Unified communications has been adopted by many businesses as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns that closed offices and sent employees to work from home. Although the restrictions have now been lifted, UC is still as prominent as ever and for new businesses, is something worth investing in.
But, how do the benefits of UC compare to its initial cost of setup?Let’s take a look.
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What is unified communications?
Unified communications (UC) is a concept that sees a unified approach to business communications. It refers to communication services like instant messaging, video and call conferencing, emails, and more, that can be accessed from one application across a range of devices.
As a consequence of these integrated communications, business processes are optimised, which can boost business collaboration, efficiency and productivity. It allows employees to not communicate with others in real-time, but also see each other’s availability or status.
For more detail, check out this beginner’s guide to UC (https://www.gamma.co.uk/resources/blog/beginners-guides-to-uc-what-is-unified-communications/).
Main benefits of UC
Collaboration
One of the main benefits of UC is its ability to boost collaboration within the workplace. In fact, the UC and collaboration market is set to grow to almost $50 million worldwide by 2023, compared to $32.97 million in 2018. A part of this growth could be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that saw remote working become a norm for numerous businesses, and so UC was used to help foster remote collaboration and connectivity.
Collaboration can be cultivated through a variety of UC tools like instant messaging, screen sharing, call and video conferencing, real-time document editing, and project management apps. These features make collaborating with others easier and more accessible, which in turn can help establish a collective understanding and collaborative environment for your employees.
Improved collaboration means improved productivity, which enhances business success at the end. For any remote employees, UC is an excellent way for them to be able to collaborate with other remote workers, as well as any in-office employees.
Connectivity and Efficiency
Another advantage of UC is its connectivity – this is extremely important in the age of flexible and hybrid working environments. If your company offers hybrid or remote working, a UC approach is the most appropriate method of handling business communications, with its ability to connect remote employees.
In addition to this, UC improves overall business efficiency as it can streamline processes and communications, enabling more time to be spent on other important tasks. This means that UC allows for better time management and prioritisation of tasks, which otherwise may not be possible without the implementation of UC.
In solving inefficiencies, there is also the chance that this will eventually reduce operational costs, particularly in IT.
Final thoughts
Whilst UC may take some time and definitely money to be implemented from the ground up, it is still an investment worth making when it comes to boosting business productivity. The long-term benefits of UC indeed outweigh its initial costs, so whilst you may look at UC to be an expensive venture, you could end up saving money and a good return on investment (ROI) in the long run.
