Put simply unified communications is when a single software merges/unifies all your communications platforms into one single dashboard. This includes messaging, social media, chat, website live chat, presence, emails, fax, video and audio calls. In addition to this, a Unified Communications solution will also offer you mobility features such as mobile apps as well as integrations with existing hardware and internal systems that your business might be using.
Choosing your UC solution
There are so many unified communications solutions available that choosing the right one can be a difficult task. To be honest, most solutions available offer more or less the same features (the ones mentioned above) so it really narrows down to price, usability and management as well as flexibility and scalability. Let’s look at these in more detail:
- Price – make sure there are no hidden costs and that all the features you need are included in the quoted price (read the small print). Many vendors tend to charge per user per month so do the math and bear in mind any future expansion plans before agreeing to a price. Better yet, choose a vendor that has a clear pricing model and clearly states what you get for that price – ideally, without charging per user fees.
- Usability – is the solution easy to use? Get a free trial and use it. If you as an IT person find it difficult to use then chances are colleagues that are less IT savvy will have a really hard time. And the result? They’ll be calling you each time to help them out. Everyone’s busy – having to learn a new difficult system is not ideal.
- Manageability – if you want to add/edit extensions, perform an update or even set some basic inbound or outbound call routing options is this possible? And how easy is it for you to do? Again, get your hands on a trial and use it. If it’s too difficult and the vendor doesn’t have any guides to help you then it’s best to look for an easier solution.
- Flexibility – can you choose your own SIP Trunk, IP Phones and deployment method? You don’t want to be tied down to a specific IP Phone brand or SIP Trunk or you may already have phones and you want to keep them rather than invest in new ones. Can you choose where and how you want to deploy the system? On-premise? In the cloud? Which OS are compatible? And in which cloud providers? Get the answers to all these questions for a more future-proof and sustainable solution.
- Scalability – does the system cater for future expansion? If so, how easy/difficult is it to expand the system when the need arises? And the opposite; if you need to downgrade is this possible?
Our best advice is to do extensive testing of any software before you make your final purchasing decision. Don’t cut corners cause you’ll regret it later. Especially when it comes to an enterprise unified communications solution where many users are involved and you’ll be the one they call when they face issues.
3CX offers all the features and functionalities mentioned above at an unbeatable price. What’s more, you can try it for free by clicking on the link below.
