Is your UC keeping pace with workplace transformation?

In the modern workplace, employees are often geographically dispersed with almost half (43%) working remotely at least some of the time, and they typically rely on some combination of voice, email, text and video communications to coordinate their efforts with business associates. Furthermore, they increasingly use multiple devices to access business resources and communications wherever and whenever they want to work.

Unified Communications (UC) emerged some time ago to support these needs. But as digital transformation continues to dramatically reshape how we do business, organizations need to ensure their communications solution is optimized to support the integrated, 24/7 collaborative experiences employees demand.

Is your UC solution keeping pace?

UC integrates all of the different communications channels into a unified user experience, enabling employees to improve productivity and remain in tight communication with each other regardless of geography.

Organizations with modern UC implementations are better able to address IT consumerization, save money and foster more productive collaboration between employees. And while most organizations already have some UC solution in place, it’s critical to continue evolving UC capabilities to meet growing demands. To ensure your UC solution can scale with your business, you need a solid modernization strategy based on careful planning and resource allocation. This checklist can get you started:

1. What resources do you have available? How do you use them? Consider both technology and cultural norms, especially with respect to collaboration and communication.
2. What are your long-term UC goals? Develop a realistic plan for meeting your goals by putting resources in place and delegating responsibility to teams as appropriate.
3. How are users and managers benefitting from UC technologies? A UC solution is only useful insofar as it accrues tangible benefits to users. Evaluate how employees are using the technology and involve them in the optimization process.
4. How easy is it to use your UC system? In order to improve employee buy-in to your UC solution, it needs to be easy and convenient to use.
5. How are you ensuring the quality of UC systems? Technologies such as VoIP and video conferencing are dependent on the quality of vendors and infrastructure. If you’re not seeing strong performance from your UC, it’s time to consider other options.
6. What kind of mobile experience does your UC solution provide? As more employees use mobile devices, it’s critical that UC securely supports reliable anytime, anywhere access to smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.
7. How well does your infrastructure meet the needs of a modern UC solution? An outdated infrastructure will hinder efforts to implement a modern UC strategy, even if other technologies are cutting-edge.
8. How does your organization use the cloud in conjunction with UC tools? While not all UC technologies need to be hosted in the cloud, considering UC’s place in your cloud strategy is important and needs to be a part of your technology roadmap.
9. How do your business applications facilitate collaboration? Evaluate your most commonly used business applications. Do they enable easy collaboration, or do users go through other channels?
10. What technology partners are you working with? UC will touch on virtually every aspect of your business, so you need experienced partners to ensure quality.

Digitization is transforming the modern workplace into fluid, connected environments where mobility and quick access to applications are imperative.

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