The Comprehensive Guide to UCaaS: Everything You Should Know About Implementing a UCaaS System

Since the pandemic, more businesses have realized the significant value of cloud-based technologies, embracing trends such as remote work, globalization, and digital transformation. Many of these organizations have successfully adopted these trends by migrating to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). In a UCaaS system, companies can ensure efficient collaboration, streamlined communication, and enhanced productivity. 

In this guide, we’ll cover all you need to know about UCaaS, breaking down the concept, its benefits, features, and the required steps for UCaaS implementation. 

The Inner Workings of a UCaaS System: What, How and Why it Matters 

What is UCaaS? 

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a holistic cloud-based model that streamlines business communication by integrating various communication channels, including voice, instant messaging, email, and more into a single, unified platform. 

Powered by cloud technology, UCaaS caters to businesses across various industries aiming to establish more flexible, efficient, and scalable communication systems.   

How Does a UCaaS System Work?

UCaaS communication services are cloud-based systems, which means that they are hosted and delivered over the internet rather than on-premises infrastructure. This shifts infrastructure management to the service provider, enabling the organization to focus on core business communications needs. In addition, businesses can easily scale to meet growing communication needs. 

UCaaS systems are subscription-based and can be offered through telecommunications providers or UCaaS vendors. Since a UCaaS system is a central platform for various communication channels, businesses can seamlessly switch from one mode of communication to another without needing to manage multiple applications. 

UCaaS communication services comprise a range of communication features, including voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing, instant messaging, presence management, and more. 

Benefits of a UCaaS System for Businesses 

From cost-efficiency to enhanced customer service, UCaaS provides businesses with a wide range of benefits. 

Cost savings

Migrating to a UCaaS system eliminates the need for companies to spend on infrastructure, such as data centers, server hardware, network equipment, and more.

Offloading management 

The cloud service provider bears the burden of managing UCaaS infrastructure, allowing the organization to focus on core technology-related objectives. 

Improved collaboration 

By integrating various communication channels, teams don’t have to work in silos. They can collaborate seamlessly whether they're situated in the same office or live miles or time zones away from each other across the globe.

Improved customer service

A UCaaS system provides support teams with the structure they need to provide timely responses to customer queries and quality customer service based on the customer’s history and information provided at any point during the customer’s journey.

Global reach

UCaaS systems facilitate distributed work. Teams can leverage communication services from virtually any location in the world, creating room for hybrid and remote work. 

Key UCaaS System Features 

UCaaS services include a wide range of communications features. Here are the most common ones:

Voice communication

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a communication technology that facilitates the delivery of phone calls over the internet rather than via landline services.

Video conferencing

With video conferencing technology, team members in different locations can hold face-to-face meetings without having to converge in a single location. 

Instant messaging

Instant messaging technology enables real-time text transmission over the internet or another computer network between two or more team members.  

Email integration 

Email messaging is often a core component of unified communications, allowing users connected to a common platform to access and manage emails via email clients. 

File sharing and collaboration tools 

File sharing, document collaboration, and file synchronization are some of the key components of a UCaaS system. These features ensure efficient team collaboration across multiple devices.

Mobile support 

UCaaS platforms are optimized for mobile, ensuring that team members can access communications and corporate content while on the go. 

Security and compliance features

The best UCaaS providers prioritize security and compliance. Given the growing security concerns surrounding communication channels, including online chat, video conferencing, email, and more, UCaaS solutions incorporate a wide range of security solutions from end-to-end encryption to data sovereignty, real-time analytics, authentication, and fraud protection. 

They also adhere to compliance standards, such as the Health Insurance Portability Act (HIPPA) for healthcare or the National Institute for Standards in Technology (NIST), ensuring data protection and privacy.

Choosing the Right UCaaS Provider: What to Look for in a UCaaS System 

The UCaaS provider you choose can make or break your organization, given the impact it has on collaboration. Here are some important factors to consider when choosing a UCaaS provider:

Factors to Consider When Selecting a UCaaS Provider 

Business needs and goals 

Consider if the provider has features and customization options that align with your business communications needs and objectives. Will its solutions help you collaborate better? Can the service support remote work? Is it cost-efficient? Are the communication tools intuitive? Will the UCaaS system help you scale with ease to meet growing communication needs as your organization expands?

Will the provider’s UCaaS system save you time and increase productivity? Are there integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) tools and contact center applications to enhance customer service? 

Scalability 

Check whether the UCaaS provider can handle the growing communication needs of your organization without underperforming. It should be able to scale up with ease when there’s a sudden spike in demand for infrastructural requirements and also scale down when you need to cut down resources for any reason. 

Service reliability and uptime 

No cloud-based service is immune to downtime, but the best solutions aim for high availability, with 99.999% (also known as ‘Five 9s’) widely considered the holy grail of availability. A UCaaS system that guarantees five 9s availability has less than 78 seconds of downtime per quarter. Lower guarantees can have significant consequences, especially in industries that handle sensitive data, including healthcare, education, finance, and retail. 

Here’s a table explaining availability in more detail:

Integrations

Opting for a UCaaS provider that integrates seamlessly with core tools used within your organization can have a range of benefits from improved collaboration to data consistency, cost savings and more. For example, integration with collaboration tools, including project management software and document sharing apps can boost the efficiency of team members and provide a unified environment for collaboration. 

Integrating a UCaaS system with different tools within the organization can help maintain data consistency and accuracy across various platforms. Third-party integrations also eliminate the need for separate communication tools, thereby saving costs and maximizing resources. 

Credibility

One valuable insight you can gain about a UCaaS provider is if it has a positive track record in the industry. You can confirm this by checking various sources, including:

• Case studies 
• Online reviews and ratings 
• Analyst reports 
• Online presence and social media 
• Community and user forums 
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Checking such resources to learn about a UCaaS provider can help you establish whether the provider has a good reputation, meets industry-standard requirements and is suitable for your communication needs. 

UCaaS System Implementation: A Comprehensive Roadmap for Your Business 

UCaaS implementation is a delicate process that requires careful planning, thorough testing and performance tracking. Since every business has unique communication requirements, organizations must ensure that their UCaaS system implementation aligns with their goals and objectives. 

Determining the Right Deployment For Your Organization 

When planning your UCaaS adoption, consider what kind of deployment suits your organization. Do you want your UCaaS system to be fully cloud-based or hybrid? A fully cloud-based model will provide you with the flexibility of running a remote team, but you may have to rebuild your tech stack from the ground up. With a hybrid environment, you can combine your existing on-premises technology with cloud-based solutions. 

Planning and Assessing Your Current Communication Infrastructure and Needs

Once you’ve decided on your UCaaS system deployment model, evaluate your organization’s current infrastructure and communication needs to identify any gaps or opportunities within the system. Here are some infrastructure components to assess when planning your UCaaS implementation: 

Network Readiness: 

Ensure your organization has sufficient bandwidth to accommodate the increase in traffic generated by voice and video calls, online chat, and file sharing within the UCaaS system. Also, implement Quality of Service (QoS) in your organization’s network to prioritize delay-sensitive traffic, including voice and video streams, to minimize latency and packet loss. 

Legacy PBX 

To ensure optimal performance when you migrate to the UCaaS solution, evaluate technical aspects of your legacy PBX infrastructure, such as the number of phone lines, extensions associated with the PBX, the routing system of your contact center, and which phone numbers need to be moved to the UCaaS solution. 

Endpoint Compatibility 

Verify whether various communication endpoints in your organization, including desktop phones, routers, and mobile devices, are compatible with the UCaaS system and can perform optimally. Consider upgrading degraded endpoints or purchasing new ones to optimize the user experience. 

Determining Your Business Needs

Choose a UCaaS system that’s tailored to your organization’s specific communication requirements in core areas, such as security, compliance, scalability, and global reach. To gain valuable insights into your business needs, gather insights from key stakeholders, such as C-Suite executives, IT personnel, end-users, and project managers. It can also be beneficial to look for a vendor that provides various customization options.

Mastering the UCaaS System: Training and Adoption Strategies 

The IT department plays a key role in UCaaS adoption, but it’s essential to involve other departments in your organization as well. This will help you implement a UCaaS system that aligns with the unique communication needs of each department and help end-users who aren’t part of the IT department assimilate seamlessly into the system.

Here are some of the departments to consider involving during the UCaaS system adoption stage:

• Marketing 
• Engineering 
• Operations
• Customer service 
• Finance 

There are no universal guidelines for implementing UCaaS system training. However, it can be beneficial to create a comprehensive training schedule. Consider following this comprehensive training template partly created by UC Advisor [1]: 

1. Appoint project leaders from key departments in your organization to serve as ambassadors for the new technology and mentors for other members of your organization. UCAdvisor suggests a three-step training process, where you begin by training a team of “first adopters” who are digitally savvy and comfortable with the idea of embracing new technology. 
2. As the training progresses, gather feedback from this team and look out for any difficulties they might face when testing the UCaaS system. 
3. Update your training methods and tools with the feedback gathered from the “first adopters” and select another team of “initial adopters”. These are the members within the organization who might not be as tech-savvy as the first team but still feel relatively comfortable with the idea of change. 
4. Use your team of “first adopters” as mentors for this team. Track the performance of the“initial adopters” and pay attention to any difficulties they encounter. 
5. In the final stage, restructure your training tools and technology again using feedback gathered from the initial adopters, and release it to other members of your organization who need additional help. Use your team of first and initial adopters as mentors for the remaining members of your organization. 

Establishing and Evaluating Metrics

In the planning stage, it’s essential to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and goal metrics to measure the success of your UCaaS System implementation. Take note of metrics such as uptime and availability, usage metrics, session duration, and more. When the implementation phase is complete, review your KPIs, identifying areas where your efforts have paid off and areas where there’s a need for improvement. 

This will provide you with valuable insights regarding the areas that need tweaking and the areas where you can maximize the efforts to produce positive outcomes.

Panterra Streams: A Reliable and Customizable UCaaS Solution For Your Organization 

Is your goal to cut costs associated with communication hardware and software components? Do you wish to incorporate remote work in your organization? Do you want your employees to collaborate seamlessly irrespective of their location or time zone? 

Panterra's Streams has you covered with its all-in-one UCaaS platform designed to meet your organization's specific communication needs. With 99.999% (five nines) availability and 24/7 customer support, Panterra's UCaaS platform guarantees disruption-free service. 

Check out our website to learn more about our unified, cloud-based communication solutions. https://www.panterranetworks.com/about-panterra

Sources

1. https://ucadvisor.com/your-guide-to-implementing-a-new-ucaas-solution/