Increase your productivity with Unified Communications and Collaboration
Traditionally, in small businesses, it has been that staff work from a set office location, using traditional telephone systems. But times are changing. Small businesses need to be productive, flexible and agile and to do so, digital transformation needs to take place.
Digital transformation presents a new way of working where the systems and methods of communication adjust to the way businesses and people want to operate - at the time and place that benefits them. Unified Communications and Collaboration platforms can be used to great effect in a small business.
Unified communications was born from the need of businesses to be more flexible in their approach to working with suppliers, customers and internally with their staff.
Flexible working is a rising trend and it empowers the users to work from anywhere in the world. Mobile devices in particular are becoming an extension of the corporate network so workers can be productive anywhere.
Essentially, Unified Communications means a business can communicate using difference channels of communication from one seamless application which increases the efficiency, profitability and productivity of a business.
For example, a typical Unified Communications tool will be an application but from that application you can conduct a Voice call, Video call, Instant Message, Share Documents and Calendars with multiple people, internally or externally.
Moving beyond email, UCC solutions make work super streamlined, for both clients and freelance agencies. The ability to be able to communicate to all relevant parties via group chats, or individual chats, and project-specific chats, is immensely time-saving, and therefore boosts productivity in small businesses.
Unified Communications is really revolutionising the way small businesses operate and enabling them to have an advantage over their larger competitors.
It's not really a case of should you consider UCC tools for your small business, but rather, which UCC tools are you going to implement.
A simplified example of Unified Communications
A simplified example of Unified Communications would be Google:
As a search engine, you can find the answers to your burning questions within the blink of an eye. They take it further with Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Hangouts and the use of a Gmail account for instant messaging. You can even place phone calls.
This is a really simple and easy way of thinking about Unified Communications; you have all of these systems at your fingertips, seamlessly integrated into one easy to use interface.
Benefits of Unified Communications:
- Flexibility – Unified Communications enables staff to pick up messages through different mediums helping them to become more efficient and effective at their jobs.
- Mobility – Remote workers are able to stay connected with colleagues, suppliers and customers at all times.
- Efficiency – You are giving your staff the tools to pick up messages, respond and work on the go. You improve their efficiency and boost the bottom line.
- Privacy – Cloud Unified Communications will give you greater levels of data privacy; a more exclusive company interface and a much more secure connection.
- Environmental impact – With a public concern about being “green,” the introduction of Unified Communications, it can considerably cut travel time and therefore your carbon footprint. This also means more time spent getting the job done, rather than spent on unnecessary travel.
- Real time communication – You can keep up with projects, stay connected with colleagues, and boost the sharing of knowledge and ideas across the business. You can even extend this function to include clients and suppliers.
- Variety of Communication channels – you can choose to communicate via audio/video calls or via the instant messaging features whilst sharing files of your screen.
What can Unified Communications merge?
Unified Communications pulls together multiple forms of communication channels.
Key features of Unified Communications:
- Instant messaging
- “Availability” – knowing if the person you need to contact is free or busy
- Conferencing applications
- Teamwork applications – to coordinate work on group projects
- Video conferencing
- Voice & click to call (from any directory, e.g. Outlook)
- Voice messaging – to e-mail and phones
- File sharing
- Softphones
- Directory integration
The idea behind Unified Communications is to “optimise business processes” and nothing does this better than an all-in-one solution.
Unified Communications Tools for Small Businesses
We have tried and tested many Unified Communications tools and there are three tools that are a cut above the rest; Mitel MiCollab, Horizon Collaborate and Wildix Collaboration.
They all have similar features which are ideal for small businesses.
The best solution is to demo all three with us. We can take you through how each one can benefit you and advise you on the costing structure. Depending on the number of users would depend on what option you’d most likely be suited to.