How to Find the Best UCaaS Phone System Provider
With today’s technology and the ever-growing trends, UCaaS is one of the most valuable and viable solutions for companies that want to focus their IT resource on more strategic tasks. In fact, according to Computer Weekly, interest in UCaaS spiked 86% during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it only natural that you’re looking for a UcaaS provider.
UCaaS stands for Unified Communication as a Service, which makes up the majority of cloud-based solutions available today.
If you are looking to choose the best UCaaS phone system provider or are curious about the many applications within UCaaS, this guide will prove helpful. Learn what UCaaS is, how it works, and why so many businesses prefer it to the more traditional and unreliable communication systems.
Why You Need a UcaaS Phone System Provider
If you are a business owner looking for ways to improve efficiency and lower your company’s phone system costs, you may have come across UCaaS.
Simply put, UCaaS is the future of business communication. It stands for Unified Communications as a Service.UCaaS is the provision of business phone services online. Using an Internet Protocol (IP) network, UCaaS providers offer all the standard and advanced features of a PBX system, along with additional features like mobility and collaboration. But what’s most valuable about UCaaS is that it’s readily accessible to employees, no matter their location.
As your business grows, UcaaS is flexible and comprehensive, allowing you to add features for better efficiency. UCaaS technology combines a traditional business phone system with a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone system, giving you the best of both worlds.
As a result, businesses don’t have to spend thousands of dollars building their own voice, video, and messaging systems on-premise. Companies can place and receive calls with third parties, hold meetings, and collaborate with other applications over a secure Internet connection.
Related: Does It Pay to Become a Telecom Reseller?
How Does UCaaS Work?
UCaaS phone systems provide companies and employees with a comprehensive set of collaboration tools (video conferencing, SMS messaging, virtual fax, and more) hosted in the cloud. In addition, most UCaaS phone systems also include an enterprise-grade VoIP softphone that runs on PCs, Macs, and smartphones.
Even though these tools can be used individually, they’re usually part of an integrated system that allows users to send messages, hold conferences or both receive and initiate calls across multiple networks and devices.
UCaaS combines three different types of technology: traditional telephones, VoIP phones, and mobile devices. UCaaS allows customers to access all their communications systems from any device, anywhere. This factor lets UCaaS give a competitive edge to any company that needs to accommodate the needs of a mobile workforce.
What Is the Difference Between UCaaS and VoIP?
UCaaS is a cloud-based communication platform. Using it, companies can implement remote working environments, share information with clients, track finances, and much more, all from one place. UCaaS is a cloud-based system, which means only the cloud provider needs hardware. This has made it easier for companies to install and manage the design because it is cheaper than traditional systems.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a single-way voice call transmission over the Internet. It is somewhat similar to traditional landlines, in which a person speaks into a phone, which then sends the voice data over the Internet to the receiver.
The difference between UCaaS and VoIP lies in what you get as an end-user. Although you will receive the same type of phone in most cases, the focus is different. UCaaS offers more features and packages than traditional phone systems, even some that are essential VoIP services. Therefore, you will receive all the advantages of using a VoIP phone system, such as flexibility and mobility, with additional features.
Related: Partnering with the Best Provider for Selling UCaaS
Why Do Companies Prefer UCaaS?
There are several reasons for the popularity of UCaaS. Let’s take a look at some of these reasons.
A More Secure and Reliable System
In an increasingly ubiquitous world of data breaches, security risks, and malware threats, it’s not difficult to understand the necessity of a more secure cloud system. UCaaS will allow you to manage all aspects of communication safely in one place that is easily accessed by everyone within your business.
When your company has to worry about in-house IT infrastructure, you are at risk of experiencing downtime and unreliability. A good UCaaS provider will house your system on a remote, cloud-based server protected by layers of security and a backup plan to prevent any unforeseen issues. This way, no matter what happens, you can ensure that you have reliable network uptime and service availability.
Improved and More Personalized Customer Service
To most businesses, customer communication is everything. Companies adopting UCaaS will have the opportunity to improve the customer experience with more personalized communication.
Thanks to the unified nature of a UCaaS phone system, customer support agents can manage multiple touchpoints seamlessly. They can connect conversations across phone and video calls with text messages, emails, and more.
Reduction of Communication Costs and Scalability
UCaaS is affordable for most companies because it’s highly scalable and cost-effective. Why? It’s like a rental service, and the software provider handles all maintenance. A UCaaS phone system is more affordable due to its mode of communication and sale as a cloud service.
UCaaS solutions usually operate on a subscription basis. This lowers communication costs making adding or removing users effortlessly. A company can budget for communications more effectively if they partner with the right UCaaS provider.
Team Flexibility and Mobility
In today’s digital age, companies want their employees to be location agnostic and have the ability to work from any part of the world at any given time. However, traditional phone systems hindered the idea of team flexibility.
UCaaS increases flexibility and improves communication between your employees and partners. The ability to work from anywhere, with any device, grants you the flexibility to increase productivity and project efficiency.
A Boost to Productivity and Collaboration
Businesses use UCaaS because of the productivity boost and collaboration it provides. Employees can communicate and collaborate more quickly and effectively with readily available conferencing, file sharing, and presence capabilities. This capability allows for significant time savings and a better bottom line for your business.
Here Are Some Features That a Good UCaaS Provider Should Offer
Here’s a list of top features and benefits to look for when selecting the best UcaaS phone system provider.
Fully Integrated Communication Channel
When selecting a UCaaS phone system, a fully integrated communication channel is an essential feature to look for. Trying to switch between multiple communication methods wastes valuable time for you and your employees.
The best UCaaS providers offer a full-featured, fully-integrated unified communication platform to keep all the moving parts of your business under control.
Employees can move between voice calls and instant messaging smoothly and effortlessly, making for an effective communication system. Therefore, it would be best to look for a system that allows seamless integration with all types of communication channels.
Voice-Calling
Voice calling is the primary focus of your phone system. Your business needs a solution that supports clear calls, call recording, call logs, call routing, and call forwarding so that you and your employees can effectively do your jobs.
A reliable UCaaS phone system provider should offer you reliable voice-calling functionalities. When searching for a provider, ensure that the one you select offers call recording, high-definition voice and video conferencing, and reliable caller verification services. And remember, the one thing that separates a quality web conferencing service from the rest is a voice calling capability.
Call Routing
Call routing, or Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), is a core feature of any full-featured UCaaS phone system. It determines how incoming calls are directed to the correct destinations. Call routing is the ability of a phone system provider to efficiently direct all incoming calls to the appropriate destination based on who the caller is and when they are calling.
To avoid frustration, it’s crucial to choose a communications provider that offers intelligent call routing. This allows you to accept incoming calls automatically, including after business hours and holidays.
Voicemail
Voicemail is an essential feature for business phone systems, but it should include more than the primary recording, storing, and message forwarding. Users should also be able to play voicemail messages remotely and through a web portal while also integrating email and SMS messages. Many modern phone systems now offer voice mail-to-text transcription so that users can access a written transcript of the voicemail.
Excellent Customer Service
No matter how easy it is to use your UCaaS phone system, odds are you’re going to have questions now and then. Therefore, your UCaaS provider must have top-notch customer service that’s available 24/7 by phone or live chat.
Having a problem with your phone system can be devastating to your business operations, so you want to ensure that you get help on demand.
The Road to Success with UCaaS
Finding the right UCaaS phone system can be challenging as you want to select a provider who will provide you service that tailors to your needs but is cost-effective.
SkySwitch has helped hundreds of businesses enjoy incredible savings and productivity. Whether you’re a small business that needs an affordable phone system or an established organization looking to switch over to UCaaS, SkySwich is the solution you need. Get started with SkySwitch today.