In today’s increasingly mobile workforce, employees and customers require a multitude of communication channels to stay connected — including calling, chat, video conferencing, and file sharing. UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) platforms bring all of these services together into a single application, making it easy for businesses to stay connected from anywhere.
But choosing a UCaaS provider for your business can be daunting. Just the number of available UCaaS service providers can be overwhelming — and that’s before you start comparing their feature and support nuances. These nuances really do matter when determining if the provider is the right fit for your business and the quality of experience for your employees, so it’s important to give the proper time and consideration to your options.
To help you navigate the choices, we’ve created a rundown of what to look for when choosing the best UCaaS solution for your business.
Support
The implementation, integration, and maintenance of a UCaaS system isn’t something you should have to manage on your own. The primary purpose of choosing a cloud solution is so you don’t have to carry the large support burden. You want your business up and running quickly, and if a problem comes up, you don’t want to be on hold with your support team for three hours waiting to get it fixed
Look for a provider that offers support when you need it — preferably around the clock, as problems don’t always come up on a convenient 9 AM to 5 PM schedule. Make certain that support is high quality, helpful, and easy to use. One easy way to tell: check whether brands are recognized by third parties for excellent support. Intermedia Unite, for example, has been recognized by J.D. Power for delivering exceptional tech support for five years running.
Data Protection and Security
This one’s a no-brainer — secure data protection should be crucial to your UCaaS provider. Confirm that any platform you’re considering offers two-factor authentication, encryption, infrastructure security, and endpoint protection for multiple devices (computers and mobile).
Additionally, you need to ensure that you have control over your company’s data. A good way to evaluate whether a company’s security is comprehensive is to check whether they have independent, third-party verification of their security, such as SOC 2 auditing — a feature included by Intermedia Unite, for example.
Onboarding Assistance
Moving to the cloud in today’s mobile world should happen with minimal interruption to your business. Most UCaaS platforms offer a quick DIY option, while offering added onboarding services for a fixed cost. Proper onboarding and a custom migration plan are among the fundamentals for any onboarding efforts and should be included as part of your platform. Make sure your provider has a white-glove cloud concierge team that can ensure you get up and running quickly and accurately — and for free!
Reliability
Your communications system is your business’s lifeblood: if your phone system goes down, you’re facing a critical issue. One benefit of a cloud-based communications service should be better uptime (the amount of time your system is up and running smoothly), but not all uptime is created equal. As you look at providers, make sure they offer a minimum of 99.999 percent financially-based uptime service level agreement (SLA), like that provided by Intermedia Unite. This is a particularly important nuance, as one additional 9 means a difference of minutes of downtime compared to hours or even days.
End-User Training
While robust UCaaS platforms enable a work-from-anywhere model, employees need support and proper training to operate the extensive features and applications that allow such flexibility. However, all training programs are not created equally or intuitive enough for employees to use on their own.
Now, more than ever, end-user training through webinar courses, live training, video, and knowledge-based articles are replacing the traditional face-to-face alternatives. When looking for a UCaaS Provider for your small business, ensure that they offer live end-user training and 24/7 support to keep your productivity flowing, wherever work takes place.
