It doesn’t matter which sector you’re in, there are countless companies all competing for the same customers and attention. It’s no wonder that so many customers stick with the same provider. People just don’t have time to sort through all their options and find something new.
Choice overload isn’t just a significant problem in the consumer world – it’s an issue in the business landscape too. Vendor fatigue is quickly emerging as a serious problem for companies trying to sort through UC solutions.
With so many amazing providers and platforms now available on the market, how do you ensure that you’re working with the best partner for your needs?
Let’s look at some of the key points to consider when choosing a UC partner.
1. Features and Functionality
Ultimately, any amazing UC provider needs to deliver the right combination of features to solve all your communication issues. Your UC solution needs standard technology in the form of call queuing solutions, call routing, and so on. However, you may also need to think about compliant recording systems, or advanced fraud prevention and security tools.
Crucially, when you’re looking for a compelling set of features from your UC vendor, make sure that you think about your needs going forward now. The right partner should be investing in significant innovation and growth opportunities, so you can take advantage of disruptive tools as they arrive. Look at how your partner is progressing in the world of XR, AI, and beyond. You may not need this now, but the future could bring new demands with it.
2. Deployment and Provisioning
An excellent UC partner should be able to build the perfect communication solution for you from scratch, using a variety of tools and services. They should also ensure that you don’t have to rip and replace your entire solution, just to upgrade for the future. Most UC vendors can offer a range of deployment options intended to suit the needs of different companies.
For instance, you could easily access various crucial communication tools on the cloud and deliver them to your employees around the world on a secure platform. However, you may also choose to keep some components of your business “on-premises” for security and compliance purposes. A good vendor will allow you to find the strategy that works for you. They should also be able to make it easy for you to roll new features and updates out to your employees wherever they are.
3. Service and Support
In a communication landscape that’s always evolving, how much can you rely on your UC vendor? Is this the kind of company that has multiple data centres spread around the world to suit your needs in different locations? Can they offer 5 nines reliability and promise you a certain level of uptime through a Service Level Agreement (SLA)? High quality and reliable service is a must-have in the modern world, when every lost call is a lost opportunity.
Ensure that your provider can give you the reliability and resiliency that you’re searching for. At the same time, it’s worth looking at the kind of support they can offer when something does go wrong. Will your vendor be on hand to track any signs of issues with your connection, so that they can fix these problems in real-time? How quickly can you expect a response if you send a request for support to the service team?
4. Usability and Security
All UC vendors should be able to offer an environment that’s both secure, and accessible to the right people. You need your UCaaS landscape to be well-aligned and simple to understand so that provisioning and maintenance isn’t too complicated. A user interface that’s designed to put your needs first will help you to get your teams up and running a lot faster.
However, usability can never come at the expense of good security and privacy. It’s important that only the right people have access to the tools and information available from your UCaaS provider. Significant access controls, and solutions build for security from the ground up are crucial. You may even need to consider whether your UC partner can comply with things like GDPR and PCI, depending on the industry you’re in.
5. Extensibility
Increasingly, the UCaaS environment is becoming more flexible and immersive, with new features and functionality appearing all the time. Many UCaaS providers are now keen to prove that their solutions can work seamlessly with third-party integrations that their customers already use. This might include having access to certain CRM tools within your calling environment or being able to share files easily through a certain cloud solution.
Some partners are even beginning to blur the lines between “as a service” offerings in the marketplace. For instance, you might have a UCaaS system that also connects with your CCaaS offering and gives you the option to build out with extra features through CPaaS and APIs. Future vendors in the UC world will be able to connect all aspects of communication in one aligned environment.
6. Customisation
Finally, look at how your UC vendor can offer a solution that’s custom specifically to your needs. Many UC vendors offer a wide variety of packages and bundles intended to suit different kinds of companies. However, there are always going to be times when a company might need something a little different. Your vendor’s ability to create bespoke solutions based on your individual needs could be what makes or breaks your purchasing decision.
The best UC partners will work with companies to find out what they really need from a communication stack, rather than dumping tools into the environment that they won’t use. More importantly, these companies will also allow businesses to decide how they want to access their communication tools, ensuring that they’re not locked into long-term contracts or complex vendor-focused agreements unless they choose to be.
Good luck finding a UC vendor that suits you.
