How companies can benefit from unified communications

by Diana S. web designer

Unified communication is all about having a single system to manage multiple communication channels such as emails, video conferencing, instant messaging, audio calling, file sharing, and more. Though we have been talking about the potential of unified communications for years, it is only during this pandemic its importance was felt. A full-stack Unified Communications allows companies to manage all the components of their communication system in one place freeing the companies from maintaining multiple disparate systems and IT resources to manage them. A study reveals that 34.3% of businesses have reduced IT spending by an average of $161k a year by eliminating redundant apps and shifting to cloud-based unified communications solutions.

As the world is now moving towards a new era of virtual communications, companies are not just looking at the cost, but the experiences that they can deliver to their employees and customers. Unified communications make businesses more productive and help smaller companies become more competitive by helping them do things that were once considered possible for larger organizations only.

Unified Communications will make businesses adaptable to the continuous changes in the business environment and overcome roadblocks. Let's see how unified communications can help companies to keep up with their rising demands and enjoy numerous benefits that come with a low cost and high level of security.

Productivity

Adopting a unified communications solution can boost the productivity of your company as it enables teams to collaborate effectively. When your teams use a unified communications solution, sharing ideas, exchanging comments, and getting responses to become easy. You don’t have to send emails back and forth. Your teams can have real-time discussions through several channels at the same time which improves your business processes and productivity.

Mobility

Most of the unified communications solutions have in-built features for mobility, which means your physical presence is no longer required in the office. You can connect with your colleagues, customers, and other stakeholders from anywhere. A unified communication solution makes it possible for teams to stay connected from any location and any device.

Security

As any potential threats and breaches in communication can have serious business implications, companies end up spending a lot of money in monitoring the various networks and tools. Companies need to manage what is being communicated and how it is being communicated to maintain the confidentiality of tasks and projects. Unified communication solutions have built-in mechanisms to encrypt the information that is passed on via the network, ensuring security.

Scalability

Scalability refers to the ability of the application or platform to meet the communication and collaboration needs of the users. Since most of the tools are hosted in the cloud and are based on the ‘pay-as-you-go' model, companies will be able to scale up tools' usage to keep pace with the ever-changing business dynamics.

Reduced costs

The biggest advantage of using unified communication is the amount of money it can save for businesses. There are no upfront software, hardware, installation or integration costs. It has a low per-user monthly billing and it helps to eliminate expenses associated with business travel. Unified communication works on more advanced technologies than makes them cost-effective.

Easy-to-deploy

Unified Communications are mostly cloud-based and they don’t require any installation or maintenance. There’s no extensive onboarding required. No downtime is needed to deploy the software.

Increased revenue

Unified communications bring in superior communication, better customer service and sales processes which drive more revenue for your organization.

Improve business efficiency

As your company reduces the number of disparate tools and apps used for various types of communication, your business can operate more efficiently. Unified communication solution speeds up employee communications by ensuring that the important files, information, and messages are stored securely so that they can be found easily. With unified communications, collaboration and problem-solving become easy and quick.

Better customer service

Irrespective of the industry in which you operate, customers have a high level of expectations. With multiple communication channels to handle, customer support agents have their hands full. Missing important messages from customers can spell disaster for companies. A good unified communication solution will ensure that your customer support team never misses a beat — because all communication channels are available under one platform. Unified communication gives you the cutting-edge technology that is needed to meet and exceed your customer expectations.

Reliability and continuity

With a unified communication solution in place, when natural calamities strike, employees can continue doing their work remotely as long as they can access the internet. Unified communication applications are hosted by the service providers and most vendors guarantee an uptime of more than 99%.

In today’s world where employees and workplaces are more distributed all over the world, disparate apps and communication silos pose threat to data, productivity, and security. A single unified communication system holds the key to boosting productivity and efficiency in this ever-changing digital landscape.