company's scheduling and payment systems across its 11,000 North American stores. Managers were forced to revert to pen and paper to track employee hours and process payroll. Implementing out of band communication solutions can mitigate such risks for enterprises by providing secure, independent channels for coordination during crises.