There have been a few trends in the evolution of unified communications (UC) that are noteworthy. 

The first is that thanks to SIP adoption, router and trunking, and more and more interoperability, UC regardless of whether premises-based or cloud-based has gone from business nicety to business necessity. The benefits of real-time unified communications and collaboration are well-documented and adoption rates for organizations of all sizes globally have been rising nicely.

The second is that while it has long-been held that small and medium-zed businesses (SMBs) have been the “low hanging fruit” for UC as a Service (UCaaS), the fact of the matter is that cloud UC solutions are now cost-effective alternatives for any enterprise looking to implement state-of-the-art UC solutions.

The challenge is evaluating the right UCaaS solution that works for your organization.  As with all technology, while UCaaS now is a terrific way to migrate from legacy implementations to the kind of functionality required to be successful in today’s dynamic global business environment, not all UCaaS solutions are the same. Plus, making sure the transition from where you are now to UCaaS means selecting not just the right technology but also the right vendor that best fits your organization’s unique needs.

This raises some interesting questions for larger organization looking to the cloud, and specifically, UCaaS as the best way to quickly—and with the least amount of disruption—move mission critical communications capabilities to a UCaaS solution. 

A good way to get answers as to who, what, where, why and when in migrating to UCaaS is the upcoming webinar, 10 Ways Enterprises Can Benefit with Cloud UC. To be held Thursday, July 23, 2015 02:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM PDT, you are invited to join myself and Dean Manzoori, VP UCaaS, Masergy, as we delve into important topics such as:

• How to evaluate if a Cloud UC solution is right for your enterprise
• Best practices to lower TCO while increasing resiliency
• How to avoid technology obsolescence and improve user experience

Just as an FYI, Masergy,  a leading managed networking and cloud services provider, recently received TMC (News - Alert) 2015 INTERNET TELEPHONY TMC Labs Innovation Award.  In fact, the award, presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, was for the company’s Cloud f(n) Router which was recognized for its software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities that reduce the capital expenses of proprietary routing hardware and the administrative costs associated with managing physical routers in corporate and branch offices. 

Realities are that the benefits of UCaaS are compelling, and that even the largest of organizations can and should be looking to UCaaS as their environment going forward to improve both operational efficiencies and the customer experience.