In today’s evolving business landscape, executives are looking to technology to help transform their operations, enabling them to be more agile and efficient. To help achieve this, executives are increasingly incorporating cloud solutions into their business strategies to help them stay competitive. Whether it is virtualizing the data center, deploying new applications or extending network capacity, cloud solutions are becoming critical for today’s enterprise companies. With this in mind, enterprises are increasingly considering moving unified communications (UC) into the cloud as well.
Cloud services for unified communications can offer measurable value for organizations when compared to traditional PBX services. As communications equipment becomes outdated or needs to be replaced, a cloud service can look especially attractive as it can offer a host of benefits that are essential in executing a wide range of digital transformation initiatives. Outlined below are several reasons why you should consider choosing a cloud-based unified communications model as your next unified communications solution.
Cost-Effectiveness
One of the main reasons companies look to cloud solutions for their unified communications needs is the cost advantage. Today, it is very cost-effective to host a phone system over the internet because businesses are charged for the service and not the expensive switching equipment located on premise. This eliminates the need to pay for the necessary installation and maintenance costs that a traditional phone system would require. Additionally, most cloud phone systems offer unlimited local and long distance calling, which also is a substantial benefit for businesses looking to minimize expenses.
Ease of Use
Because of the complexity of today’s communications systems, it can sometimes take an entire IT department or a third-party vendor just to manage the upkeep of a traditional phone system. Cloud-based communications can help alleviate the burden by eliminating maintenance, IT workload, and some of the more costly internal infrastructure. Having a standardized point of contact and connectivity can streamline operations for IT teams, enabling them to focus on driving future business initiatives instead of maintaining current systems.
Quality of service
For every business, uptime is pivotal, and cloud solutions provide good uptime from partners in the space. To keep operations running smoothly, businesses rely on the ability to leverage remote work teams, manage multiple office spaces or serve customers from anywhere in the world. For businesses requiring this flexibility, cloud communications maximizes coverage through multiple data centers, helping them avoid costly interruptions and potential downtime.
Functionality
On-premise phone systems can bring challenges to an organization that is expanding quickly or has varying needs. Alternatively, cloud-based unified communications solutions can provide the flexibility and scalability that a business needs whether it is adding a new office space, moving locations, or sizing up or down now or in the future. When using cloud-based systems, businesses can access and add new features without any new hardware requirements, offering quick and easy solutions for both installing and maintaining unified communications systems.
Digital transformation and cloud solutions are revolutionizing multiple industries, and unified communications is no exception. To ensure your business is adequately prepared for a digital transformation, it is critical to begin integrating cloud-based applications into your current unified communications model. As businesses continue to evolve and adopt new technologies, remaining agile and scalable based on need is becoming increasingly important. With every business looking to keep up, offering solutions that will provide considerable business value will be beneficial now and in the future.
This article was originally posted “Why You Should Consider Moving Unified Communications To The Cloud” from Cloud Strategy Magazine.
