Unlocking The Power of UC for the SMB

By Jonathan McCormick, COO, Intermedia

Larger enterprises are increasingly adopting unified communications (UC). Many small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) are wondering whether the approach can help maximize their potential and aid in competition with larger organizations, yet are often unclear about the direct benefits and components of UC.

To clear up some of the confusion, let's define it. UC is the integration of key business communication services (including voice, email and instant messaging) into a cohesive system. Basic capabilities include reading voicemail in your email and Find Me/Follow Me--which forwards calls to mobile or other numbers while a user is away. It also includes more sophisticated capabilities like Click-to-Call--where a user can call a contact from their address book with the click of a mouse. These are additions that dramatically reduce the time spent hunting for information or tracking down colleagues away from their desk, resulting in improved collaboration. Other benefits include long-term cost savings versus the use of traditional voice and email solutions and environmental friendliness (less hardware and software systems, less commutes). Organizations can implement UC using hardware and software or consume it as a service from a hosted provider.

According to industry expert, Michael Osterman, founder of Osterman Research, "small firms can effectively compete with bigger companies if they have the same technologies and capabilities larger firms have, such as hosted email or telephony solutions. UC is a very important technology approach that small firms can take to get in a better position to compete on a major scale."

On-premise versus Hosted Model

Start with an evaluation of your business' needs. Should you manage UC in-house or does outsourcing work for you? Hosted solutions take much of the daily upkeep and responsibility away from a business, allowing employees to focus on the core of the business practice rather than outages and server maintenance. As an initial step towards adopting a UC solution, SMBs are increasingly turning to hosted services providers for key components that make up UC solutions. According to a recent Osterman Research survey, 31 percent of organizations are using hosted solutions for at least some of their employees for email, 13 percent are doing so for VoIP, and 17 percent are doing so for instant messaging.

"Hosted services provide a simple and affordable way for SMBs to implement VoIP-enabled solutions," says Osterman. "In order to find the best solution and provider for your business, it is vital to determine your business' needs and expectations from both the telephony offering and provider."

Finding Your Business' Voice

Don't bite off more than you can chew. Consider starting with something simple like hosted telephony. As you get comfortable with that, consider adding capabilities like instant messaging, hunt groups and voicemail to email.

SMBs may be gravitating towards free or low-cost solutions such as Skype or Google Voice but they aren't benefiting from important business features such as an automated attendant with a professional greeting that can answer phones and route calls, hunt groups, or music on hold. Services such as Skype and Google Voice also lack the management features to enable easy provisioning and management of users across a company. A more trustworthy alternative is a hosted PBX offering. Hosted PBX is a VoIP-enabled solution that typically has predicted costs throughout the lifespan of the contract. Some hosting providers offer PBX in addition to other UC components such as email and instant messaging--condensing your communications bill (and capabilities) into one.

SMBs must adopt telephony solutions that don't eat up time, resources and costs. But, the many options for finding the best phone system for your business can get confusing due to variety of voice solutions and types of providers that exist. For businesses still in their infancy, they might still be using mobile phones. Others might be deploying Skype as their telephony solution of choice. There are also businesses that might simply get hardwired with the local phone or cable provider. The commonality is that many of these businesses are unaware of the option to go hosted.

With UC Comes Collaboration

The real benefit of UC is collaboration. UC helps businesses become more nimble and flexible due to increased amounts of remote workforces. A few tips to help ensure collaboration between dispersed workforces or offices remains intact, include:

• Consolidation of all components of UC--email, telephony, instant messaging--under one roof to eliminate management headaches and wasted costs

• Evaluation of whether your business needs a hosting provider that offers full-service or self-service

• Improvement of productivity by making it easier for employees to stay in touch (with each other, clients, partners, etc.)

"Once SMBs understand UC and the value using a hosted service can bring to their business, they will achieve maximum collaboration. As a result, they will be well positioned to not only be successful but also to thrive and set themselves up for stronger growth."