Understanding the Benefits of Unified Communications in 2021

Why UC could be good for you in 2021

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Understanding-the-Benefits-of-Unified-Communications-in-2021
Unified CommunicationsInsights

Published: December 21, 2020

Rob Scott

Rob Scott

Publisher

We’ve been talking about the potential of unified communications for years now. Not just a system that connects your fax to your email and phone, but a fully unified environment. As the way that we communicate and collaborate continues to evolve, driven by the rise of digital transformation, it’s no longer enough for companies to settle for the standard PBX.

A full-stack Unified Communications offering that allows business leaders to control all of the components of their comms system in one place could be essential to the future of work. After all, who has the patience, time, or ability to handle multiple disparate systems in an environment defined by remote working, distributed teams, and omnichannel conversations?

As new workplaces and styles continue to emerge from the embers of the 2020 pandemic, we’re accelerating towards a new era of virtual communications. It’s not just budget that teams need to think about anymore, but the experiences that they can deliver to both their employees and their customers.

Could You Survive the Next Crisis?

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that in order for today’s companies to survive, they need to be truly agile, flexible, and scalable. Organisations need to embrace the digital world of ones and zeros, or they’re unlikely to survive another crisis like this one. The only way to keep the lights on when disaster strikes seems to be with an environment in the cloud.

For those who can’t evolve entirely into the digital landscape, hybrid may be the next best thing. At the very least, it will allow for some form of consistency in the digital space.

When it comes to communicating in this new workplace, UC provides massive benefits for companies making the shift to the agile environment. If you want a better place to communicate and collaborate – one that’s consistent, reliable, and connected, then UC is the way.

Of course, there are still decisions to make within the C-Suite for communications investments. For instance, where do collaboration applications sit in your UC strategy? Are they another layer of capabilities in your UC stack, or something you need to add separately?

Is Unified the Mantra of Tomorrow?

In a space where employees and workplaces are more distributed than ever before, silos are a significant threat to data, productivity, and security. A single unified experience could be the only way forward in this landscape. Surviving means keeping people connected wherever they are and determining how you can maintain productivity and efficiency in this changing space.

So, what’s going to be driving your purchasing decisions as you head into the new year? Are you ready to strengthen company culture in a distributed landscape with video as the new staple for communication at work? Do all of our collaboration and communication spaces now need to be visual, as well as auditory? Probably.

User teams and consumers alike simply aren’t going to accept poor video and audio quality in the years to come, not with so much technology out there to avoid these issues. What’s more, companies will need to think more carefully about the kind of devices and technology that their users want to thrive in this evolving space.

Are wearables going to make a comeback in the business world now that Facebook is investing more into VR and AR? The social media company is planning on releasing its own AR smart glasses in 2021, and headsets are getting smarter by the day. Plus, we all have access to voice-activated in-ear buds that are becoming the standard for everyday use.

It’s not just the software that companies need to update in this new world, but the hardware too. What do your anywhere workers want, and what do they need to remain agile and productive in the age of a newfound workstyle?

Creating the New Workplace

If Unified Communications is the only way forward, then what components should your UC strategy include? What are the benefits of tools like Microsoft Teams, and why is it that this Microsoft tool has become so popular? Should it be collaboration that guides your communication investments, or communication that guides application? How are you affected by decisions regarding file sharing, application integrations and so on?

In this space, does it matter what order your perceived benefits come in, or does it just mater that everything is tightly integrated, accessible, and properly unified?

Ultimately, it seems that Unified Communications will be the strategy that businesses need to adapt going forward. Rather than ask yourself why you would go for UC, ask yourself why you wouldn’t want a unified system in this confusing new world?

Interested in finding out more about UC tech in 2020? Join us at our online conference and expo UC Summit 2021 in January.

 

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