Unified Communications (UC) is here to stay -- as evidenced by a recent report from Frost & Sullivan, where almost two-thirds of companies report that UC is deployed within their organization. But it isn't perfect. Companies continue to struggle to align their IT strategies with their business goals, effectively handle security and privacy concerns, and manage a web of multi-vendor solutions.
Why You Should Consider a Cloud-Based Solution:
Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) tools can help mitigate these challenges and support corporate goals for investment. But many businesses struggle to provide a complete suite of UC tools to all end users, across campuses and home offices, geographies and time zones. Enter UCaaS: Unified Communications as a Service.
Moving communications and collaboration applications to the cloud allows companies to see significant, measurable benefits across a range of areas. But, not all UCaaS solutions are alike.
If you're evaluating potential UCaaS providers, make sure to look for key criteria:
Secure, reliable performance. With more than 50 percent of employees routinely working remotely, and with companies competing on a global stage, make sure your cloud-based solution can deliver on its SLAs.
Cap-ex savings and cost consistency. If you want to reduce up-front investment and move to an Op-Ex model, make sure your chosen provider offers a subscription model in which prices are consistent.
Advanced features. Businesses look to cloud-based UC services to deliver cutting-edge capabilities as soon as managers and end-users want them. Make sure you'll be able to turn on advanced functionality as needed, without incurring unexpected costs or needing a contract renewal.
Quick deployment. To stay competitive, you need to move on a dime. Make sure your chosen cloud-based solutions can be up and running in hours; that users will always be on the latest version of the software; and that it is easy to configure for new users and use cases.
Scalability and flexibility. Cloud-based UC services let companies add and remove new employees as needed. This supports fluctuations in staffing needs and helps growing companies quickly catch up to larger competitors. Make sure your solution provider can offer the kind of flexibility and scalability your business needs today in any location, and on any network or device.
Support for multiple locations and remote workers. Few businesses can afford to have IT staff at all their corporate offices, and none can personally support home-office and traveling workers. Look for a cloud solution that can be deployed and managed from anywhere.
End-to-end solution set. A single provider makes management a breeze and ensures consistency across applications and platforms. One of the biggest challenges IT managers face is handling the myriad tools in place at their organizations-some of which are brought in by employees themselves, without input from IT. By deploying a single solution with end-to-end capabilities, companies can give their employees everything they need to get work done-all while streamlining contracts, billing, support and management.
UCaaS delivers numerous benefits to businesses as they fight to stay competitive in an increasingly global, collaborative, and always-on world. Make sure your chosen solution can deliver leading-edge capabilities without the need for up-front investment, is easy to deploy to all employees, offers access to advanced features, helps maintain security and compliance, and delivers 24/7 management and support everywhere you need it.
To find out how your business could profit by deploying a UCaaS solution please give us a shout today.