The goal of unified communications is to create a more cohesive workplace environment where teams can communicate within the team itself, and with one another with little to no miscommunication present.
In order to achieve this, UC platforms have evolved over the years, perfecting their tools to be easy to use and modernizing available communication channels to ensure a seamless transfer of information.
However, those are not the only goals a business strives for when looking into a UCaaS solution.
There is the monetary aspect too, sure, allowing them to save up on overhead costs in comparison to a more physical option, but the main one revolves around a desire to boost workplace productivity.
While UC platforms as a whole are geared toward that idea, there are a few standouts which put the P in productivity.
Let us see what these specific features are and why they are an important aspect of a UC solution to be on the lookout for.
1. Team Messaging
Communication is in the very name of UC, so it is no surprise that access to team communication would be one of the most productive features of a UC platform, with different messaging options possessing different benefits.
Many businesses would agree with that notion as a good majority of them have implemented it into their infrastructure, utilizing it to improve workflow and information exchange, especially in businesses that employ workers from all over the globe or ones that practice WFH strategies.
This doesn’t just revolve around the ability of sending texts back and forth either, but also takes the robust nature of UC platforms to integrate other useful features into account like file sharing, organizational tools, presence tracking and the like.
Some even go as far as integrate SMS and MMS from phones into their platforms or enable a virtual dialer, allowing employees to have everything in one place or work on the go with just their phone, depending on their position.
Modern UC platforms are a marvel that enhance productivity by keeping all necessary tools in one place, removing the need to swap from one app to another and creating confusion during complex tasks. Our own UC app, gloCOM, was created with that very purpose in mind.
2. Contact Center Integration
One thing that has seen wild success in terms of workplace productivity due to greater market intelligence is the inclusion of contact centers into businesses, allowing them insights into the minds of the average customer and saving companies money on previous market research strategies by allowing them to adapt to their existing customer base.
They allow businesses to gather feedback and use it to improve their existing customer experience and overall satisfaction.
A happy customer is a loyal one after all, and when customers are happy, it reflects on employees too, allowing them to work in a less strenuous environment and to retain a more positive and work-oriented attitude, ending up in an overall increase in productivity.
This goes doubly so to the fact that there is less confusion about the direction of the product offered by the business as they know exactly what their customers want and what to focus on with a contact center integration.
Bicom Systems’ UC platform offers an easy-to-implement Contact Center solution that allows businesses to do all of this and more, streamlining their existing CC operations and allowing them to modernize its infrastructure to improve employee productivity as well as build upon the existing employee and user experience.
3. The Use Of Meetings
Rotating back to the first feature, we have established that improving team communication is one of the most productive things a UC platform can do, but messaging is not the only form of employee interaction that manages this as meetings are a core part of information exchange too, but on a greater scale.
Given the growing rise of remote work in order to facilitate better working conditions and improve productivity overall, companies had to adapt and evolve, especially since most meetings could now not be held in person, so they swapped to doing it online.
Thus, it makes sense that UC providers would enable a feature like this on their platform, making it easier for businesses to organize, schedule, and hold meetings with any employees and at any time.
And, the fact that it is done over a UCaaS provider means that held meetings are bound to be more stable and with less issues affecting performance, allowing for smoother and more efficient information exchanges with bigger groups of people, be it between employees or partners.
Our own Unified Communications app, gloCOM, has a meeting module that enables exactly that directly on the app itself, keeping everything in one place and allowing company employees to connect with one another, wherever they are in the world with minimal delay, enhancing productivity.
4. Keeping It Mobile
What better way to improve productivity but to allow employees of a business access to the UC platform regardless of where they are?
Most modern UCaaS providers provide this commodity through their product nowadays, and it is not just limited to the home office as we have mentioned prior, but it also helps enable digital nomads who would work on their laptops from anywhere in the world, or even those who need to be able to access their workplace directly from their phones.
Bicom Systems has covered this aspect too by creating a mobile version of gloCOM, gloCOM GO, available to anyone and allowing it to be set up as a proper phone extension without the need of a specialized VoIP phone provided one has a valid gloCOM license.
It provides one with all the capabilities they would have access to on the desktop version of the app, allowing employees to perform their duties without loss of performance and from anywhere with a stable internet connection.
5. Cloud hosting
While not a direct productivity-enhancing feature, cloud hosting is an important core feature that enables more productive practices.
Given the transition to remote work and with avenues for businesses opening up to hire people from outside their immediate office’s area, businesses have started to transition away from on-site PBX implementations and have started to move toward cloud-hosted or hybrid options.
This enables the idea of remote work and work from home options for businesses in the first place, making the overall talent pool bigger and thus improving overall potential employee quality which should positively affect performance in the long run.
Most of the Bicom Systems product suite offers both an on-site and cloud implementation with a seamless transition to the cloud for existing on-site installations, making it easier for companies to take the next step toward a more modern and productive infrastructure.
6. Omnichannel Support
The final major feature worth mentioning is Omnichannel support, an addendum to contact center performance numbers.
Omnichannel can be considered a modernization of existing communication channels as it helps open up new avenues of contact between customer and business, allowing them to utilize their preferred method of communication to submit inquiries or deliver feedback about their experience with a product.
Instead of only having access to calls, an Omnichannel-enabled contact center allows customers to reach out to a business via SMS, e-mails, as well as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, or a live chat integration on the business’ main site.
More advanced Omnichannel solutions can even map the customer’s journey from one communication channel to another, allowing for a frictionless transition between mediums and improving the overall customer experience.
It also helps lower employee stress and enhance productivity by giving them access to this data to tailor the customer’s experience without having to ask needless and potentially repetitive questions which would otherwise lead to a dissatisfied customer, and a frustrated employee.
Bicom Systems’ own Contact Center solution features Omnichannel support and works with any existing contact center implementations, allowing businesses to gain access to these benefits at a moment’s notice.
Staying Productive With UCaaS
While these are not the only features that showcase how UCaaS facilitates a more productive workplace, they are certainly some of the major standouts.
However, to keep in mind that they are not the only thing a business is going to be looking out for. Make sure that your product has other options to make it more robust and more appealing to your clientele, something that paints a more complete picture outside of pure statistics.
Bicom Systems’ own product suite offers all that and more at competitive prices, with flexible editions and with stellar customer support, giving businesses and partners the chance to create the ideal product package to suit their needs.
If you want to take a look at our platform, be sure to visit us or give us a call if you have any questions regarding any of our products.