In this expanded guide, we cover everything UCaaS. You'll get to know the top features, how UCaaS works, and why it's better than standard phone service. Plus, you get a checklist for selecting the right UCaaS provider. It blends internet-based phone and messaging into a full-featured communications platform. Companies adopt UCaaS to provide staff with collaboration tools to work anywhere.
UCaaS solutions function across a user's computer, desk phone, and smartphone. An obvious reason why companies adopt UCaaS is to let their employees work anywhere. But there's more to it than that. The problem UCaaS solves is the uncertainty from many separate, disparate communication apps.
The on-premises PBX has run its course. The way we work has forever changed. UCaaS has proven itself as the most resilient enterprise communication service. Companies no longer have to run analog phone lines to every person to talk or work on projects. It also operates in the cloud, which withstands natural disasters. For instance, changing the call routing of inbound calls takes only a few clicks.
UCaaS simplifies otherwise technical telephony tasks. It's easy to see why Unified Communications has become the norm in the business world. Short for Communications Platform as a Service, CPaaS is intended for developers to provide voice and text functionality to an application. UCaaS works differently. It provides a full-featured communications solution that requires no software development or substantial technical skill to operate. If you're developing an app that connects calls or messages between users, then a CPaaS is worthwhile.
For everyone else, UCaaS consists of an all-in-one platform that you can begin using right away. Unified Communications as a Service streamlines communication solutions across the enterprise. VoIP converts sound and transmits it into data packets to a cloud phone service provider.
Your entire team can place calls without a burdensome infrastructure. It's all handled by the provider. Employees today can work remotely with apps on their computers and mobile devices. Creating your own UC platform can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. It's not about the cost; it's about achieving true scalability. UCaaS data centers withstand severe weather, power outages, and surges in remote work.
Messaging, collaboration, and video apps tend to work similarly. UC solutions operate with practicality in mind. In a nutshell, UCaaS surfaces innovations borne out of enterprise contact centers without the complexity or expenses. We hear from company leaders and IT managers all the time. One thing they both lack is time. UCaaS is less expensive and provides more value than your existing phone system.
Businesses can save on service contracts, real estate, utilities, and premium add-ons. With business phone service, you pay a flat rate per user. Your IT staff are tech wizards, but they hate maintaining old-school phone systems. These obsolete systems take a lot of time to configure and maintain. They'd prefer to help employees and scale your company for growth. On the other hand, where UC is concerned, you will normally have one provider who manages everything for you and integrates all your communication and IT services.
Considering types of communication only, such as instant messaging and email, Unified Communications is all about integrating everything into one platform. Integrating all of your communication services enables free-flowing collaboration without any latency. For example, your teams can work on the same files simultaneously, rather than having to send one version of a file back and forth. Unifying your communications also reduces your dependency upon certain devices and pieces of software.
Everything is integrated, so you can still communicate fluidly no matter what. For instance, if your IP handset stopped working, you could still communicate with colleagues via a soft client or email. So we have a really good idea of what unified communications means, but how do unified communications actually work? For example:.
Unified communications is all about giving teams the ability to work together regardless of their physical locations. For example, even if a member of a team is out of the office for the day, they should be able to seamlessly collaborate with the rest of their team despite this. Unifying your communications is made possible through integrating your solutions and using as few solutions as possible. For instance, the Office Suite works fantastically together, making communications and collaboration easy.
For instance, employees can edit the same Excel document at any given time. Furthermore, Outlook integrates with Teams, so there you have an off-the-shelf solution that integrates email, instant messaging, and audio and video conferencing. Typically, a UC platform is structured with at least one back-end system that synchronizes the various communications services. For example, a messaging platform may have convenient "click-to-talk" or "click-to-video" buttons that launch your team's preferred conferencing service.
Likewise, the conferencing app may have a chat window where you can share important files. It all works together without a hitch. Jumping between devices and apps can be frustrating, but thankfully, UC platforms unify the most important communication tools in one intuitive system. Whether you're using a mobile device, a conference phone, or a laptop, you can quickly access the UC environment and keep the conversation going.
By merging conferencing and messaging features, UC platforms make team collaboration more of a real-time experience than ever before. At Yamaha, we're excited to offer hardware that works with UC systems to synchronize audio and video at a professional level. Often, what you see is not what you get when it comes to unified communications. Before investing in a new UC system, it's important to understand a few basic terms that are often used in the industry.
BYOD refers to a feature where any team member can use their personal mobile device or computer to access the secure UC system. With BYOD, there's no need for company-issued devices that live in the room, so the feature can save a lot of money on unnecessary technology. Mobility: This term refers to a seamless UC experience, whether you're at the office or traveling. You can also use VoIP phones for home or office use.
With a cloud-based solution, the setup is simple. No downtime to deploy the software. With Intermedia Unite, our cloud-based unified communications platform, setup is as easy as a phone call.
You can keep your existing phone numbers. Switching to VoIP is likely to lead to huge savings, not an increase in costs. This is because setup fees are far lower than setup costs for traditional phone systems. Ongoing costs are typically lower as well.
According to an analysis performed by Vault Research, businesses that switched to Intermedia saw a 36 percent drop in average per-line phone bill costs. Not all UC providers are the same. To get the best experience possible out of your service, make sure your provider offers a high uptime guarantee — ideally over You also want to look at security and compliance — high standards and independent validation are a must.
Comprehensive support and a seamless onboarding experience are also important. How easy is it to get your questions answered?
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