UC Benefits

Today’s employees are accustomed to working on-the-go, via smartphones, laptops, at their office desktop, or on video conference calls. This is the wonder and benefit of unified communications–fluid and versatile communications platforms that create collaborative work experiences for everyone from globally dispersed executives to workers in the field.

Why you should embrace UC BENEFITS

Employees communicate the way they want to

The foundation of unified communications is that it allows your employees to communicate however they wish. Instant messaging, voice calls, video conferencing from any device, and more. Employees have all these choices, no matter their location or device.

Communicate from anywhere

The most obvious benefit of unified communications is mobility. It’s easy to see why–mobile devices become more than just tools, they become extensions of a company’s network. When you need to make deployments, they reach your employees anywhere they have an internet connection.

Plus, mobility has been shown to increase workplace productivity. According to Twinstate tech partner Mitel, "unified communication tools to mobile staff improves their productivity, as well as the productivity of those who are dependent on their availability and responsiveness." Teams are able to work, take calls, review documents and collaborate on-the-go. Gone are the days employees have to email themselves documents, or transfer important files to a flash drive. Unified communications allows employees to access everything they require to do their job well.

It’s no surprise that employees today evaluate a hiring company’s mobility solutions when considering work-life balance. Working for progressive organizations has its rewards. Employees appreciate the idea that they can do their job with ease, regardless of a snowstorm, sick child or business trip. Being plugged into work is not viewed as a downside, rather it’s a gateway to increased freedom and flexibility. Finally, employees can work and connect the way they prefer, regardless of device--iPhone, iPad, Surface, desktop or phone. Plus, unified communications directly supports the growing population of home-based and field-based workers. Telecommuting is a more effective and productive means of working than ever; in fact, many employees view it as a major perk. They generally save money on commute time while enhancing their work-life balance. Thanks to the advent of unified communications, employers and employees alike are able to work the way they want–wherever, whenever, from any device.

And, on the business side, unified communications further protects the privacy and confidentiality of the organization's data. Businesses are eager to increase productivity, therefore embracing network communications and encouraging employees to use wireless devices and public WIFI. While productivity increases, so does the vulnerability of corporate data.

According to Sophos*, "a total of 95 percent of such data losses are unintentional: for example, someone accidentally chooses the wrong recipient using the mail client's auto-complete feature." Practices such as this, as well as moving content around via flash drives, email forwarding and relying on other employees for access to documents, can be high-risk. With unified communications, the systems are fully owned and managed by the business which causes these types of risks to fall dramatically. Additionally, security software and perimeter devices can make leaks and threats more difficult to occur.

Real-time collaboration

A funny thing occurs when you give employees the flexibility to communicate the way they want to—simultaneous collaboration and increased productivity. Simply put, your teams can get things done, and fast. Continual and direct interaction helps new ideas to solidify and advances the problem-solving process.

The option of the cloud

Businesses generally have the option of having their unified communications on-premise or in the cloud. There are benefits to both approaches. Whereas on-site solutions offer your choice of hardware, going with the cloud frees you from having to plan and configure an onsite data center. With the data center residing in the cloud, scaling and modifying servers becomes a much more simple process. Even bigger benefits are felt beyond the IT team. Employees can access files from any device, without concern of which device they created the document on.

For example, Apple iPads and Microsoft Surfaces offer a compact, mobile form factor but essentially perform all the functions of a regular desktop computer. The cloud has allowed employees to leverage the iPad to do all the things they used to do at their desk, yet now they have no physical constraints of where they perform their duties.

An entirely new way of doing business

The benefits of unified communications aren’t just signs of a trend, they’re markers of an entirely new way of doing business. Employees are finally able to work in a way they are accustomed to in their personal lives: from the airport, from their home office, on a bus and so forth. Unified communications have enabled teams to train fast and hit the ground running, and communicate quickly and naturally--enabling employees to progress despite location or device.

Learn how to get started with unified communications for your business by requesting a discovery call with one of our certified experts.