Five Business Communication Trends for 2025

1. Automation of business-critical communication

In the current challenging economic climate, companies are under substantial pressure from rising costs. More than ever, businesses now need to ensure that their processes are designed to be efficient. At the same time, essential resources are lacking due to the general shortage of qualified staff. This resulted in the German economy missing out on €49 billion worth of production capacity in 2024, as revealed in a study carried out by the German Economic Institute (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft). Automating work processes has thus become vital for success. Innovative products support companies in achieving digital transformation and automation in ways that meet their specific needs – laying the foundations for leaner, more efficient processes. Solutions which facilitate the various integration scenarios along the supply chain play a crucial role– the beating heart of any business. In addition, an ongoing trend towards cloud technologies and APIs means that modern communication solutions can be employed with greater efficiency. This includes migrating to cloud fax and automating processes enabling unstructured data to be captured and transformed into structured data. In these ways, companies can significantly reduce costs and ensure they remain competitive over the long term.

2. Targeted use of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the driving forces behind digital transformation. At the same time, considering the dizzying array of AI-based solutions now on the market, it is not always clear to what degree businesses can additionally benefit from AI. When opting for an AI-supported solution for their communication, companies would be well advised to consider the specific use case. Retarus deliberately only includes AI in its products where it generates real added value for customers. In the field of document processing, for instance, the company offers an AI-bolstered multimodal solution for Intelligent Document Processing. In this way, the processing of business-critical documents such as orders, confirmations, invoices, and delivery notes is automated with great precision and above-average performance with the assistance of deep learning, NLP, and computer vision.

3. Minimizing security risks

According to the BSI’s State of IT Security 2024 report, the threat situation is still extremely tense. Cyberattacks are on the rise and becoming ever more sophisticated due to the use of artificial intelligence. The growing professionalism of cybercriminal activity and new regulations such as the Cybersecurity Act and Cyber Resilience Act mean that companies are now facing a whole new array of imposing challenges. Consequently, they need to respond to these growing threats by re-evaluating their risk and IT security management regimes and taking steps to strengthen them where necessary. This is especially true for business-critical communication. Companies vitally require secure, transparent solutions which comply with all relevant regulations and guidelines.
Innovative, all-encompassing enterprise email solutions offer the best possible protection from highly sophisticated cyberattacks and provide relief to the IT department. For instance, powerful analysis and reporting tools provide administrators with a transparent overview of their processed documents in real time. Ideally, an enterprise-level email solution will complement comprehensive email security functions with flexible encryption and archiving options. For worst-case scenarios, an email continuity solution should also be available. This allows email communication to carry on undisrupted, even in the case of a security incident or IT-related outage.

4. Hybrid cloud environments lead to rising complexity

When it comes to email services, many companies have meanwhile opted for Microsoft 365 or other cloud services. However, migrating globally dispersed, heterogenous, and partly outdated on-prem system landscapes into the cloud is neither easy nor straightforward. In particular, complex or hybrid email infrastructures in enterprise environments need to be augmented and secured with crucial add-on services that keep the business communication – and thus the company – up and running. As a result, managing and administrating such systems is becoming ever more complex and labor intensive.

It is all the more important for companies to have a solution that performs well in complex, hybrid infrastructures and takes various email categories into consideration. This includes marketing automation, transactional emails, and user traffic. Likewise, powerful security functions with advanced solutions for routing, reporting, and traffic management are important components of a comprehensive solution. Enterprise services, such as encryption and email archiving round out an all-encompassing portfolio. With the high levels of reliability and transparency offered by a single-source solution, companies benefit from secure, efficient email traffic as well as seamless, dependable email delivery.

5. Implementing more complex compliance requirements

Companies need to deal with new technologies in a conscious, responsible manner, considering both how they are used and the strategic investment they represent. Companies are required to implement new and upcoming regulations with regard to e-invoicing, NIS 2, DORA, and the Digital Services Act (DSA). Subsequently, they must meet the most demanding security and data protection requirements. Solutions which are suitable for digital corporate communication provide high levels of transparency and control. In turn, they fulfill stringent compliance requirements and are backed up by clearly defined service level agreements (SLAs). This not only enables companies to meet ever-increasing governance and data protection requirements, but also creates a solid basis for employing new technologies.

About Retarus

Retarus is a global provider of APIs, gateways, and applications for messaging, email management, and the exchange of structured data for business processes – with top performance, security, and data protection, provided from the company's self-operated data centers around the globe. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Retarus is owner-managed and proud of its innovation power. The company employs a staff of around 500 at 20 locations on four continents. Retarus' services are leveraged by the world's leading companies. The services are sold directly by Retarus or in close collaboration with selected partners. Analysts constantly commend Retarus' outstanding quality and reliability. More details: www.retarus.com