Everybody agrees that improving responsiveness and providing competitive advantages are benefits of Unified Communications (News - Alert) – but they also assume such tech toys are for the big boys, too complex and expensive for SMBs with faint-inducing price tags and complex deployments of premise-based systems.

Not always true: “With the prevalence of high speed wired and wireless connections, cloud-based UC offers many advantages including a low cost entry point, integration with CRMs and hassle-free implementation and maintenance.”

So said the presentation at a recent Webinar presented by PanTerra (News - Alert), titled “Leveling the Playing Field: How Cloud-Based Unified Communications Enables Smaller Businesses to Compete.”

Presenting was Dave Immethun (News - Alert), the senior marketing director at PanTerra Networks, a provider of cloud-based unified communications Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for small and medium sized enterprises. The company's WorldSmart is delivered from the cloud through a 100 percent browser-based UC client, eliminating any premise-deployed hardware or software.

“We put all our time and energy into SMBs,” Immethun said, “We are an SMB ourselves, and we use these tools every day, which enable us to do more with less... That’s the power of unified communications: Taking my preference, and the person I’m talking to, and addressing both of our preferences without making a conscious decision to choose one over the other.”

Attendees heard the latest developments in hosted Unified Communications, including how businesses are benefiting from PanTerra’s cloud-based WorldSmart service – companies of all sizes, mind you, “enjoying the headache free SaaS (News - Alert) service model with ultra-low total cost of ownership.”

At the end of last year TMC’s Beecher Tuttle wrote that PanTerra signed an agreement with McGraw Communications (News - Alert) to help the competitive local exchange carrier enter the thriving unified communications market.

Through the collaboration, McGraw will enable its channel partners to market and sell a private branded version of WorldSmart.