Assess Your Readiness to Implement UCaaS

Unified communication as a service (UCaaS) is already here. Find the right solution for your organization, whether it is Teams Phone or another solution.

Analyst Perspective

UCaaS is the solution to the hybrid and remote working world

Hybrid/remote work is a reality and there is little evidence to prove otherwise despite efforts to return employees to the office. A 2023 survey from Zippia says 74% of US companies are planning to or have implemented hybrid work policies. Given the reality of the new ways people work, there’s a genuine need for a UCaaS solution.

The days of on-premises private branch exchange (PBX) and legacy voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solutions are numbered, and organizations are examining alternative solutions to redundant desk phones. The stalwarts of voice solutions, Cisco and Avaya, have seen the writing on the wall for some time: the new norm must be a cloud-based solution that integrates via API with content resource management (CRM), email, chat, and collaboration tools.

Besides remaining agile when accommodating different work locations, it’s advantageous to be able to quickly scale and meet the needs of organizations and their employees. New technology is moving at such a pace that utilizing a UCaaS service is truly beneficial, especially given its AI, analytics, and mobile capabilities. Being held back by an on-premises solution that is capitalized over several years is not a wise option.

John Donovan
Principal Research Director, I&O Practice
Info-Tech Research Group

Insight Summary

Improved integration and communication in a hybrid world
Unified communication as a service (UCaaS) integrates several tools into one platform to provide seamless voice, video, chat, collaboration, sharing and much more. The ability to work from anywhere and the ability to use application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate content resource management (CRM) and other productivity tools into a unified environment is a key component of employee productivity, whether at the office or remote, or even on mobile devices.

Simplify your maintenance, management, and support
Communication and voice using a cloud provisioner has many benefits and makes life easier for your IT staff. No more ongoing maintenance, upgrades, patching and managing servers or private branch exchanges (PBXs). UCaaS is easy to deploy, and due to its scalability and flexibility, users can easily be added or removed. Now businesses can retire their legacy technical debt of voice hardware and old desk phones that clutter the office.

Oversight on security
The utilization of a software as a service (SaaS) platform in UCaaS form does by design risk data breaches, phishing, and third-party malware. Fortunately, you can safeguard your organization’s security by ensuring the vendor you choose features SOC2 certification, taking care of encryption, firewalls, two-factor authentication and security incident handling, and disaster recovery. The big players in the UCaaS world have these features.

Executive Summary

Info-Tech Insight

Determine your communication and collaboration needs. Evaluate your current use of voice, video, chat, collaboration, sharing, and mobility whether for the office or remote work. Evaluate your security and regulatory requirements and needs. Determine the integration requirements when evaluating top vendors.

The evolution of unified communication

How we moved from fax machines and desk phones to an integrated set of tools on one platform in the cloud

Business drivers for moving to UCaaS

What organizations look to gain or save by moving to UCaaS solutions

Flexibility and scalability
Ability to add/remove users and services as appropriate for changing business needs, allowing for quick adaptation to changing markets.

Productivity
Offering features like messaging, collaboration tools, and video conferencing enables users to be more effective regardless of location and device. May lead to quicker decision making and reduced communication delays.

Cost savings
Eliminating the need for on-premises hardware and software, reducing maintenance and support costs. Predictable monthly billing.

Business continuity
Reducing risks of disruption or disaster. Allowing users to work from anywhere when the physical office is unavailable. Additional features can include disaster recovery and backup services.

Enhanced security
UCaaS providers usually offer advanced security and compliance features including encryption, firewall, intrusion detection, and certifications like HIPAA and SOC 2.

KPIs to demonstrate success

What key metrics should businesses measure to demonstrate a successful UCaaS project?
What improvements are needed?
What can be optimized?

What are the surveys telling us?

Different organizations adopt UCaaS solutions for different reasons

95%

Collaboration: No Jitter’s study on team collaboration found that 95% of survey respondents think collaborative communication apps are a necessary component of a successful communications strategy.
Source: No Jitter, 2018.

95%

Security: When deploying remote communication solutions, 95% of businesses say they want to use VPN connections to keep data private.
Source: Mitel, 2018.

31%

Flexibility: While there are numerous advantages to cloud-based communications, 31% of companies intend to use UCaaS to eliminate technical debt from legacy systems and processes.
Source: Freshworks, 2019.

UCaaS adoption

While many organizations are widely adopting UCaaS, they still have data security concerns

UCaaS deployments are growing

UCaaS is growing at a rate that shows the market for UC is moving toward cloud-based voice and collaboration solutions at a rate of 29% year over year.

Source: Synergy Research Group, 2017.

Security is still a big concern

While it’s increasingly popular to adopt cloud-based unified communication solutions, 70% of those companies are still concerned about their data security.

Source: Masergy, 2022.

Concerns around security range from encrypting conversations to controlling who has access to what data in the organization’s network to how video is managed on emerging video communications platforms.

Info-Tech Insight

Ensure you maintain a robust security posture with your data regardless of where it is being stored. Security breaches can happen at any location.

UCaaS vs. on-premises UC

Main benefits of UCaaS

• Rapid deployment: Cloud hosting provides the ability to deploy quickly.
• Ease of management: It’s no longer necessary for companies to manage communications across multiple platforms and devices.
• Better connection: The communication flow across teams and with customers is faster and easier with phone, messaging, audio and video conferencing available in one place.
• Scalability: Since UCaaS is an on-demand service, companies can scale their communication needs to what’s immediately required at an affordable price.

Info-Tech Insight

There are five reasons you should migrate to UCaaS. They are advanced technology, easily scalable, cost efficiencies, highly available, and security. There are always outliers, but these five criteria are a reliable foundation when assessing a vendor/product.