A lot of businesses are familiar with the concept of a hosted phone system and why it’s good for business collaboration, but what about unified communications? Unified communications (UC) takes hosted phone systems and data and expands them to incorporate other types of communication as well, like voice, data and video with business applications such as instant message streams, faxes, e-mails and voice phone calls.
UC refers to the ability to integrate different types of communications into a common interface. Essentially, it simplifies all the great communication tools and puts them in one, easy to access place.
According to hosted phone system provider BroadConnect, a fully-functioning UC system means the ability to better collaborate. In a UC environment, geographically dispersed staff can still be a part of business processes, no matter the miles between. Features like Web conferencing and messaging mean employees can work together, giving productivity a boost.
What BroadConnect notes is that, even though UC means all of these great things, not everyone has hopped on the UC bandwagon. As companies move toward a UC system, they become aware of various challenges, including the fact that not everything works seamlessly together. UC is not a single product, but a solution comprised of many different elements and components from various vendors, which don't always play nice with each other. Because some features require more complex environments, meaning additional device cost and end-user training, however, the end justifies the means in this case.
“By budgeting to deploy these cutting-edge features with the proper equipment, training and support programs, your organization can experience these long-term cost reductions and improved collaboration,” wrote BroadConnect in a recent blog post.
Like UC, going with a hosted phone system also means reaping great benefits in terms of collaboration and costs. Similar to UC, a hosted phone system is very flexible for supporting branch offices, remote workers, and new sites as the business expands. Regardless of how busy your phone lines get, a hosted system always works. These services are not mutually exclusive.
With all of these options and benefits, it makes sense for businesses to ditch the legacy telephony system and invest in a solid, stable and cost-effective hosted phone system that uses the most cutting edge technologies available.
Edited by Alisen Downey