For many businesses, unified communications tools and platforms have been a lifeline through the coronavirus pandemic that they didn’t realize they had.
To have voice, chat, video, email, and a range of other communication tools and applications are unified under one platform is helping many survive and adapt to changing work environments, increase productivity, reduce costs, and enhancing the user experience.
We reached out to several unified communications experts from companies like AVI-SPL, Barco and Pro AV Systems, and this is what they told us about the ROI of unified communications.
Cost Savings
The main return of unified communications platforms is the financial boost to your organization as a result of reduced travel, reduced infrastructure spending and a more predictable budget.
Unified communications technology includes virtually every method of communication your company needs to be successful, including video, audio, chat, messaging, email, voice and more. To have all of those tools under one single platform hosted in the cloud will provide your organization with unlimited potential to communicate with anyone at any time.
That greatly reduces the need to travel or even pay for the travel expenses of candidates for an open position.
When implementing unified communications as-a-service from a cloud provider, those expenses move out of the capital budget and into the operating budget, making for a more predictable budget and reducing large up-front expenses.
Read Next: Unified Communications Will Fundamentally Transform Your Organization’s Communication
Remote Work
These tools also allow for organizations to think differently about the physical office space and change how their employees do their jobs.
For many businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Meet and dozens of other unified communications tools and applications were critical to preserving their business and keeping employees connected both internally and externally.
Since most employees can carry out their basic duties from their home offices, companies can save on office costs like rent, mortgage, utilities and equipment.
These platforms also allow individuals to see the availability of anyone in their organization, which takes the complexity out of trying to contact someone and see if they can take a call.
Other benefits of remote work include reduced downtime due to absenteeism, a larger talent pool unlimited by geography and increased productivity due to a more streamlined method of communication.
Productivity
If teams communicate and collaborate better, then employees are more engaged and meeting have better outcomes. That is made possible with the simplicity of unified communications solutions.
If a unified communications platform is integrated with your meeting room devices, it should be a seamless process to schedule, start and run meetings. That reduces the time spent trying to figure out how to start and join meetings.
With instant messaging and presence, unified communications platforms also take the guesswork and time out of seeing if a coworker is available. Rather than a phone number, individuals are presented as a person with a name and identity. Users can simply log on to an application like Teams or Google Meet to see if somebody is at their computer or send a quick message.
The more streamlined and simple your internal and external communications are, the easier your life will be.
Business Continuity
If your organization has completed its migration to the cloud and adopted unified communications services, then you likely wouldn’t miss a beat in the event of a disaster or another pandemic. That’s what many businesses experienced during COVID-19.
Employees were sent to work from home, but because the organization was already invested in unified communications, they had access to all their normal business tools. Employees substituted virtual meetings for in-person meetings and instant messaging in place of walking to the other end of the office to ask a quick question.
That means you can lessen the impact of a natural disaster that prevents employees from coming into the office and keep the revenue flowing. If a company executive has to stay home due to an emergency, they can still join an important board meeting remotely.
If your company hasn’t yet migrated to the cloud from on-premises solutions, you could be missing out on these great benefits of unified communications and what is becoming a modern business essential, proving its own ROI.
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