Business Benefits of Unified Communications for Remote and Hybrid Teams

Business benefits of Unified Communications for remote and hybrid teams

Employee engagement matters. Highly engaged employees are more productive, make fewer mistakes, and stay in their role longer—all benefits for today’s employers. 

This is also an important consideration for employers with remote and hybrid teams. It’s no secret that hybrid work is here to stay. A recent survey by Cisco revealed five areas of well being that were improved by remote work according to employees. From financial benefits to physical, social, emotional and mental wellness, employees say remote work has improved all of them. 

Remote work has benefits for employers as well. Now businesses can recruit the right talent from anywhere with remote technology solutions in place. So, when it comes to capitalizing on the benefits of employee engagement, how can employers foster that with their remote and hybrid teams? One of the most important tools in employers’ arsenal is cloud-based collaboration. 

What is cloud-based collaboration? 

Cloud-based collaboration tools combine productivity applications like email and chat with voice, video, messaging, file sharing and more in a single streamlined platform. This way workers can engage in real-time (and near real-time) collaboration with coworkers as they might face to face. 

While there are a number of cloud-collaboration solutions on the market, employees can feel overwhelmed by switching platforms just to stay in touch with team members. What’s the solution to keep employees engaged instead of burning out? Unified Communications. 

The business benefits of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)

Unified Communications (UC) streamlines remote and hybrid employees’ ability to stay connected to the people and resources they need to stay productive with collaboration tools on a single platform. 

Previously, businesses had to cobble together their own collaboration solutions, forcing employees to juggle multiple applications. They might message on one platform, share files on another, and host video calls on a third. This can lead to burn out—the nemesis of employee engagement. 

As employers look for simpler ways to support hybrid and remote workers, adoption of managed services, like Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) are on the rise. UCaaS delivers all the communications tools remote and hybrid teams need with faster implementation and ongoing support without minimal financial and IT overhead. 

UCaaS is commonly delivered in two cloud models: multi-tenant (where users share a common software license) or multi-instance (where each user receives their own license for more customization and control). It also offers other business benefits including:

• Lower communications overhead
• More cost-effective alternative to a legacy phone system
• Vendor-designed configuration and implementation
• Built-in service, support and upgrades
• Managed by vendor (i.e., no drain on IT teams)
• Easy scalability for both in-office and remote workers

Streamlining your remote collaboration with UCaaS

Just a few years ago, businesses explored cloud-based communications to reduce costs and increase efficiency. But today, UC is a foundational element to foster productivity in a remote and hybrid workforce by providing truly connected and highly collaborative work experiences wherever an employee is located.