Out Loud: UCaaS and the Future of Work

UCaaS platforms have the potential to transform working practices and PGi join us for this podcast to explain how

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Future-City PGi
Unified Communications

Published: July 26, 2019

Patrick Watson

Patrick is joined by expert guest Mark Roberts, who is Chief Marketing Officer at PGi.

Firstly Mark explains some of the limitations of traditional communication systems. Businesses would previously have required multiple separate systems to enable all of the different solutions that a modern UCaaS platform can provide. Offering; video, voice, meeting and collaboration solutions would have required an enormous amount of infrastructure hardware and Mark explains that managing all of that was an incredibly difficult task. As well as difficulty in managing the systems, enabling integration between them was nigh on impossible and that is where UCaaS can offer a business radical benefits by seamlessly consolidating all of the communication mediums into one single platform.

The importance of UCaaS platforms and the solutions they encompass is heightened due to the criticality of communication systems. In previous on premises based setups if one aspect of the system is unavailable that then this could seriously impact an organisation’s function. With cloud based UCaaS systems, such as GlobalMeet, the resilience is vastly improved as the cloud can offer both increased security and reliability as well as enhanced functionality.

“We have come to expect a different level of availability and capability than you can achieve with taking hardware and deploying it around an organisation.”

Mark tells Patrick how and why the modern UCaaS solution has become so popular. Within the consumer world users expect to be able to easily use multiple communication channels, regardless of their device, from any location at anytime and now they want the same level of simple intuitive functionality within their workplace systems. The process for businesses is slightly more complex as a professional organisation has to be much more careful in terms of security, privacy and data management. There is huge pressure on businesses now to meet these demands and that is why they are looking to UCaaS platforms to achieve this. A fully functioning effective UCaaS solution can meet the needs of users and provide peace of mind for ICT or management staff, an achievement that would have been almost impossible before cloud based integrated platforms became available.

“That consumer experience in the enterprise; to do that effectively the resources required would be enormous. The only way you can do that is with a cloud approach.”

The cloud has enabled the operation and delivery of all of these different solutions and more crucially allows all of the systems to integrate with each other to enable seamless transfer of both usage and data. Mark explains to Patrick how this can transform not only internal processes, within an enterprise, but also a customer’s experience when dealing with a business. Making internal communication more streamlined improves the effectiveness of a business when handling customer interactions. The communication functions within UCaaS platforms can now be easily embedded into other existing business systems, such as CRM, and also integrated into workflows to improve processes. Mark is particularly enthused by this as it gives businesses the possibility of transforming the way in which they work currently.

Customer experience is becoming such a vital differentiator between competitive businesses, so if an organisation can leverage UCaaS to enhance their own CX provision it could be vital for their success going forward. In addition an effective UCaaS solution can also enhance employee experience internally, which has been shown to then impact customer experience directly, another factor that Mark is keen to highlight.

Finally Patrick asks Mark about the future of UCaaS development. Mark acknowledges that PGi don’t have all the answers in this area, its customers are constantly amazing Mark with their own innovative uses of its GlobalMeet platform and Mark believes that innovation within individual businesses will see unimagined use cases and benefits over the next few years.

“I think if anything it (UCaaS) becomes an enabling technology, rather than just provisioning of it.”

Listen on your daily commute, whilst walking the dog, or in the gym. UC Today – Out Loud provides bite size podcasts, bringing you all of the latest communication and collaboration news.

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Presenter Patrick Watson and special guest Mark Roberts from PGi.

Customer ExperienceDigital TransformationFuture of WorkProductivityUCaaS
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