How Unified Communications Delivers ROI
Even with the emergence of home working at scale and the Openreach ISDN switch off (penned for 2025), there are still many companies across the UK with legacy, on- premises telephony. So, why are there still plenty of companies out there that haven’t yet embraced hosted telephony and unified communications? For some, there’s the illusion of technical complexity, and for others, there’s an assumption that more features and capability equals more cost.
Let’s tackle that latter issue as we discuss why moving to a cloud-hosted, unified communications solution not only saves money but can actually deliver a return on investment back into the business.
What is UCaaS?
UCaaS – or ‘Unified Communications as a Service’ is
a cloud-based telecoms and collaboration solution combining voice, video, instant messaging, call recording, online meetings, screen sharing, and more, through a single platform, accessible from mobile and desktop apps.
In this report, we outline commercial and operational improvements that can be obtained through using such a solution.
“86% of buyers are willing to pay more for great customer experience.”
With more businesses than ever competing based on their ability to deliver positive CX, investing in the right communications infrastructure is essential. Through implementation of a fully featured UCaaS solution, organisations can provide:
- Intelligent call routing and multi-level IVR, ensuring customers reach the right agents.
- Call queues and hunt groups to maximise agent efficiency.
- Integration into business CRMs to ensure agents have access to detailed customer information when they pick up the phone.
“75% of UCaaS users experience improved productivity levels”
Ease of Communications
With UCaaS, you can enjoy a wealth of technical capabilities through a single application.
“73% of employees spend an average of one hour per day switching apps”
A fully-featured UCaaS solution combines voice, video calling and conferencing, instant messaging, document sharing, presence settings, and more, accessible by mobile or desktop devices. Being able to communicate and collaborate seamlessly via one system attracts a hugely positive ROI. Staff get work done quicker and easier and can achieve this from anywhere, which is more important now than ever before. It means people can work more effectively, take quicker decisions, and as a result, they’ll feel more productive and happier.
Reduced Costs
Moving to a hosted model enables you to implement a communications suite without attracting unwanted CapEx in the form of on-premises equipment that would need to be purchased or leased. When you host your PBX in the cloud the only hardware you need to consider is desk phones for users that want them, and headsets for those who would rather use a soft client on their laptop.One of the onerous costs of on-premises telephony is maintenance. With your phone system being central to interacting with customers and suppliers, you can’t do without it. On-premises telephony usually requires a maintenance contract which are often both costly, contractually lengthy, and a hidden cost which should be considered on top of your tariff.
Added Resilience
Think about the impact of having a resilient phone system, versus not. If your phone system isn’t resilient and you suffer an outage…
How will that impact your ability to do business with customers, and what could the cost be? It’s often unseen costs that are the most expensive.
According to a recent Frost & Sullivan study:
“80% view increased uptime as a major benefit of the cloud. 80% also saw freeing up IT as a significant advantage”
Improved Agility
Your organisation’s ability to rapidly adapt to changes in market conditions has likely never been tested further than recently. According to a recent Cleveland Research survey:
“Workplace trends like remote and distance working are heightening the need for the cloud.”
Because UCaaS is delivered via the cloud, it is fast to deploy, can be cloud, it is fast to deploy, can be delivered to a distributed workforce, accessed from anywhere
with an internet connection, and you can add and remove connections instantly, meaning your business’ communication system can adapt to any change.
Compliance
For companies operating in financially regulated industries that need to adhere to compliance practices such as PCI and MiFID II, the cost of achieving compliance can be high.
Firstly the cost to deploy and maintain on-premises recording technology is exceptionally high, especially when accounting for storage costs. Secondly, on-premises solutions are not as flexible and technically powerful as their hosted counterparts in terms of the speed and accuracy with which information can be retrieved, analysed, and reported on.
The quicker you can get the information you need, the cheaper it is to do so, both in terms of staff time (your compliance officer) and potential regulatory fines by not reporting breaches in a timely fashion.
So what’s the best option for Hybrid Working?
There’s loads of options when looking at what Hybrid Working solution is best for you. Thinking about what your business priorities are is the first step in choosing the best system. Contact us today to book a free consultation if you’d like some impartial advice on the best system for you.
To learn more about how we can support your business in transitioning to hybrid working, here’s how to get in touch
Email us @
hello@middigitalsolutions.com
Call us on
0161 974 6838
Or find us on our YouTube Page
www.youtube.com/middigitalsolutions