Not so long ago, companies didn't have a lot of options available to them when it came to deploying their communication systems. The traditional PBX deployment model required significant upfront investment - a process which placed all the risk of a new communication system on the buyer. After all, if you bought and installed a new PBX that didn't work out, you risked:
- Harming your reputation
- Reducing your options for scalability
- Minimising your agility and future business growth
The good news is, that cloud communications takes a much less terrifying approach to deployment. Purchasing and installing a new cloud-based UC model is far cheaper because there's much less hardware involved. What's more, if you decide you want to switch providers, you simply cancel your subscription and move elsewhere.
The Cloud UC Deployment Models
The Unified Communications as a Service (/unified-communications/ucaas) model is an agile, efficient, and cost-effective solution for small businesses who want to evolve fast and access the latest technology instantly. However, since every small business is different, there are multiple paths to cloud communications. For instance:
1. Public Cloud Deployment
UC deployment on the public cloud is the most popular, and easy-to-implement model for many small to mid-sized businesses. You can choose your public cloud service on a per-month, per-user basis, and combine your strategy with private connections to ensure the security of your brand.
Many public cloud solutions for UC include various contact centre features, along with the opportunity to integrate with popular business applications. Additionally, you can add private networking features to the mix if you're concerned about data protection.
2. Private Cloud Deployment
The private cloud deployment model is rarely the preferred option for smaller companies because a private cloud is much more expensive to own. With a private cloud, you don't share your resources with anyone, which means that you have complete freedom over your UC network. However, most small companies simply don't need this amount of computing space.
