Unified Communications
The fast transition to working from home has accelerated the implementation of unified communications (UC) in organizations around the world. Golan Edri from abra explains all about UC, including how it upgrades the organization’s communications and what we mean by Communications as a Service (UCaaS).
A unified and consistent user interface
The term “unified communications” refers to the comprehensive approach that integrates all of the organizations’ forms of communication into one communications network, with organized work processes and sharing capabilities.
As more and more organizations transition to working from home, the need for communications software that enables information sharing continues to increase. That is why in recent months, we have seen a significant increase in the demand and use of platforms such as Teams, Zoom, and Webex.
With UC, the idea is to concentrate most of the organization’s daily activities and teamwork in one center – all through one program and one screen. In other words, using this all-in-one platform makes work processes much more efficient.
What can you do with unified communications?
The list of functions that UC enables is endless. You can call customers from your contact list directly via your PC. You can also invite dozens of people to join a conversation at the click of a button, set up teams and hold group chats, and set a meeting in everyone’s diaries.
And that is not all. With UC, you can also share and present files and presentations, write on the board, monitor projects, record conversations, and even conduct surveys.
In addition, you can create live events, enable thousands of users to participate in conferences from afar, and manage processes that begin with a simple chat with a potential customer, followed by earmarking the contact person as a sales lead that is entered directly onto the CRM.
The possibilities are infinte. The greater the ease and comfort of this central tool, the more popular it becomes – for the benefit of all parties involved.
Connecting to the exchange
The unified communications system is connected to the cloud exchange service, creating a single uniform setup.
Using a private branch exchange (PBX), the company’s entire telephony is transferred to the cloud through a managed model – without the need to set up or purchase hardware infrastructure – a model that has flexible pricing and can be adapted to change.
The organization also receives a range of features and services, such as the ability to transfer calls, virtual conference rooms, redirecting calls (follow me), call parking, simultaneous ring (dialing the extension and the mobile at the same time), ability to record calls, leaving a voice message that is sent to the user’s email, caller identity for incoming calls, blocking phone numbers for incoming calls, and more.
Global organizations that manage telephone communications benefit from the low costs of this service, thanks to attractive bundles for international phone calls. The dashboard interface that is part of the exchange service includes advanced options for managing and defining users and generating a range of reports using analytical tools.
PBX and communications – The transition to a managed service model
For the past few years, Gartner has anticipated a significant increase in UCaaS – managed services for operating the IP exchange on the cloud. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this increase.
The following main elements have contributed to the UCaaS momentum:
Globalization (and Covid-19)- As excellent communications between employees, partners, customers, and suppliers from around the globe are of the utmost importance, establishing a convenient, efficient, and inexpensive communications system is crucial.
Great user interface– The UC system must have a uniform and convenient interface that encompasses all communications elements (phones, contact lists, and diaries). It should also offer the option of holding group calls and sharing group information, and the ability to invite a large number of participants, high-quality video, etc. Microsoft Teams also offers a customization option for making meetings in the “metaverse” more fun and personal, with different avatars and scenarios.
Tools for enhancing work processes– Tools are needed for sharing and creating simple work processes, including the ability to create messages and alerts, and use bots and communications means – for conversing between people or within a team/group.
Today, with a large part of our communications being conducted remotely, teamwork is of the utmost importance – especially the ability to communicate simply and effectively among team members, while working on shared tasks. That is why the implementation of UC in organizations is on the rise. This change is here to stay.
The author of this article is a UC architect and senior team leader at abra.
