Top 10 Unified Communications for Your Business

How Can Unified Communications Help Take Your Business To The Next Level?

According to data from Grand View Research, the global Unified Communications (UC) market held an estimated value of 136 billion dollars in 2023, with over half a million businesses, globally, taking advantage of UC technology.  Given its clear popularity, UC holds a significant place in the daily communication channels and successes of businesses everywhere, assisting towards improved communications, better collaboration, higher productivity, and greater profits as a whole. But what specific benefits can a unified communications solution offer your business? 

At Elite Group, we are cloud communication experts with decades of experience helping businesses of all kinds make the most of new and emerging technologies, so they can stay ahead of the competition and maximise their chances of sustained success. This includes unified communications.

With this in mind, here are some things you may wish to know about UC and ten benefits of Unified Communications you can take advantage of, once the technology has been onboarded.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Explained

‘Unified Communications’ is an umbrella term used to describe applications that house all essential elements of communication businesses need to enjoy unfettered growth and success – including voice calling, instant messaging, email, file sharing, screen sharing, and video conferencing tools. These solutions are usually cloud-based, allowing them to be accessed – and sometimes managed – off-site. Unified Communications as a Service, on the other hand, is the term used to describe a UC setup when the technology is actively managed and hosted by a third-party provider. This provider is then tasked with the day-to-day monitoring and management of the service, including making any necessary updates to the software and security efforts. 

Many businesses opt for UCaaS as opposed to managing UC themselves, because it removes much of the stress and effort from IT managers and workers within the business, leaving them available to focus on more important, valuable and time-sensitive tasks.

Top 10 Unified Communications Benefits for Your Business

1) Communication Versatility

Businesses that rely on various pieces of communication software often don’t realise the amount of time and productivity they lose through having to switch between formats in meeting scenarios. For example, should a meeting need to move from a voice call to a video conference, the user would need to end the initial call, set up a new one, invite the relevant members, and wait for them to log onto the call – all of which wastes time and distracts staff from essential daily roles.

In comparison, with UC, as all modes of communication are housed within a single unified communications platform, users can transfer from one mode of communication to another seamlessly, all without dropping the initial call. This cuts any time lost due to switching between applications and allows employees to remain productive for longer.

2) Easy to Manage Payments

For medium to large businesses with a lot of regular expenditures, it can be difficult to keep track of the payments and having a clear view of what each payment is for. Businesses that rely on multiple separate communications applications will have multiple subscription payments leaving their account every month. Not only can this be confusing for accountants or directors, it can also be very expensive.

However, UC platforms often cost businesses far less than those who have multiple payments leaving their account frequently. Plus with only one payment for all communications, technologies leaving the account every month, keeping track of necessary spending is far easier when the time comes to perform an expenditure audit.

3) Improved Collaboration

As remote working has become so commonplace in the post-Covid era – with over 5 million people in the UK now working predominantly from home according to data from Statista – the disconnect between office staff and remote workers can sometimes lead to delays and crossed-wires when it comes to team project efforts. For example, teams working on separate offline files such as Word docs may accidentally submit the incorrect version of a file or delete someone else’s work.

Unified communication tools offer a solution to this problem. With live collaborative applications and real-time communication, employees working from both office locations and remote locations can share ideas, discuss action points, and offer input on tasks, seamlessly. As every member of the team can have a live view of the other’s input, there is virtually no chance of confusion regarding file versions or whose work needs to be edited; aiding productivity, and cutting lost time due to mistakes.

4) Remote Workforce

As we just discussed, a vast majority of the population now works from home exclusively. Given the impact these workers can have on the success of a business, they must have just as much accessibility and connectivity as those working from the office. This can be difficult, though, as not all systems are designed with remote and hybrid teams in mind. This means it can be a struggle for those working from home to access the files they need and communicate with their colleagues effectively.

As UC platforms are cloud-based, remote workers are easily able to chat with their fellow colleagues whenever it is necessary, as well as access documents, applications, and other files that are important in their role. All they need to do is log onto the UC system using an internet connection and a digital device (mobile phone, laptop, tablet etc.) and they will have all the tools they need at their disposal.

5) Improved Productivity

A major problem with businesses that utilise various separate communication applications is the amount of time lost by employees who need to switch between said applications constantly. According to a report by Harvard Business Review, workers spend on average four hours a week switching between apps. This equates to a huge amount of time lost over a working year – time that could be better spent serving the business.

With UC platforms, this needless toggling becomes a thing of the past. As unified communications integrates everything a worker needs into a single, easy-to-use platform, employees no longer need to waste endless hours moving between the tools of multiple communication providers. Instead, they have the instant ability to move between apps seamlessly, all at the click of a button.

6) Less Stress

Businesses who have to handle consistently large volumes of calls, both internally and externally can fall victim to technical issues and confusion, if they are relying on outdated, insufficient communication systems. These challenges can be particularly troublesome for IT technicians and managers, who already have a demanding workload.  Having to deal with such issues regularly can leave these individuals needing to take time out of their schedule to fix them, thus falling behind on other important tasks.

The beauty of UCaaS is that these issues are dealt with quickly and remotely by an external service provider, taking the stress away from busy in-house staff, and making their lives and jobs much easier.

7) Improved Customer Experience

Having to wait on hold for an extended period, being transferred to the wrong department or having a call drop entirely are three of the biggest peeves customers can experience when calling a business for support. This can have a negative impact on the customer’s experience with your business, which can result in them not choosing to engage in repeat business or moving away from your business when their contract comes to an end. 

UC can mitigate these issues through enabling communication to become more reliable, streamlined and organised. When it comes to voice calls, UC systems powered by Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) can succinctly queue, answer, and transfer calls with ease over an internet connection – with call handlers having complete clarity over where calls need to be transferred to thanks to the ease-of-use of the system. By reducing awkward scenarios like the ones described above, businesses can benefit from reduced call times, improved customer satisfaction, and better customer retention rates.

8) Increased Employee Satisfaction

A lack of effective technology is one of the main causes of employee dissatisfaction in the workplace, with large numbers of employees choosing to explore alternative career options due to old, outdated legacy technology.  This is especially true for internal and external communications – if employees aren’t able to effectively communicate with each other or their customers without barriers, they can’t possibly hope to be as productive as possible and keep their morale steady.

Thankfully, modern UC solutions are a far cry from legacy communication setups. Their easy-to-grasp interface, impressive feature set and collaborative abilities, mean employees can fulfil daily tasks without feeling frustrated and held back by technology that simply isn’t up to standard.

9) Better Communication Across All Levels of the Business

Businesses with multiple offices and numerous departments can struggle to pass messages and tasks seamlessly across all levels of the business due to a disconnect in the way each section of the business operates. One department may value one method of communication,such as voice, while another may find chat or video calls more beneficial. 

However, with all levels of the business using the same UC platform, inter-department contact and the delivery of important messages, files, meeting dates, and tasks is far more simplified than the alternative, leading to better internal relationships and improved productivity.

10) Less Downtime

When communications technology was exclusively housed on-site and hard-wired into the building, it used to be the case that, in the event of a serious technical fault, an engineer would need to visit the premises to fix the problem in person. Not only was this expensive, but it could also cost businesses hours or even days of lost time if the fault put a complete halt to operations.

UC platforms present no such issues, because the solution is cloud-based, and accessible on a plethora of digital devices through an app, any faults that arise are usually fixable by the UCaaS provider remotely, with virtually no downtime.

Key Unified Communications Solutions

8×8

The 8×8 eXperience Communications (also known as XCaaS) platform is an all-encompassing UC system that is home to all methods of communication businesses could ever need to keep operations running smoothly. 8×8 XCaaS bridges the gap between internal and external communications by providing multi-channel communication, productivity features and contact centre capabilities, within one platform. 

The tool of choice of many major organisations worldwide – including fast-food giant Mcdonald’s – 8×8 eXperience Communications was crafted with usability in mind, offering a simplistic yet in-depth interface that is graspable for anyone from the beginning.  This cloud-based system is perfect for communications across numerous offices and remote work locations alike.

MiVoice Business

Mitel’s MiVoice Business platform is another widely popular UC solution. Its stand out feature is its versatility. Businesses can opt to host the solution in the cloud, on-site or through a combination of the two, which is ideal for businesses that value having more control over their solutions and would prefer to keep an element of system management in-house. Available on a subscription basis, MiVoice Business is a cost-effective solution that allows access to feature-rich communications without breaking your budget. 

Gamma Horizon

Used by over 60,000 businesses worldwide, Gamma Horizon offers a cloud telephony solution with a range of features.  With the ability to make lightning-quick operational changes across the entire platform (no matter where it is being used) in a matter of seconds, Gamma is the choice of those with ever-changing, dynamic business requirements. 

On top of this, easy-to-master intelligent call routing allows callers to be answered and transferred to whomever they need easily without delay.

Why choose Elite Group for your Unified Communications?

As a cloud communications expert with decades of experience helping businesses make the most of new and emerging communications technologies, Elite Group is ideally situated to help you eliminate the issues that arise due to your outdated communications systems and replace them with effective, fast-acting UC platforms.

We have prestigious partnerships with some of the most recognisable UC providers, including Mitel, Gamma and 8×8 – meaning we are trusted to deliver top-quality advice and can help you to find the best deal on your communications solutions. 

Our dedicated account managers also mean you will always have someone you can rely on when you need advice on our products and comprehensive technical support is available through our Service Desk, so you have everything you need to move to a unified communications solution with confidence. 

Speak to Elite Group about onboarding a new unified communications system today.