Why Adding a UCaaS Solution to the Mix Can Help Grow an MSP’s Business

The Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market is booming, and every MSP company should be acting quickly to seize their share of the market. From a global market level of 4.817 billion (4817.9 million) in 2022, experts forecast an annual growth rate of 14.3% through the next seven years. Businesses across every niche and region are increasing their use of digital communications to reach their customers or to manage internal operations, and UCaaS is uniquely suited to meet modern businesses’ multi-channel needs. 

As a reseller or managed service provider (MSP), keeping up with current market trends and planning your strategy to meet forecasted customer demands is key to maintain industry relevance and provide value to your customers. Learning more about the unique advantages of UCaaS, adding it to your catalog of products and services, and positioning your company as a trusted source of UCaaS offerings will help you stand out from your competitors in this rapidly-changing telecom landscape. 

While it’s important to understand the business advantages of UCaaS—after all, your company’s internal communications system may benefit just as much as your customers’—this guide takes a closer look at the strategic side of adding UCaaS to your products as a reseller rather than the general benefits and selling points of UCaaS. We’ll provide a detailed breakdown of:

• How UCaaS is changing the MSP market
• The benefits of becoming a UCaaS reseller for your branding and internal business goals
• How to choose the right UCaaS partner for your business

UCaaS is Growing in Popularity: Know the Stats

Companies are switching to UCaaS because it offers a unified solution for previously disconnected tools. When professional organizations have separate ecosystems for email, instant messaging, videos and web conferences, and client-facing iterations for those same channels, communication sequences will get lost. Whether it’s internal processes taking too long to complete or client details getting lost from one workflow or department to another, it’s a bad way to run a business. 

As businesses transformed to remote and hybrid-style environments during the pandemic, the inefficiencies and shortcomings of these disconnected communication systems became more apparent and problematic. Now, as the world has opened back up and many companies have permanently switched to working through a more decentralized infrastructure of remote, hybrid, off-site, and contract-based contacts, creating a unified communications framework has become imperative for modern businesses. 

Recent statistics and trends show that this change to remote-but-connected work has impacted virtually every industry, challenging industry leaders to adopt UCaaS solutions:

• Companies are adopting UCaaS because it offers a more protected communications ecosystem that can more effectively address current cybersecurity and data concerns.
• Traditional landline phones are becoming obsolete, and while modern VoIP solutions can enable a remote workforce, VoIP alone becomes insufficient as an organization grows. Today, UCaaS is the gold standard, offering VoIP and other enterprise communications and collaboration tools integrated into one cloud-based platform, enhancing businesses’ VoIP systems with enterprise-level features that can support a remote and hybrid workforce.
• Adoption is speeding up and becoming universal: Not only did UCaaS subscription rates increase by 41% in 2020 alone, but 75% of businesses are expected to utilize UCaaS systems by 2030.

For resellers and MSPs looking to diversify their product and service offerings, the fast-paced growth of UCaaS’s popularity and the positive forecasts of its continued growth and consumer value makes UCaaS a promising and attractive solution.  

Related: What is a UCaaS platform and how can it help my clients?

Why Managed Service Providers Should Add UCaaS to Their Services: The Client-Facing Benefits

Making significant changes to your product catalog and service options can be an intimidating process, especially if you’ve offered the same products for years or your current partners don’t provide a UCaaS solution for you to resell. If these factors are barriers in your journey to becoming a UCaaS reseller, consider how making the change can benefit your company. Let’s start by weighing the benefits on the client-facing side of your business.

You Become a Contender for Prospective Clients Who Are Considering Switching to UCaaS in the Future

MSPs need a constant pipeline of new prospects who can replace clients who have left your services, or add to your existing client base. In today’s market, these new businesses will want UCaaS. Resellers who focus on the healthcare industry and other medical organizations, especially, are seeing an unprecedented demand for UCaaS because of its data security and multi-channel offerings. 

But if your company doesn’t offer UCaaS, they may never find you. You won’t show up in the SERPs for UCaaS providers, your website won’t have content about UCaaS, and companies that require UCaaS service offerings from a potential MSP vendor will automatically rule you out. Simply having and promoting UCaaS opens the door to new markets and businesses.

Your Company Can Cultivate a Reputation for Knowing Cutting-Edge Trends and Technologies

By jumping into the UCaaS market, experimenting with the product offerings, and gaining an in-depth knowledge of the solutions, you become a technology authority. Whether you consult with companies about the unique UCaaS solution that’s the right fit for them, or publish content about the details of using and thriving with UCaaS, or you can speak intelligently to customers who don’t see a difference between different “aaS” (as a service) options and just want something that works, having UCaaS on your catalog is a big boost for your reputation.

You Mitigate the Risk of Looking Outdated or Old-Fashioned

Medium- to large-scale businesses seeking modern telecom solutions will be searching for UCaaS in a telecom partner. If a potential customer finds your service and sees that UCaaS is not included, and only older services are offered, they’re likely to move on to a competitor who offers UCaaS. 

Providing UCaaS services will also signal to owners of smaller, simpler businesses that don’t yet require the robust features of a UCaaS system that your business will be a partner for the long-term, because as their business grows, they’ll be confident that you can grow and scale with them and their evolving telecom needs.

Clients Can See You as an Objective Consultant Instead of a Pushy Sales Organization

In the B2B market, client-side buyers can see salespeople as too interested in making a sale instead of substantively solving a problem; in fact, 68% of buyers would rather navigate the market without a sales rep. 

This is why there’s been a push toward IT consulting rather than IT selling: prospective client companies that need advice on different product options want objective answers. They want recommendations that are tailored to their requirements, trusting that the consultant is putting their needs first.

Broadening your catalog of services and solutions gives you greater flexibility to converse with a prospective client as a consultant, rather than a pushy salesperson who is limited to only a few offerings. With more options, you can listen to your client’s needs, tailor a custom solution that’s best for them, and win their confidence in your expertise and care, signalling to them that you’re putting their needs and concerns first.

Why Managed Service Providers Should Add UCaaS to Their Services: The Internal Benefits

Some MSPs balk at changing their own internal communication operations, worrying that their work will be complicated by introducing a new system they don’t fully understand. What if the risk isn’t worth the reward?

The benefits of using UCaaS in your own business outweigh any perceived negatives of adapting to a new internal system.

You Gain More Data About What Services Your Clients and Prospects Want

Gathering data about usage patterns, new sales and upsells, and other customer trends over time is a great strategy for strengthening your business. As you expand your product catalog, you can gather even more data so you know:

• What areas to route more support and resources to
• What business offerings to prioritize
• The unique UCaaS “footprints” of different customer personas that you want to reach
• The usage patterns across the year

Every part of your revenue team can use this data to make changes and generate more accurate forecasts over time. Whether you have a larger organization or run your company on your own, you can formulate these insights into actionable views that help you grow your business more methodically.

You Can Refine Your Bundles and Product Prices

Your data will also help you configure product offers, pricing, and bundles. You can A/B test different product combinations, like customizable bundles, and better understand the pricing that resonates best with your audience. 

Because you’ll also have an expanded repertoire of services, you can add that unique selling point as you’re calculating pricing norms. The sooner you build out your product catalog and test different pricing strategies, the sooner you can arrive at the right approaches for your market.

It’s Always Better to Learn Continuously Over Time Instead of Being Blindsided By New Technologies

Reselling new products and solutions can be an administrative burden. You need to learn the ins and outs of the new system, have resources for stress-testing your business models, and experiment with your marketing. 

In this changing telecom environment, learning about UCaaS technologies and best practices will be an inevitable requirement. Choosing to be proactive in watching market trends and making intelligent business moves now, instead of waiting until you’re forced to adapt to catch up to your competitors, keeps you ahead of the game and a relevant partner to your existing customer base.

Related: Guide for UCaaS resellers: How to grow your IT reselling business in 2023

The First Step is Partnering with the Right UCaaS Platform

Selecting the right UCaaS partner to help you grow your business can feel daunting, but as you start your search, keep these four core requirements in mind. The right partner will help address your lingering concerns, give you a solid foundation for succeeding in the market (without stifling your growth), and will value your independence, letting you run your business according to your own values, goals, mission, and your customers’ needs.

1. Find a Partner That Allows White-Labeling and Reselling

As an MSP reseller, the last thing you want is to find your business partnered with services that are overly burdensome or restrictive. No one knows your market’s needs better than you do, so you need the freedom to offer the pricing, promotions, and bundles that work best. As you consider prospective partners, ensure there’s independence for everyone. They should offer true white-labeling and reselling opportunities that keep you in control of what your company offers and how you operate. 

2. Focus on Partners That Provide Training and Education

UCaaS is an entirely new class of solutions that breaks down business communication barriers and offers a brand-new paradigm for how businesses can get work done. Unless you’re already a UCaaS expert, look for a partner that offers robust training and onboarding protocols. Before you start offering UCaaS to new prospects and established clients, your partner should give you and your team a thorough understanding of their platform.

Favor companies that offer you the following training resources:

• A multi-week onboarding process where your team can thoroughly explore the User Services Platform (USP) and functionalities of the solution, with detailed technical training
• A variety of immediate and ongoing learning resources like web conferences, live onboarding support, and a separate support team for technical issues or complex questions
• Billing training so you can manage the complex taxes surrounding UCaaS and digital telecom solutions, provide professional invoices to your clients, and remit taxes properly

3. Examine Their Success. Are Their Services Good Enough to Support Your Brand’s Integrity?

Your UCaaS partner should truly be a partner, an organization that is well-versed in its own solutions and can provide a high-quality product that supports your brand’s integrity and won’t disappoint your customers. To find a partner that meets or exceeds your standards, look for companies that have multiple years of success in white-labeled services, an up-time record of over 99.99%, and positive reviews from both end-users and reselling partners.

Grow Your MSP Business with the Right UCaaS Solution

If you haven’t added a UCaaS solution to your product offerings, the time is now. The market is exploding, and your company is perfectly timed to reach new customers. But you can only grow your business successfully if you have a UCaaS partner with the right business practices and high-quality products that you and your customers expect. At SkySwitch, we offer white-labeling and reselling opportunities to MSPs, and we prioritize giving you complete flexibility so you can interact with your market and your region on your own terms. Reach out today to learn more about our reselling opportunities and our UCaaS solutions.