To say that the need for unified communications has grown over the last few years would be an understatement. Employees have embraced the ability to work from anywhere (and many aren’t going back to the office any time soon), which means that businesses need a way to keep everyone connected affordably and efficiently.
That’s where unified communications as a service (UCaaS) comes in. UCaaS is more than just a way to unify your communications tools—it provides a scalable, end-to-end environment for collaboration, calling, and messaging, improving worker productivity and effectiveness. In fact, industry experts predict the value of Unified Communications as a Service will hit almost $70 billion by 2028.
UCaaS provides communication services securely and conveniently, helping employees work from anywhere. And as the pandemic created a greater need for hybrid and remote work, UCaaS has only continued to grow.
With that in mind, let’s explore some of the top reasons why you should invest in a UCaaS solution in 2023 (and beyond):
1. Hybrid and Remote Work are Here to Stay
Over the course of the pandemic, many businesses began hiring full-time remote employees and developed work-from-home strategies. Now that employees have grown used to working from home, many prefer (and even demand) the ability to work remotely at least a couple days a week. As a result, hybrid work became the norm, where workers spend a few days working from home, and the rest in-office. In fact, 74% of US companies either have or plan to implement a hybrid work model.
As more and more companies embrace hybrid work, they’re discovering that it helps improve employee productivity (and even morale) while keeping costs low. Initially, the biggest challenge was keeping everyone connected, but UCaaS solves that issue. UCaaS solutions can be accessed from anywhere (often on any device), as long as there’s an internet connection.
2. Integrate Your Apps and Communication Tools
It feels a bit redundant to say, but one of the most important things about UCaaS is how everything is, well, unified. But it’s more than just voice calls, video conferencing, and messaging—UCaaS solutions can integrate with many of the tools and applications that teams use.
For example, APIs can be used to integrate with apps and productivity tools, improving workflows and user productivity. For businesses that manage contact centers, combining UCaaS and CCaaS (contact center as a service) helps bring all the UCaaS features to a contact center environment, and can be improved further by integrating a CRM (customer relationship management) platform.
3. Simpler Maintenance, Management, and Support
Ask anyone who’s worked in IT: managing communications systems is a pain… but cloud solutions make that a whole lot easier.
Since UCaaS solutions don’t need any servers, ongoing maintenance, or upgrades, they’re far simpler to deploy and manage. This helps save time and money and free up the IT staff to focus on other things closer to their core business.
4. Backups and Recovery
Businesses are dealing with more data than ever before—around 2.5 quintillion bytes every day—and losing that to a disaster or system failure would be devastating.
Cloud solutions generally include backup, redundancy, and disaster recovery, which are often too expensive for on-premises systems. As such, there’s less risk of an unexpected issue knocking out a company’s communication system.
5. Better Analytics and Insights
How can you spot issues and communication breakdowns? UCaaS solutions typically include built-in analytics providing end-to-end data tracking and insights. Business leaders can spot trends in their communication ecosystem and identify areas that need improvement. This helps them make better business decisions and discover more avenues for growth through detailed reporting and insights.
6. Efficiency and Cost Savings
On-premises solutions can be costly. The constant investment in maintenance, adding or removing users, and endless upgrades can get out of hand quickly.
UCaaS solutions, on the other hand, can be deployed and managed more quickly and easily than premises-based products, with no capital expenses. While the exact numbers will vary, many businesses have reported saving between 50-70% on communications after switching to the cloud.
UCaaS solutions typically have a “pay as you go” model, so there are no unexpected or unnecessary expenses. (Although it’s still important to watch out for add-ons, since each provider may have different options.) Businesses can pay for the services and seats they need, while reducing unexpected and unwelcome extra expenses.
Additionally, unifying communications into a single platform reduces the number of bills businesses need to pay for different providers.
7. Flexibility and Agility
If there’s one thing many companies have discovered first hand over the last few years, it’s that they need to stay agile if they want to thrive in the modern world. When businesses quickly switched to remote work, those who were prepared for the transition were able to hit the ground running, while those that didn’t have the remote infrastructure in place fell behind.
UCaaS and cloud technology can help business leaders adapt to changes that might come their way, such as implementing new communication channels as they emerge.
Adding new users is typically fast and simple, compared to the more lengthy process of adding lines to on-prem solutions. This makes it easier to scale, so as a business grows, its UCaaS solution can grow with them.
8. Future-Proof Your Communications
Not only does UCaaS help businesses scale to suit the changing needs of their employees and customers, but it also ensures they can take advantage of the latest innovations as they arise. Cloud solutions can be updated without needing any new hardware, eliminating obsolescence. Considering how fast communications technology is developing these days, that’s essential—today’s latest and greatest is tomorrow’s antique if it’s not kept up-to-date.
Many UCaaS vendors allow users to try out new features as they’re developed, such as new AI tools or enhanced mobile capabilities. With UCaaS, businesses will always have the latest features at their disposal.
These are just a few reasons why you should use a UCaaS solution for your business communications, but the benefits don’t end there. Take a look at the market, see what each vendor has to offer, and see what your business needs—then take the plunge and see why UCaaS is key to modern day communications.
