It’s an exciting time to be in the Unified Communications (UC) landscape as it’s continuously changing and expanding! We’re constantly on the lookout for emerging technology and industry trends. One of the most disruptive trends so far this year? UC-as-a-Service (UCaaS).
What is UCaaS?
The official definition of UCaaS is “a model of delivery where a diverse mix of communication and collaboration applications and services are outsourced to a 3rd party provider and delivered over an IP network.” Essentially, everything you need to run a large communication network managed all in one place.
UCaaS technologies include an enterprise’s entire messaging and presence technology, online meetings, telephony and video conferencing. These diverse sources point to how UCaaS has become more than a dream: it’s now an exciting reality.
UCaaS is known for producing increased levels of high availability (HA), which refers to the system’s capability to stay operational for a remarkably long period of time. It also helps increase the flexibility and scalability for core tasks needing to be accomplished within a business.
UCaaS causing ripples
What do all these opportunities mean for you technically? With its flexibility, UCaaS can be deployed both on- or off-premises, or even in a hybrid configuration. This allows you to configure and address your particular needs within your communications environment. UCaaS also amps up the communications response rate as well as productivity within the business.
An added bonus? Hosting UCaaS means you’re no longer required to make significant investments to update your infrastructure.
With this in mind, your remote workforce may connect, communicate, and collaborate on a strong (and standardized!) communications platform. No matter where you are, what time it is, or what communications device and application you have on hand, you are capable of working with your team effectively.
Fact to back utilization
Harvard Business Review conducted a study due to the high value found in escalating collaboration. They found that about one-third of value-added workplace collaborations come from only 3-5% of employees. Now, picture this: that initial small percentage increases to 10%, 25%, or even 50% of employees! How?
The simple answer? It’s better at facilitating your employees’ communications.
On top of thorough business collaboration helping improve productivity, it can also build up customer service which, in turn, leads to an increase in sales, quicker turnaround in bringing updated products to the market, and creates a well-oiled communication machine with which your team can engage.
UCaaS moving forward
As UCaaS continues evolving and moving full speed ahead, the continuous trends it follows include interoperability, CRM integration, remote access, instant messaging, and the cloud. We can’t wait to see what it does next!
Let us know in the comments below where you see the UCaaS going in the near future as well as what other trends are developing in UCaaS.
Dominique Ramirez is passionate about the intersection of innovation, communication and technology. She writes about unified communications, leadership, customer success, and other technology trends. .
