Businesses of all sizes, competing in all industries, were hit extraordinarily hard by the recession of 2008 and its aftermath.
Emerging Businesses, those with between 50 and 250 employees, faced unprecedented amounts of competitive and environmental pressure just to survive. Those that have survived, and even thrived, have done so with a mix of hard edged cost management, effectively focusing precious resources on those activities that helped the firm acquire and serve customers more efficiently and more effectively, and on implementing tools that allowed the team to leverage its resident skill set fully.
Among the key technologies deployed by leading Emerging Businesses is cloud–based unified communications. A combination of powerful, multimodal communications tools and unprecedented asset efficiency, UC can provide forward–looking firms with a significant advantage, allowing them to contend effectively with even the largest competitors
For the Emerging Business, the use of reliable unified communications tools equates to increased opportunity for revenue generation. Here are a few examples of why companies communicate better with cloud–based UC:
• Multi–tool integration – Companies using cloud–based Unified Communications tools such as IP telephony, audio & web collaboration, and voicemail to email will benefit from having services converged on a single platform. This allows for one–stop management and visibility across the entire communications infrastructure making management a much simpler proposition.
• Improved tracking/measurement – For companies providing professional services, insight into points of client contact can allow for full and more accurate billing. Additionally, companies with a cloud–based unified communications platform can integrate call monitoring to provide an extra degree of managerial and coaching insight.
• Communicate from anywhere – Unified Communications isn’t just limited to the office. Mobile integration and virtual office capabilities extend the power of the UC platform to all employees, where ever they are. The ability to conduct meetings, depositions and conferences can help firms minimize travel, courier fees and meeting space expenses. Since upwards of 50% of Emerging Business employees are working out of the office for at least a portion of every day, mobile integration provides an extraordinarily important tool for acquiring new customers and for serving existing clients.
• Contact center improvements – Hosted contact centers are another form of unified communications that can directly benefit companies that have a significant amount of inbound calling traffic. Hosted contact center applications can be easily customized and integrated into the overall communications platform, giving employees an agent desktop that unifies customer information all on one screen.
Though the economic climate of this country is improving, it is still in flux. Early on, many firms slimmed down their workforces in response to the recession though some are now reversing that trend and are beginning to hire again.
The difficult environment has caused many companies to consider more flexible options for communications. Here we examine a few factors resulting in increased flexibility:
• Scalability – Cloud-based unified communications is a flexible platform that can expand or contract with a firm’s changing needs. Offered “as–a–service” via the cloud, unified communications can be deployed how it’s needed, where it’s needed and when it’s needed. This is particularly beneficial for offices that are on the move – either by adding or changing office locations or by hiring or moving staff.
For more information: 800.773.3037 | www.westipc.com | ebsinfo@westipc.com

• Strategically focused IT staffing – By using a cloud–based or as–a–service communications platform, firms can focus their IT staff on strategic, mission–critical tasks instead of having to monitor and manage the communications system.
• Consolidated billing and contracts – The number of service providers it takes to operate a piecemeal communications system can create an administrative nightmare. Cloud–based Unified Communications allows firms to eliminate multiple service provider contracts and consolidate their entire communications infrastructure onto a single monthly invoice.
• Minimizing Capital Outlays – Especially in a time of financial crisis, the last thing firms want to do is make capital–intensive investments in technology. The cloud–based model turns this capital expenditure (CAPEX) into a more manageable, consistent operating expenditure (OPEX), allowing firms to pay for the capacity, services and equipment as needed (versus high upfront fixed costs), resulting in a lower total cost of ownership and a quicker return on investment in many cases.
The power of cloud–based Unified Communications starts with the IT staff. Often the group that is most reluctant to outsource their responsibilities, IT teams stand to benefit the most from a cloud–based Unified Communications solution and are usually the biggest UC advocates once it is implemented. Here are several benefits of UC that specifically affect your IT team:
• Increased business continuity/disaster recovery – Few places are safe from natural disasters, power outages or carrier outages. A cloud–based model for UC provides options for emergency routing of communication by delivering messages and calls to alternate office locations, third–party answering services or directly to individual home or mobile phones. So even if the main office is shut down, business can transact and customers can be served.
• Reduced infrastructure costs – On–premise equipment is not only a costly capital expenditure, but requires constant maintenance and infrastructure to run properly. Cloud–based UC removes much of the hardware from the customer location – leaving only a router, switch and IP phones, which can all be remotely managed by the service provider. It’s also more “green” – less equipment means less electrical power and cooling required, which can help reduce the firm’s overall energy costs.
• Avoid frequent software updates – Unified Communications is constantly evolving. New applications hit the marketplace nearly every day and software upgrades and enhancements come almost as often. But Emerging
Businesses that use licensed software are stuck with the same version they had when they paid for it, unless they want to pay costly upgrades fees for new releases. Cloud–based UC can not only provide firms with free upgrades during the life of the contract, but the upgrades are typically installed automatically by the service provider when they are released.
For more information: 800.773.3037 | www.westipc.com | ebsinfo@westipc.com