Modern business communication can take many
different forms, including phone calls (both landline and cell), faxes,
voicemail, instant messaging, video conferencing, and social networking. Unified
communications allows you to integrate all of these communications into one
streamlined platform, which can then be managed through a single Web interface.
Unified communications can also incorporate things like interactive voice
response (the auto-mated recordings that provide callers with a list of options
to properly route their calls), conference-calling capabilities, call
recording, and queue management. We’ll examine how you can use unified
communication in your business and talk a bit about where you can get it.
Unified
communications bring together audio, written, and visual communication in a
single, easy-to-use tool
Partial or full
“Unified communications” is a broad term
that covers a service that aggregates the various communications within your
business. But unified communications isn’t an all-or-nothing type of service:
Most providers offer several plans to suit the needs of your business. For
instance, you could invest in a basic unified communications (or UC) plan that
would bring your emails, faxes, and voicemails into one inbox or maybe one that
manages how phone calls come into your business to ensure that all calls reach
the appropriate contact.
Videoconferencing
is one the key elements that unified communications can integrate
Let’s say that you’re a company that relies
heavily upon your salespeople to work with clients. These salespeople often
travel and must have access to a history of the people with whom they’ve
communicated. You could invest in a unified communications service to en-sure
that any missed calls coming into a salesman’s incoming desk line would be
forwarded to his smartphone. Your salespeople would also be able to access any
email, voicemails, and instant messages from their smartphones or laptops while
traveling. Even better, you could have the UC service integrate the calls with
a CRM (customer relation management) client, so that all calls, emails, and
messages would link to the contact of record stored in the CRM; this way, it’s
easy for managers and employees to track the communication history of a client.
Benefits of unified communications
By combining the various communications
into a single interface, you’ll increase the efficiency of operations.
Additionally, you can avoid situations where calls and customers fall through
the cracks, because call management helps to ensure that people aren’t left on
hold or put off by busy lines. Another key benefit is that unified
communications can work with telepresence, call conferencing, screen sharing,
and other advanced collaboration tools that bring people together. Acquiring
tools that once required difficult-to-setup third-party services can now be as
simple as selecting a menu option.
Some
unified communications services can integrate with your CRM client
Unified communications can also simplify
the basic communications and transfers between employees. For example, local
directories stored in the phone (along with skill information) can be
referenced with corporate profiles. No need to go through multiple systems just
to reach one another. Because everything is connected to a server, you’ll also
have convenient access to archived items, such as a fax or voicemail that you
might have accidentally deleted last week. Moving to one system can also reduce
business costs, because you’ll no longer need to pay for multiple (likely
costly) services to get the job done.
Do you need unified communications?
With unified communications, you’ll be able
to adapt the service to your specific needs, but you may need to change somewhat
how you do business. You may currently have in place a system that you’ve used
for several years and that everyone knows how to use; that can be a powerful
argument for sticking with what you have. That said, you should also consider
what you’re missing out on: lowered expenses and increased productivity,
efficiency, and customer service quality. In short, unified communications
provides new ways to manage and operate your business and that can result in
streamlined operations, and thus additional revenue or enhanced profits.
How to choose a unified communications
provider
Begin by outlining the type of business
communications that are most important to your business. For example, if most
of your work involves customer support, look for UC providers that can provide
the easiest, most affordable way to improve upon your current setup. You want a
provider that covers your current needs, but you may also need to add other
features later. Talk with several different unified communications providers
and ask for competitive bids.
