Numerous companies are changing the way they communicate internally each year. Businesses are seeking cost-effective and efficient solutions as technology continues to adapt. Most companies find success through unified communications as a service (UCaaS), and with all of the benefits UCaaS offers, it’s easy to understand why.
Are you interested in taking your business to the next level by streamlining internal communications? Read on to discover the top benefits of UCaaS that will enhance your business operations.
What is UCaaS?
As you read the term “UCaaS,” your mind may think of a similar acronym, “CCaaS” (Contact Center as a Service). The history of contact centers as a service is similar to unified communications as a service, but the two services are used for slightly different purposes. CCaaS handles customer communication through efficient call center services, live-chat help, and email communication.
The difference is that CCaaS deals with outbound customer communications, and UCaaS handles internal business communications. UCaaS offers helpful internal communication features such as:
- Call routing and forwarding
- Conference bridging
- Instant messaging
- Video conferencing
- Virtual receptionists
- Voicemail-to-email transcription
- Fax-to-email transcription
The most impressive characteristic of UCaaS is that it consolidates a company’s enterprise communication applications into a single cloud-based platform. UCaaS solutions are designed to support flexibility and interdepartmental collaboration through modern, streamlined workflows. Typically, a business’s IT team purchases UCaaS solutions to improve internal communications.
3 Impressive Benefits of UCaaS
So, UCaaS accommodates internal communications, but why should businesses switch to UCaaS from their current operations? Is there that much of a difference? The answer is yes; UCaaS offers a plethora of exciting benefits for businesses. Let’s dive into three of them.
1. Remote Work Support
Ever since March of 2020, remote work has become normalized and preferred by many companies. Many employees prefer working from home because it offers added flexibility and accessible accommodations for people with particular health needs. Some people appreciate the flexibility as they raise children, and others value not making long commutes. Whatever your reason for operating remotely, it’s here to stay.
However, with remote work comes communication challenges. Collaboration, tracking tasks, and interacting with co-workers become difficult to execute in a remote setting. Thankfully, UCaaS solves a lot of issues that past communication systems couldn’t remedy.
UCaaS operates in the cloud, meaning all of your company’s virtual communication can occur whenever and wherever. UCaaS pulls this off by delivering video calling, document sharing, virtual meetings, chat rooms, and voice calling all through a single platform.
Your employees can even set up one phone number so people can reach them in the workplace and out in the field. This allows your employees to collaborate whether they’re in the office, at home, or a mix of the two.
2. Improved Efficiency
Every business owner knows the consequences of too much downtime. So every company is searching for ways to work faster and more efficiently. With UCaaS, business operations excel because blackouts and hard drive crashes become a thing of the past. Your team never has to miss a beat because even if one communication channel goes down, you can smoothly switch to another format in the cloud.
With cloud-based communication through UCaaS, manual updates are not needed. This means your IT team no longer has to spend precious time tending to your communication system when they could be improving functionality elsewhere.
With UCaaS, all updates are automatic, and they’re delivered in small batches to avoid disruptions. Any time spent tinkering with internal communication issues can be better spent moving your business operations forward.
When you have a UCaaS platform, you have the flexibility to choose between multiple communication methods depending on what would be most efficient for your company. Additionally, UCaaS can work with your employee’s own devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets. This allows employees to use whatever devices they’re most comfortable with, which can help their productivity levels.
3. Lower Costs
The only thing better than an efficient and flexible internal communication system is an affordable one. Switching to UCaaS from older communication systems can prove to be incredibly cost-effective because it saves you money on:
- IT labor
- Hardware
- Updates and maintenance
- Network-carrier service fees
When you purchase UCaaS, you don’t have to buy and set up large amounts of hardware. Instead, the provider hosts the equipment at their facility, and all access is secured through the cloud.
Since your IT team doesn’t have to set up a bulky system or find storage space, your business saves a considerable amount of money on IT labor costs. Not to mention, there are hardly any upfront costs associated with cloud-based services. Rather, the service provider covers the equipment costs, and you pay as you use the service. With UCaaS, you only pay for what you need, which saves you a significant amount of money.
We’re not done yet. With UCaaS, you don’t even have to worry about updates or maintenance. These details are covered by the service provider, so you never have to pay for time consuming system updates or frustrating repairs.
Say goodbye to costly network-carrier service fees because all you need to access UCaaS is an internet connection. With all the money you save from switching to UCaaS, your IT staff can focus on other important projects that directly impact your company’s growth and expansion.
Make the Switch to UCaaS Today
As you can tell, UCaaS offers many pivotal benefits for your business such as remote work support, efficiency, and affordability. Beyond these top 3 benefits, UCaaS is also flexible, easy to operate, and provides stringent security. So what are you waiting for? Say goodbye to your clunky, slow, and expensive communications systems and step into the future with UCaaS.
If you’re ready to take your business’s internal communications to the next level, reach out to Integrated Communications today. You can schedule a free network audit to discover the best telecommunications solutions for your company. For more tips and tricks on how to improve your business communications, check out the other articles on our blog.