As organizations continue to expand their geographical footprint, enterprise communication and collaboration across these boundaries have become extremely important. And while most organizations have invested in a plethora of communication tools, it’s undeniable that employees still complain of a lack of communication or poor collaboration. Siloed tools, rigid user interfaces, and the mere presence of dozens of tools take a toll on employee productivity and efficiency. These challenges have led to the growth of Unified Communications Technology and the UCaaS model of delivery.

Read on to learn more about UCaaS, including its benefits, adoption challenges, etc.

UCaaS – An Introduction

Gartner defines Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) as a “cloud-delivered unified communications model that supports enterprise telephony, meetings, unified messaging, instant messaging, mobility, and communications-enabled business processes”. All services are owned, operated, maintained, and delivered by a qualified provider.

Using a common platform, the provider delivers a range of communication applications and licenses the service via a subscription-based, pay-as-you-go monthly model. Typical characteristics that define the UCaaS model include multitenancy and self-service web portals for provisioning, management, and performance/usage reporting.

Organizations that embrace UCaaS tend to enjoy many benefits, including:

• Better employee productivity and satisfaction stemming from the availability of consistent and modern communication and collaboration features.
• Simpler user management as organizations can easily and quickly add/edit/remove users without major infrastructure changes.
• Improved disaster recovery and business continuity as organizations no longer need to purchase or maintain exchanges and platforms.
• Reduced capital expenditure and streamlined operational expenditure.
• Improved scalability as organizations can scale licenses up or down with high levels of flexibility.

Understanding the Popularity of UCaaS

The global UCaaS market is projected to grow from $32.01 billion in 2023 to $85.77 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 15.1%. So, what’s causing this surge in the growth of Unified Communication as a Service? There are several factors responsible for the popularity of UCaaS:

• Advancements in cloud infrastructure: Continuous advancements in cloud infrastructure and associated technologies are causing a surge in the adoption of UCaaS. These advancements make it easy for the global workforce to leverage a range of audio, video, and messaging capabilities and improve productivity and efficiency.
• Proliferation of the hybrid workplace: The sudden and widespread shift to the hybrid workplace model is a driving factor for the growth of UCaaS. This cloud delivery model enables access to various communication and collaboration tools, allowing the hybrid workforce to seamlessly interact and engage with peers and take part in meetings – without geographic or device boundaries.
• Rising employee expectations: As the dependence on technology tools in the enterprise increases, employee service expectations are also increasing. Using a single, cloud-based platform, UCaaS delivers several communications features, making it easy for employees to do their jobs. Since they can meet all their collaboration needs using a unified tool, it eliminates the need to switch between different apps in a normal workday.

Adoption Challenges Along the Way

UCaaS eliminates the time and effort needed in complex hardware installations and maintenance, allowing businesses to focus more on value-added tasks. Yet, many organizations have trouble adopting the UCaaS model. Here are the top UCaaS adoption challenges:

• One-size-fits-all approach: Most UCaaS providers offer a standard set of communication tools, hoping they will meet the needs of the organization they’re engaged with. However, every organization is different and has unique communication needs. Such an approach negates the adoption of UCaaS, impacting not just enterprise communication but also business outcomes.
• Not knowing what tools to choose: Most organizations today realize the importance of communication and collaboration. Yet, when it comes to enabling seamless communication, they do not know what tools to choose. With thousands of tools available in the market today, it becomes extremely confusing to pick tools that best fit the needs of the business.
• No roadmap in place: Most businesses adopt UCaaS because they do not have the time or the in-house capability to manage an array of diverse communication tools. However, these businesses also lack a proper roadmap. This causes their UCaaS strategy to stagnate, causing high levels of frustration and disappointment among the workforce.  
• Poor maintenance and management: Organizations that embrace UCaaS solutions often struggle with administrative tasks. Regularly monitoring and managing these systems, applying patches, updating security, etc. becomes increasingly difficult – especially in the absence of a skilled team of support executives.

The Role of Systems Integration

Organizations that seek to make the most of UCaaS while overcoming the many challenges need to engage with an expert systems integrator partner. A skilled partner can put the various UCaaS solutions in place while also ensuring seamless connectivity and data sharing between them. Through effective system integration, a partner with power skills can:

• Carefully understand business and employee requirements and design a customized UCaaS solution with best-in-class hardware and software.
• Efficiently source and deliver the platforms of choice by leveraging long-standing relationships with OEMs.
• Take a business-centric approach to UCaaS implementation, ensuring technology is an enabler and not a barrier to effective communication.
• Install and integrate diverse components and technologies into a single unified system for easy use and maintenance.
• Provide end-to-end user training and education and empower users to make the best use of installed UCaaS solutions.
• Offer regular support and periodic maintenance to ensure all the installed systems meet necessary availability, security, and operational requirements.

As the hybrid workplace becomes the norm, enterprise communication needs to be top-notch. At Resurgent, we help businesses establish a robust communication foundation and enjoy higher levels of scalability, flexibility, and agility. Through a detailed assessment of your business and technology needs, we can help in implementing the right solutions in place and ensure seamless integration between them. Whether you want to implement Microsoft Teams, Zoom Rooms, or Crestron Flex, our long-standing partnerships with OEMs can make the journey frictionless for you.

Contact us to speak to our experts!