Let’s break down unified communications as a service (UCaaS). Unified communications (UC) just means all your communications (i.e., calls, messaging, text, video conferencing, etc.) in one place. Now let’s add on as a service (AaS). That means the product is delivered to you via the internet as a subscription model. It doesn’t live on your own computers, it lives on your service providers, so you get as much of it or as little as you need, when you need it, at the click of a button. Put them together, and you have all of your communications needs, seamlessly integrated, taken care of by an expert service provider, and delivered to you when you need it. But what are all the functionalities you get with unified communications?
Storage Integration
If you want seamless data management, you want storage integration. A company is as much it’s data as it is its people and premises. Well, your data must be accessible to your employees (and when necessary, customers) from any platform with as few barriers as possible. An employee checking in on their phone at an airport gate should be able to access the same data as when they’re at their laptop in a café, on their personal desktop at home, and on a shared computer at the office. Your customers need help right away, so everyone at your company needs seamless data access and management.
Virtual Meetings
By 2023, everyone should know exactly what virtual meetings are good for and why a virtual meeting sometimes beats jumping on a five-hour flight for a forty-five-minute face to face. Everyone in the company can collaborate efficiently when everyone in the company can attend a meeting with anyone else in the company (and any digitally connected customer) anywhere with the click of a button.
Mobile Apps
All your UC functionalities should be usable by app for on-the-go accessibility and convenience. You nearly always have your phone with you, right? Well, with the help of a mobile app, your entire communications infrastructure and all the great features we’re discussing are yours in the palm of your hand.
Auto Attendant
If you want streamlined call routing and truly excellent customer service, you want auto attendant. It should be easy for customers to call exactly who they want without fussing through a clumsy directory, clicking around LinkedIn, or leaving a bunch of messages. And if a customer wants to talk to you, no doubt you want to talk to them. Auto attendant makes it easy.
Hunt Groups
Hunt groups are essential for optimised call distribution and availability. Basically, a hunt group lets you distribute calls to multiple numbers. Say someone calls your sales department. Instead of a receptionist answering the phone and directing the call to a salesperson they see is available, hunt groups direct the call to all available numbers in the group. The department doesn’t miss a call and the customer enjoys less friction when communicating with you.
User-Friendly Visuals
As you can tell, there are lots of features and functionalities that can get included in unified communications. That’s why the tools that manage your UC suite include user-friendly visuals, such as infographics, to make management easier. Similarly, user-friendly visuals help your team use the various tools provided by US like they’re communication pros, and user-friendly visuals at the customer-facing end of your communications make reaching out to you a breeze.
Customization
There are many functionalities and features that can be bundled into a UC solution, and you get to choose exactly what you want and don’t want. Don’t need Instant Messaging? Don’t pay for it. More bandwidth for more video conferencing? Have it. UC is a completely customizable solution because the communication needs of any given company are going to be different.
Scalability
The size of your business (and the size of your needs) can change day to day. Here’s where the AaS part comes in: pay for exactly how much US you need and that’s it. More phone lines? Activate them with a few mouse clicks. Fewer? Take them off just as easily.
Final Thoughts
Your customers need access to you in the most seamless way possible, your team needs to collaborate with ease, and you need to manage a whole suite of communications tools in a simple, intuitive way. Unified communications as a service is the best way to fulfil all those objectives, bar none.
