According to Gartner, by 2017, approximately 48% of IT planners expect the cloud to be their primary deployment model for Unified Communications (UCaaS) functionality.
Why do you need it?
Unified Communications offers organizations a cohesive system of communication. It enables employees to better connect with one another, remote offices, and customers, while giving management a better understanding of communication expenditures. Unified communications as a hosted, managed or usage-based solution delivers the added bonus of provider-supported maintenance, customer care, and technical support.
What are the benefits?
- Secure and streamlined communication
- Flexibility and scalability
- Enhanced responsiveness
- Improved workflow and project management
- Effortless reporting
- Reduced upfront capital expenditure (CAPEX) on equipment and software
- Managed updates and security patches
- Built-in support
Services That Make up UCaaS
- Shared calendars
- Business applications portal/intranet integration
- Presence
- Find me, follow me
- Instant messaging/chat clients
- P2P file sharing
- Desktop telephony
- Web and video conferencing
- Mobile IP
- Web RTC (Real Time Communication)
Potential Challenges and Considerations
Some companies are hesitant to move to the cloud and prefer to keep solutions on-prem for several reasons, including security, data and disaster recovery, and business continuity.
With Unified Communications as a Service, as with all cloud-based solutions, the provider takes on the task of updating software. With UCaaS, your internal IT team doesn’t have to manage time-consuming updates or security patches. As in-house systems reach end of life, cloud-based solutions adapt with better and more enforced security and privacy policies. In the event of a disaster, UCaaS allows employees to stay in touch with whatever devices are available. Disaster Recovery is often one of the biggest reasons to look at a cloud UC solution.
The Bottom Line
There is no denying the importance of communication convergence. Many businesses are transitioning to cost efficient, end-to-end, single provider solutions, which ultimately means fewer vendors to manage.
Download our UCaaS eBook here.