PGi Blog Resources for UCaaS and Global Collaboration for Business Clients
Not so long ago, most knowledge workers would leave home each day to go work in an office for eight (or so) hours, and then return home in the evening. Two separate locations, two different “lives.” Today, a profound shift in when, where, and how people work is taking place, and the line between work and home is blurry, if not erased altogether.
As common as it is to be working remotely, one area that continues to frustrate employees are the tools companies provide for communication and collaboration when they are not in the office. In their personal lives, they use video, instant messaging and other social apps to share information with family and friends, and they want to use similar tools in their professional lives. However, many businesses prohibit the use of consumer apps for work purposes, even though their own unified communication platforms are not as intuitive, seamless and easy to use as consumer-facing options.
Business Benefits of UCaaS that Help Employees, Too
Given the risk of data and security breaches as well as the desire to present a professional image, it is evident why businesses do not want employees using consumer apps for work-related communications.
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a way for businesses to get the security and control they need while providing workers with the user-experience and flexibility they want. In fact, the business case for UCaaS is growing stronger every day. IDC predicts that by 2020 nearly three-quarters of the U.S. workforce will use mobile technology, and companies that make provisions for telecommuting and distributed workers via UCaaS will realize many benefits, including the following:
Instant Collaboration
UCaaS enabled online collaboration services move discussion along without dropouts, buffering or other video streaming quality issues. Remote workers can contribute to a meeting from anywhere, entering virtual conference sessions ready to view and share documents, video and graphics.
Scalable Provisioning
UCaaS networks are scalable to match the ebb and flow of business. The flexibility to scale up and down to reduce wasted bandwidth is key. Companies can start small, deploy and move resources where they’re needed, and retract once a project wraps up or an office closes or moves.
Low Upfront Expenses
UCaaS shifts a business’s cost of designing telecom solutions to a UCaaS provider. Leased phones and equipment allow companies to adopt new technologies and gain a foothold in new locations without worrying about features becoming outdated. Service fees for initial configuration and installation are also reduced.
Reduced Operating Costs
Variable premises-based infrastructure and software maintenance and management costs are replaced with predictable monthly fees. Shared data centers deliver service more efficiently than onsite infrastructure. And companies no longer are required to obtain rack space, pay energy bills or configure and manage connections.
Better IT Staff Utilization
UCaaS allows companies to shift equipment purchases, updates, and maintenance tasks associated with telecom to the provider and deploy IT staff to focus on more strategic projects to ensure faster and more targeted impact of technology investments.
Enhanced Security
As a cloud-based service, UCaaS providers have stringent measures in place to monitor networks for known threats and potential vulnerabilities. Performance redundancies protect against downtime. Security patches and updates are applied as part of monthly service programs.
Greater Customer Value
For most businesses, technology investments deliver the greatest value when they boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. Advanced UCaaS solutions drive internal productivity and agility, which often result in better products and services, as well as faster and more reliable product and services delivery to customer.
With Unified Communications as a Service, telecommunications networks are becoming more efficient and more devices are being served than ever before. Business can build and further develop their telecom foundations with services such as video conferencing, instant messaging and data sharing. The result is a safe, secure and affordable platform that provides communication and collaboration in a way that engages employees and allows them to work when, where and how they need and want to work.
Learn more about GlobalMeet’s UCaaS offering here.
