Unified Communications for Management Companies

Are Cloud-Based Communication Tools the Best Choice for Management Companies?

Management companies are often heavily involved in the financial side of the businesses they serve, making consistent, effective communication essential. Yet despite this fact, many still struggle with ineffective processes caused by outdated legacy tools.

For management companies seeking to solve their business communication and continuity issues, switching to a unified communications (UC) platform can be a game changer. 

Bringing all the essential communications tools a management company needs to keep clients satisfied – including instant messaging, email, voice calls, video conferencing, file sharing, collaboration technologies and more – into a single, easy-to-navigate application, UC not only ensures seamless communications but helps to avoid the risk of data breaches.

It sounds impressive. As does the prospect of improving internal processes and maximising cost efficiencies. So, how can unified communications systems benefit management companies?

At Elite Group, we’re expert providers of unified communications systems and ideally placed to help your management company take full advantage of the technology. Speak with an Elite Group expert today, or keep reading to learn more.

How Unified Communications Systems Can Help Management Companies Remain Productive and Secure

Heightened Data Security 

While communicating across numerous separate apps can have its advantages, companies are often unaware of the potential security risks posed by spreading communications too wide.

According to data from Stanford University, as featured in Security Today, 88% of data breaches are caused by human error. More often than not, this is the result of employees unwittingly offering sensitive login information, such as usernames and passwords, to cybercriminals disguising themselves in a phishing scam. 

This is a scam in which a company employee is contacted (often by email) and is fooled into offering sensitive data, under the belief the party they’re speaking with is a fellow employee, a higher-up, a client, or someone else of influence.

Along with regular employee training, unified communications can help workers avoid falling for phishing scams by allowing them to focus attention on a single communications platform in which legitimate users are easily identifiable.

Plus, UC platforms can also be integrated with pre-existing communications tools, such as Microsoft Teams, meaning management companies can still benefit from Microsoft’s comprehensive security features in their communications.

Beyond avoiding phishing, unified communications solutions also feature robust security tools management companies can use to ensure all messaging is completely protected. Encryption, for example, scrambles data within a unified communications system, meaning only those with the correct access key can read it.

UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) 

UCaaS solutions offer even more in-depth data security.

They are similar to self-managed unified communications systems, aside from the fact they are managed and monitored by a third-party service provider, rather than in-house. 

This may initially sound like an added security risk, but keep in mind that these external companies, like Elite Group, are experienced communications and security experts trained to handle these aspects on your behalf. So you can focus on more pressing matters and leave your client data in the hands of reliable professionals who are available 24/7.

With innovative security features like autonomous monitoring, UCaaS service providers track traffic across your network and eliminate threats, such as malware, before they have a chance to launch an attack.

Speak to Elite Group about how our security measures can help keep your client data safe. 

Compliance Management

Data standards, such as GDPR and similar, have been implemented over recent years to ensure the ethical and responsible treatment of customer or employee data.

For management companies home to mass amounts of sensitive financial data, maintaining compliance can be a struggle. Thankfully, unified communications systems feature tools that help companies keep to any relevant data standards, adding another level of security and reassurance.

Productivity and Streamlined Communications

To keep clients fully informed, management companies need a single, streamlined way to communicate, rather than scattering messaging across numerous separate platforms which could lead to missed messaging and productivity issues.

According to data from the Harvard Business Review, employees at large companies spend approximately 4 hours per week toggling between separate applications – severely impacting productivity.

Because unified communications consolidate all essential communications tools into a single application, management company staff could dramatically reduce toggle time. Potentially saving hours of wasted time and energy every week.

Unified communications systems also help management companies connect with their clients and collect call information accurately thanks to VoIP. 

‘Voice over Internet Protocol’ technology converts analogue phone signals into digital ones, so they can be more easily transferred or manipulated within a digital phone system. These calls can then be saved to local or cloud storage, making them a huge improvement over legacy communications systems.

Calls made on analogue lines can be difficult to decipher. But with HD calling via VoIP, these signals are upscaled providing a crystal-clear voice, helping to ensure full clarity and that no essential information is missed during a call. 

Effective Collaboration

According to Elite Group data, 37% of IT workers at large companies describe their teams as “not very collaborative”, suggesting more in-depth internal communications are needed.

But when collaboration is spread across numerous platforms, it can be easy for management company employees to become disillusioned or confused over roles and tasks.

Unified communications solutions solve this problem by offering digital collaborative environments that can be used to share ideas, gather files, create timelines and manage projects in real-time, offering all team members complete clarity.

By cancelling subscriptions to various communication and collaboration tools, instead of relying on unified communications, management company teams can broaden their perspectives and share ideas with fellow team members more effectively, while also saving the company money.

Avoiding the PSTN Switch-Off

Because the traditional phone lines that have served British telecommunications for decades are struggling with the heavy data loads placed on them by modern households and businesses, BT has decided to switch them off entirely. 

To remain connected to customers – and each other – businesses like management companies will need to switch to a digital alternative, like unified communications.

As unified communications is cloud-based, it is not reliant on the old copper wiring that sustains many analogue phones and phone systems, meaning it will remain unaffected when the lines finally go down. 

The PSTN switch-off was originally scheduled for 2025. However, BT has realised that many businesses are yet to even begin investigating alternatives to their current legacy communications technology. As such, they’ve moved the switch-off to 2027, giving businesses more time to choose a product that’s right for them.

Choose Elite Group to Manage Your Business Communications

If you’re seeking to improve your internal and external communications for the wider benefit of your management company and clients, speak to the experts at Elite Group today. 

We have years of experience serving companies just like yours and as a Microsoft-approved partner, you can rely on us to deliver the enterprise communications tools you need to thrive, just as the world’s most famous computer technology enterprise trusts us to deliver its products and services to customers in need.

With Elite Group, you’ll be assigned a dedicated account manager. This person will be a communications expert who will guide you through the onboarding of unified communications, so you can use the product to its fullest and help your clients reap the benefits.

To find out more about unified communications solutions, speak to Elite Group.