The world of enterprise Unified Communication (UC) is evolving so rapidly that a thorough understanding of the current UC market and its products is vital for every enterprise UC strategy.
Image source: Precedence technologies
Additionally, it's imperative that enterprise organizations keep up to date with emerging trends and new technology in unified communications. Intelligence about the latest and most relevant UC products is crucial so that enterprise organizations can maintain a robust UC strategy, as well as streamline their existing internal and external communication and collaboration processes.
Virtual meetings and video conferencing have become key components of every UC strategy since the concept of hybrid working was introduced.
In the early days of legacy PBX, traditional telephony systems and standalone communication could offer very little compared to today. Now, cloud based UC platforms are enabling remote employees to communicate seamlessly no matter where they're located, and what devices or collaboration tools they're using.
Why is an enterprise unified communications strategy necessary?
A unified communication and collaboration infrastructure is comprised of a combination of communication channels and methods that come together in a single intuitive interface.
Ideally an infrastructure enables email, chat, instant messaging, voice calling, file transfer, screen sharing, video calling and any other type of enterprise communication to be administered and deployed from a single platform.
Interoperability is a key component of an organization's communication strategy, so in the planning stages, it's important to consider the existing business applications and what new features you need to incorporate.
There are a plethora of unified communications solutions available, so it's up to enterprise organizations to determine which components they need most, and choose the solution accordingly.
Below is an example of what three of the top communication platforms offer in terms of features.
A carefully planned communication strategy not only improves workflows, processes and service delivery, but can fundamentally change the way enterprise organizations do business. Even simple workflow improvements have the potential to add efficiency, context and more satisfaction for users at every contact point.
What not to do when planning a UC strategy
Many organizations miss the mark by not starting at the beginning when building their UC projects. Often, they'll look at legacy infrastructure and start adding on unified communications solutions in a piecemeal fashion to reduce costs.
For example, they may start by implementing VoIP solutions to replace traditional voice PBX systems. Then bolt on conferencing tools for virtual meetings, that may not integrate completely with existing solutions and capabilities. And in an effort to manage remote work models, they'll deploy cloud services and other technology, which could leave organizations with a largely siloed unified communications environment.
An approach like this can fail to deliver against the wider needs of the business, and what started as a cost savings exercise could actually end up costing more in the long run.
A better solution for planning your unified communications project
Implementing a new enterprise unified communications infrastructure can be a massive undertaking, which is why planning for all contingencies is a wise move.
Determine goals for UC functionality and team collaboration
Every enterprise unified communications environment is different. The first step is to communicate with every key stakeholder from each department at a business level. Determine what each stakeholder is trying to achieve, and the role that unified communications should play. Be sure to incorporate their current frustrations and bottlenecks. Find out what media types are most important, and make sure that remote workers will have access.
Decide how existing unified communications solutions fit
Most organizations' communications solutions will have evolved over time and will often consist of a older and newer technologies. Some may be fit for purpose, others will have to go. With the insights gained from stakeholders earlier, you’ll now be in a better position to determine how your collaboration tools and systems are contributing to the overall business objectives of your company.
Image source: Northern VoIP
Build a consistent unified user interface
From an administration perspective, the most efficient unified communications platform can manage all users, and all UC tools from a central interface – ideally in the cloud. This helps ensure easy and secure communications deployment for all users and their devices. As enterprises' needs change, they need easy provisioning and management to easily add and retract technologies and accounts, and carry out updates and upgrades remotely.
The greatest return on your unified communications investment will come from strong omni-channel and multi-channel integration, reliable availability, ease of use, and API capabilities. While some off-the-shelf UC enabling technology can be powerful, the true value of your unified communications investment is dependent on how well those communication channels interact and respond to other components in your UC stack.
Cloud based UC (UCaaS)
Transitioning to a cloud-based communication system can not only reduce enterprise unified communication costs, but can greatly enhance operational efficiency.
UCaaS unlocks a great many benefits for businesses, including more efficient customer service, streamlined communication, and more cost-effective UC solutions. There are several factors to consider when enterprises are choosing a cloud partner.
Read our guide to Cloud Performance Testing: Best tips and Tricks here
Flexibility
Look for a provider that offers flexible deployment options to meet your unique enterprise unified communications needs.
Feature compatibility
Ensure that the solution aligns with your primary communications requirements and offers scalability for future business growth.
Reliable support
Choose a provider with a reputation for excellent support and reliable service delivery, that can help you with configuration and migration to their solution.
Integration and access capabilities
Look for seamless integration of the new UCaaS solution with your existing systems and infrastructure, and determine who will have access to every service.
Security
Cloud security is a shared responsibility between the network, apps, security and compliance teams in an organization and its cloud services provider. However, it's the role of IT security to make sure cloud vendors have implemented the appropriate security measures to keep all applications and data within your UC platform secure.
Take a look at our comprehensive unified communications cloud migration checklist
Why monitoring your enterprise unified communications is crucial
Successful business communications depend on reliable, 'always available' communications networks. Cloud computing has made UC more flexible and accessible to businesses, but it has also added a layer of complexity to the unified communications environment.
Businesses need to be certain that they can make and receive calls across VoIP and IP phones, and that video calling is glitch-free. They need to know that their contact center service is functioning without missed calls or sub-par quality.
Through a central management portal, administrators need to be able to proactively track UC performance and usage analytics to get ahead of issues through robust reporting.
What can IR Collaborate do?
In today’s dynamic global markets, it’s never been more important to ensure that every UC system is optimized to enable efficient communication and collaboration across your business.
Service interruptions, software glitches, and server issues are not only frustrating to employees, but to customers. Downtime costs money, so being able to spot potential problems in your UC platforms even before they occur, is like gold to your enterprise unified communications infrastructure.
Half the battle is determining whether the issue is in the network, infrastructure, cloud, or desktop.
IR's Collaborate suite of solutions can track and monitor:
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Video conferencing solutions
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Internal and external communications systems
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VoIP phone system
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Multiple devices in remote locations
Collaborate is an enterprise grade monitoring and performance management solution that can enable and deliver insights and analytics for real-time, high-volume, complex data streams.
It can perform testing across your entire UC landscape including voice, web, video and collaboration ecosystems.
Whether your environment is on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid, even in the planning stages, IR Collaborate can help you simplify complex unified communications strategies.
