SymQuest Tech Talk

How Unified Communications Can Increase Your Employees’ Productivity

Written by Bill Marshall | August 28, 2020

Teams everywhere are adjusting to different work environments with many employees continuing to work from home for the foreseeable future. With these changes, businesses must ensure that employees have access to everything they need to be productive while at home, including a good communications system.

Even when employees are introduced back into the workplace, a reliable and cost effective communication system shouldn’t be taken for granted. According to All Covered, 69% of the workday is spent on communication-based activities and 3 hours a day are spent on phone calls and in meetings.

Having a flexible and dependable managed voice service like Unified Communications can make it easy for employees to collaborate and meet, no matter the circumstances.

What is Unified Communications?

Teams work together and communicate in a multitude of ways on a daily basis like through voice calling on desk phones, web and video conferencing, instant messaging, mobile devices, and more.

A managed voice program such as Unified Communications can help make those platforms seamlessly work together for a great user experience. The service combines hardware - like work stations, desk phones, and smartphones - with hosted PBX services, which utilize the internet for cloud-based communications.

Unified Communications makes communicating easy, no matter where team members are located, or what device they are using.

The Benefits of Unified Communications

For teams large and small, in-office and remote, the benefits of Unified Communications are vast. Here are the top advantages of using Unified Communications.

Mobility

During the current pandemic, allowing employees to work out of the office has become the norm for many businesses. That means many people don’t have access to their desk phones or workstations like they previously did. These same hurdles are present even when business is back to normal as employees travel. The mobile functionality of Unified Communications eliminates the need to be working at a desk or in an office because calls can be taken on mobile devices and text conversations can happen over instant messaging apps, making hardwired workstations obsolete.

Cloud Integration

The cloud has taken the place of many on-prem infrastructures and the communication realm is no different. By utilizing the cloud, Unified Communications can store all your data and business communications from multiple different platforms in one place, making it easily accessible for authorized users.

Platform Coordination

Allowing your employees to use their preferred communication platform is easy with Unified Communications because multiple browsers, email clients, CRM softwares and more can be integrated into your business's tailored plan.

Cost Reduction

Every business is looking to cut costs, especially during the current economic environment. One of the most attractive benefits of Unified Communications may be the cost savings that come along with it. Avoiding a full overhaul of your current communication infrastructure and instead using some of the existing equipment or systems can save businesses significant money.

Additionally, by offering elements of the system from various vendors, Unified Communications can help organizations from running into costly upcharges or additions that IT teams and budgets aren’t prepared for.

Flexibility

Many businesses found themselves hastily reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic because their processes and systems weren’t prepared for a fully remote workforce. Whether it’s a pandemic, fire, flood or other unforeseen event, it’s important your operations can continue uninterrupted. Unified Communications makes it possible for employees to continue to work together whether remotely or in the office, from any device, at any time without relying on on-prem systems or equipment.

Implementing Unified Communications in Your Business

The benefits of Unified Communications for businesses and their employees are countless. With employees no longer bound to working in a designated space or from a specific device, the opportunity for increased productivity and collaboration is available at any time.

Whether it's simply time to upgrade your phone system, or you’re introducing a new remote work policy, a customized Unified Communications plan with Hosted PBX and Managed Voice can help your organization grow and succeed.