Unified Communications Providers: Are They Worth the Investment?

In some ways, business, at its core, is the same as it’s always been. Teams are working hard to exchange goods and services with the public, organizations, and other businesses in order to get ahead. However, what is happening within these companies to allow for better communications, less wasted time, and increased productivity has shifted drastically. Unified communications providers are now taking center stage as companies embrace remote and hybrid work environments. 

The Accenture Future of Work Study 2021 showed that 83% of workers prefer a hybrid model when it comes to the office. This percentage is staggering. Change is undoubtedly here to stay. 

What is UCaaS?

UCaaS stands for “Unified Communications as a Service,” and it refers to unified communications delivered via a cloud-based service. This fact means UCaaS services are provided over the Internet or through a dedicated network by one of many unified communications providers. Unlike traditional setups whereby each company needs to staff its own IT department, the infrastructure required to run UCaaS is owned and maintained by the provider and delivered to customers from a common platform. A UCaaS provider licenses its services to clients via subscriptions that may be issued monthly, annually, or on some other payment basis. 

What Are Unified Communications Providers?

There’s no doubt that excellent communications is integral to success in business. However, gone are the days of meeting with your employees and co-workers by knocking on their office door across the hallway, gathering in a conference room, or visiting their cubicle for a quick chat over morning coffee. Companies increasingly rely on video calls, phone calls, and text-based messages to share ideas. Teams impart information, socialize, and connect with modern tools that ensure they have dependable, high-quality communications.

Unified communications providers (UC) do this. UC products combine multiple communications channels, such as video, group chat, and hosted voice, into one easy-to-manage platform.  Simply put, UC allows you to quickly access all of your essential business communications tools in one place. 

The Pros of Using UCaaS

Getting everyone on board one platform for all your needs comes with simplification and many additional benefits. UCaaS technologies are expanding and broadening their scope of use in companies of large and small sizes. 

In fact, Forbes reported on the idea of small businesses adopting large business systems and processes as a driving trend for small businesses in 2022 that will increasingly become necessary for success. UCaaS is sure to be a part of this shift. 

Getting your company or organization connected with unified communications providers through a shared platform could be the difference between increased productivity and survival or floundering as those around you embrace change. 

Leading unified communications providers play an important role. These companies help others transition from the use of traditional technologies to modern systems that connect and uplift. 

The pros of using a UCaaS service that make the investment worthwhile include:

• Increased mobility with global access
• Reduced IT costs
• Scalability and integration with unlimited growth
• Increased security
• Increased productivity
• Disaster recovery 

UCaaS gives you increased mobility with global access

As a cloud-based technology, a UCaaS network allows your teams to access your company’s platform from anywhere, at any time. This provides employees with a new level of flexibility that many people seek. While vacation is undoubtedly a moment to tune out, remote working is here to stay. 

Employees are looking for the ability to integrate work into their out-of-office environments more readily. A quality UCaaS network does this, bringing your team’s uncomplicated, rich media experiences they can access to connect with the people and information they need.   

Unified communications providers can reduce your IT costs

Using a UCaaS network in place of traditional technology such as software, landlines, fax machines, and in-person meetings means you can potentially save on your IT costs. With older technologies you need to pay large amounts of money upfront, which can go wasted on unused licenses. In addition, older technologies can become obsolete, leaving you with new equipment to store and the need to buy upgraded replacements. 

You only pay for what you are using right now with unified communications providers. There’s no need to worry about researching upgrades and planning for change. That’s left to your provider. You can also abandon the practice of paying someone to maintain your current system and troubleshoot pesky, ongoing problems.  

A reliable network can increase your scalability

Not all UCaaS service providers are created equally. You need access to an adequately supported network to keep up with your changing communications needs.  A highly developed interface is one that has the digital tools you rely on at your fingertips in easy-to-recognize formats. New employees can be comfortably trained and integrated into your new system with little disturbance with a trouble-free platform. 

Related: Choosing the Best Unified Communications Integrators

Enhanced productivity

One of the big pluses of a UCaaS network is that it can increase your team’s productivity. This happens through personalized features that step beyond the bounds of traditional IT. Your teams will spend much less time figuring out how to meet and more time actually meeting. 

Collaboration can increase through unified tools like chat, video, messaging, and file sharing. A solid UCaaS network will allow you to use rich text formats, instant messaging, create and organize groups, open discussions, and enjoy a rich media experience. 

A solid UCaaS network will also allow you to:

• Conduct polls
• Forward your calls
• Show statistics
• Administer meetings
• Have phone messages automatically transcribed and sent to you via email,Delve into a whiteboard experience on your desktop or even your cell phone  

A system that is tightly integrated with preexisting services like the Microsoft Teams environment can go far in boosting your company’s ability to perform at a higher level. 

More security

A high-quality UCaaS provider will have sophisticated cybersecurity parameters in place to ensure your company’s communications and information remain protected. This can allow for increased security and greater control compared with traditional technologies. 

Disaster recovery

A solid UCaaS provider will have support for instant disaster recovery that allows your business to benefit from continuity and stability. In the event of a major emergency, you want to know you can rely on maintaining the connection with your employees without worrying about regulatory compliance or uptime issues. A system hosted on geo-redundant data centers throughout the country can do this. 

A reliable and reputable service provider will also conduct semi-annual disaster recovery testing to ensure all emergency protocols work if one node in the system experiences a catastrophic issue. You also want to ensure your provider runs capacity planning. This process will ensure any single node in the platform’s environment can carry an entire load of user traffic on the UCaaS platform in the event of multiple failures. 

A UCaaS system can bring about numerous benefits to your company, allowing you to meet your current needs and expand your offerings to both employees and customers. 

Related: MS Teams Phone Number: Is It Enough to Replace Your Phone System?

The Cons of Using UCaaS

As with any system, some cons can exist when it comes to using a UCaaS network. These may include:

• Not accessible if you don’t have a good Internet connection
• A learning curve for employees

Almost every company in North America now has access to a reliable Internet connection in order to help conduct their business. This being said, not every geographic space has this advantage. If your Internet is non-existent or spotty at best, a UCaaS network may not be your best solution for allowing your employees to connect and conduct business. 

It could also be the case that you feel your current ways of conducting business are working fine for you at the moment. You may not want a new system. You could think that adopting a new approach could be difficult for your employees and that they may not grasp its functionality well. These cons can often be easily overcome by working with an expert, reputable vendor, who can accurately diagnose your business’s needs. An expert vendor can design a network explicitly tailored to your needs that addresses where your team sits at the moment. With an informed one-on-one consultation, you can learn more about how UCaaS solutions could be an ideal fit. 

Connect with the Best In the Industry

At BCM One we value your partnership as a leading UCaaS provider. Our services offer a secure, highly-scalable network solution that your employees can grasp intuitively. By partnering with us, you get access to the forefront of a wide range of UCaaS services that go above and beyond. Our team can help you learn the ropes as they shift to using a fully integrated digital platform with numerous functionalities and benefits. 

Get in touch with our team today to learn more. Get access to the benefits of our optimized and comprehensive platform for a bright future.