Talk is cheap, but a solid communications infrastructure is not: Gartner estimates that companies worldwide will spend $1.46 trillion on communications services in 2022 and will grow that investment by 2.2% in 2023. Even small businesses spend an average of $5,736 on SaaS per employee.
Why the expense?
- Businesses are investing in tech again: Part of the reason is that businesses are once again investing in infrastructure after putting major purchases on pause for two years during uncertain pandemic times. As economies worldwide rev up, companies are bringing on more employees and needing to expand their communications seats. These are welcome costs as companies look to enjoy renewed prosperity.
- Communications are still siloed: The other reason is that some companies still manage communications in siloed channels. They’re using multiple platforms that hamper productivity and customer satisfaction through networks hosted on outdated equipment that’s expensive to maintain.
When thinking about refreshing your company’s communications infrastructure, smart companies are migrating to cloud-based unified communications (UC). UC offers a robust, interlinked platform of multi-channel communications that lets your customers interact with your company in their preferred way and your staff grow their productivity. The cloud-based functionality of UC systems means less time spent on maintenance and less money spent on equipment and overhead.
What is Unified Communications?
Unified communications (UC) is a cloud-delivered integration model that supports six primary communications functions: enterprise telephony, conferencing (audio/video/web), instant messaging and presence, mobility, optimized business processes, and email.
Companies are loving cloud-based unified communications to simplify work for their international remote teams and streamline their infrastructure. With a UCaaS system in place, companies enjoy these benefits:
- Increased Productivity. It’s easy to integrate business management tools with internal and external communication systems to give agents a complete view of their customers and productivity.
- Intuitive Interface. Cloud-based unified communications are plug and play. Meaning if your company needs to add another channel or app, the API-based foundation allows you to do so seamlessly in just a few clicks.
- Better Reach. UC systems expand the ways customers can reach your company. Whether they prefer phone, email, live chat, or social, your call center agents can provide the support or sales experience the client feels most comfortable with.
- Reduced Costs. UC is an effective way to operate and grow while lowering TCO and operational costs.
Communications is a large but necessary expense, so it’s important for telecom leaders to find ways to maintain reasonable TCO. This is where the cloud comes in. Businesses save an average of 50-70% after making the switch to a cloud-based voice environment.
Your business’s financial success depends on your communications being up and running as much as possible.
Consolidate Your Business Number Carriers
Time is money, and there are better ways to spend your working hours than updating number mapping sheets. Phone number management is easier in a cloud-native communications environment. Using a UC system for your communications allows your organization to port, configure, and manage thousands of phone numbers through one interface.
