A lot has changed in the world of communications in the past couple of years. Digital technology advancements are exciting, but they can be overwhelming, too. How many apps or programs is your business using to communicate internally? What about with your customers? Five? Ten? More?
While it's great that you have specialized tools at your disposal, accessing them all may be daunting, wasting precious time and productivity. What's more, these disparate pieces don't communicate with each other, affecting employee relations and customer service by making it more difficult to find information easily.
With unified communications (UC), all of these tools can be integrated to operate through a single, unified cloud-based platform. Accessible from anywhere on any device, UC is making work easier for your team and service better for your customers. Read on to find out how a unified communications system can bring your organization's effectiveness into the 21st century.
Why the Path Forward is Not Through Multiple Vendors
If you’re still on a legacy platform, your phone works off one system, your video another. Messaging, file sharing, and text—they're all from different providers. Using multiple programs hosted by disjointed vendors may be adequate for running your business, but it's not optimal. There are as many reasons for this as there are apps. Here are some of the main issues:
Siloed Information
What lives on one program isn't visible in another. That leads to difficulties keeping everyone in the loop on internal communications as well as customer interactions. It also wastes time and effort as team members search for information, upping frustration and lowering productivity.
Chaotic App Management
Security updates for all of your apps are essential because you're dealing with sensitive information. But performing them is a nightmare to facilitate in terms of time and effort. That goes for enhanced feature upgrades, too. Ensuring all of your tools are running the latest software without affecting operations is an administrative headache when dealing with multiple third-party applications.
Complicated Access
Numerous logins and passwords to remember are time-consuming. Accessing their daily communication tools shouldn't take your team longer than a minute, but with so many systems to bring up, is that the case for your business? Once logged in, does everyone have the knowledge and capabilities to save in the cloud or share files? The less complicated it is for everyone to do their jobs, the more satisfied and productive they'll be.
Costly Third-Party Subscriptions
Aside from productivity, utilizing multiple third-party subscriptions costs your company in terms of capital. You're paying for all of these tools separately, and that adds up. Because none of them work together, you may be paying for features you don't need. It's a good bet some of your products offer the same functionalities, while with others, you're paying for features you don't use.
How UC Completely Revolutionizes the Digital Office
Imagine all of your business communication needs being in one place, talking and working with each other. For a truly cohesive digital experience, companies are turning to unified communications. UC allows you to:
Access all communications tools from one application: log into one integrated platform for voice, messaging, video conferencing, text, chat, fax, and more.
Work from anywhere on any device: in the office, remote, or on the move, your team stays productive as long as they have an internet connection.
Leverage IT team for more important tasks: cloud-based systems are managed by the provider and offer automatic software and security updates.
Save money: pay one provider, not several, for the specific tools your team uses; no storage, maintenance, or repair fees without on-prem service; lower electricity bills.
Enhance Employee Engagement: collaboration in real-time allows teammates to stay connected, sharing resources, ideas, and water cooler time no matter where they are.
Give your customers better service: when your workforce can more easily do their jobs, stay connected, access information, and are generally more satisfied, they'll provide faster results and better service.
View analytics all in one place: customizable reporting helps you identify trends and address needs without piecing together data from various tools.
The Future of a Truly Unified Office
It's an understatement to say that the UC landscape has revolutionized how we work with its innovations in the past several years. That said, the industry will continue to mature, and that evolution is sure to offer more exciting benefits for your business.
One area we're sure to see growth in is integration. Are there some applications from third-party vendors that you want to keep using? If they’re not already an option, they may be available for incorporation into your new system. Providers like RingCentral add apps all the time, offering more and more opportunities where you'll be able to take some of the disparate tools you use now and blend them into the UC system of your choice.
While integration isn't new to UC, we believe many segments, such as human resources, finance, and intuitive response will be key areas of growth in terms of unification in the future.
You don't need a crystal ball to see that unified communication is the way of the modern workforce. Cutting down on costs, frustration, and waste while bolstering connectivity, efficiency, and service, it's sure to boost business outcomes overall.
To learn more about unified communications and the future of this technology, contact us here.
If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy:
