Business communication used to be pretty simple. You either phoned or you wrote a letter. These days, thanks to the internet, there are many more options available, from email and instant messaging to video conferencing.
Managing all of these different options can be a tricky task and many organisations are turning to something called Unified Communications (UC) https://www.lifewire.com/unified-communication-3426679 to bring all of their communication together.
What is unified communications?
UC isn’t really a product in itself, but rather a way of uniting different products and technologies to streamline business procedures. This can include things like providing access to a service, like IP calling, from several different devices like mobile phones and desktop systems.
It can also mean integrating services to allow access to voice and video calling, instant messaging and file sharing from a single platform accessible to all employees.
Advantages of UC
Because there are so many different methods of communication available now it’s easy for everything to become disjointed. Staff may need to have several different applications installed on their computers or mobile devices and they may not always know which is the best choice to use in particular circumstances. It also means that they have to monitor a number of sources and can be bombarded with different messages that can quickly become a distraction. It’s also the case that without UC you may find yourself able to contact a customer on one device but not on another.
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Implementing UC gives you access to services like AZ termination from https://www.idtexpress.com/blog/category/voice-termination/ across a range of devices so you can take advantage of low cost calling on your mobiles as well as your office phones. This means staff can work efficiently from anywhere with access to all of their communication needs from any device. It means that they can be contacted via a single number too, whichever office they are working in or if they are out and about using a smartphone.
Added benefits of this are that you can reduce the need for business travel as it becomes possible to hold video conferences, plus branch offices are better able to take advantage of the business’ centralised communication facilities. UC can also cut costs by making it easier to implement strategies such as hot desking to make better use of office space, or allowing employees to work from home.
