Unified communications
In today’s fast-paced business world, effective communication is the key to success. Unified communications (UC) is a one-stop solution for streamlining and enhancing your business’ communication and collaboration.
What is unified communications?
Unified communications integrates various communication tools and technologies into a single, cohesive platform. UC provides a seamless and consistent user experience across different commu-nication channels, devices and locations, enabling employees to communicate more efficiently and effectively.
Traditional communication systems often involve separate and dis-connected channels, such as traditional phone systems, email ser-vices, video conferencing tools, real-time messaging applications, and more. UC aims to bridge these gaps and bring all these chan-nels together under one comprehensive solution.
What do UC platforms include?
Voice communication: UC platform allows users to make and receive voice calls over the internet (VoIP) using a cloud phone system, incorporating features like call forwarding, voicemail, and call routing.
Video conferencing: Integrated video conferencing tools enable face-to-face virtual meetings, collaboration, and screen sharing among team members, regardless of their physical locations.
Instant messaging: Real-time messaging allows users to send text, images, and files instantly, while presence indicators show the availability and status of colleagues for efficient communication.
Email integration: This can involve integration with all email systems, enabling users to access their emails from within the UC platform and seamlessly transition between different communication modes.
Collaboration and file sharing: UC facilitates teamwork by offering shared workspaces, document collaboration, and file-sharing capabilities, allowing multiple users to collaborate on projects simultaneously.
How could unified communications benefit my business?
Enhanced collaboration — UC brings together various communication tools and platforms into a single interface, making it easier for employees to collaborate seamlessly. Real-time messaging, video conferencing and file sharing foster teamwork and collaboration.
Increased productivity — Employees can access all their communication tools from one platform. This streamlines workflows, reduces time spent switching between applications, and allows for more efficient multitasking.
Cost savings — By consolidating communication tools and plat-forms, organisations can reduce the expenses associated with multiple subscriptions, hardware and maintenance. Additionally, unified communications can lower travel costs by enabling virtual meetings and remote collaboration.
Flexibility — UC empowers employees to work from anywhere, whether in the office, at home, or while traveling. Mobile applications and remote access to communication tools enable a more flexible work environment, contributing to better work-life balance and higher job satisfaction.
Improved customer service — UC can integrate with contact centre systems, enabling businesses to deliver more responsive and personalised customer interactions. Faster access to information and streamlined communication within the organisation leads to better customer support.
Scalability — Solutions are designed to scale with the organisation’s growth. As a business expands, the UC platform can accommodate new users and additional features without significant disruptions.
Business continuity — During unforeseen events or disruptions, unified communications enables employees to stay connected and maintain business operations. This continuity contributes to reduced downtime and minimises the impact on productivity.
The impact of the PSTN switch off
There’s another reason to switch to a UC platform. The PSTN will be switched off completely on 31 December 2025, and will see the retirement of the UK’s copper network, which forms part of the system that enables any traditional phone system.
With all landline phones becoming obsolete after this date, switching to a UC system that includes a cloud phone system will be essential. You can learn more about the PSTN switch off and its implications for businesses over on our content hub.
UC Solutions from Crystaline
Crystaline offers the Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral platform to UK businesses. Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral is a cloud-based unified communications (UC) solution designed for businesses of all sizes. It combines the power of Vodafone’s global network and services with RingCentral’s industry-leading cloud communications platform to deliver a complete suite of communication and collaboration tools.
All of our products and services are protected by our service level agreement, the Crystaline Service Promise, which provides evidence for how our customers can expect to work with us.
Learn more here or contact our team below for more information or to discuss your individual requirements in more detail.