The details of Unified Communications

The most appropriate definition of Unified Communication is “communications integrated to optimize business processes and increase user productivity.” UC brings together the means to integrate near to real-time unified messaging, collaboration and interactive systems. The scope for UC is vast. And therefore, its expansion makes way for incorporating collaboration and other interactive systems such as instant messages, voice response systems, scheduling workflow.

Components of UC

• Instant Messaging
• Unified Messaging
• Speech access and personal assistant
• Audio, video and web conferencing
• Call control and multimodal communications
• Presence: the feature of knowing where intended recipients are and whether they are available or not.
• Collaboration tools
• Mobility
• Business Process Integration (BPI)
• Software to enable BPI

Cloud UC

Combining the voice and unified messaging features, cloud UC brings together the best of both worlds. The features here include: instant messaging, presence, video and web conferencing, call recording and team collaboration. This, therefore, helps to improve the work efficiency of the employees. Usually, a third party service provider hosts the cloud-based unified communication service. These software-driven services have numerous features. Above all, this is customizable and helps to adapt according to the growth and changing needs of the business.

Some of the major benefits are as follows:

• Backup and Disaster recovery
• Detailed analytics
• Support system managed CRM integration
• Communication-enabled business processes

UC Provider 

Some Points which would help to select a proper UC Provider:

Scalability: Choose the provider who has the potential to accommodate your necessities in future also. As businesses expand and both clients and employee bases increase, scalability is one of the most important factors to keep in mind.

Backup: Backups are important as they will save the business when primary systems go down. Therefore look for a provider who offers a backup system.

Good Internet Connection: UC requires a high-speed internet connection. Hence make sure that the provider you select has the ability to keep up with the demands on implementing such a system along with a reasonable cost.

Service Package: Some providers offer customizable package services according to your requirements. Therefore select the one which suits you the best.

Equipment Compatibility: Many times it is necessary to upgrade old equipment to make it UC compatible. While one can do this on their own, there are service providers who provide this facility. So if you want expert help in this matter then select your service provider accordingly.