What is a Unified Communications System?

 

 

Quick links:

• What Is Unified Communications?
• Types of UC Systems
• Unified Communications Benefits
• Core Components of UC
• Costs of Unified Communications Systems
• How to Choose a UC Solution
• Best Unified Communication Systems in 2024
• Examples by Industry
• The Future of Unified Communications
• FAQs

 

What Is Unified Communications?

Unified Communications (UC) is a business software that combines voice and digital communication channels with extensive team collaboration tools in a single platform.

Two-way voice and video calling, SMS, live website chat, and social media messaging are available alongside internal collaboration capabilities like team chat messaging, screen and file sharing, whiteboarding, and analytics.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) allows users and customers to seamlessly switch between multiple devices and communication channels during live interactions, streamlining workflows, increasing productivity, and improving the customer experience in the process.

Integrations and custom APIs provide interoperability with essential third-party applications like CRM systems, contact center software, and webinar platforms–eliminating constant app-switching.

 

Types of Unified Communications Systems

There are two main types of unified communication solutions: cloud-based and on-premises. Cloud-based UC systems are hosted and managed offsite, by the service provider, and are accessible from any Internet-enabled device and location. Therefore, cloud-based UCaaS solutions are best for mostly remote, geographically-diverse teams prioritizing mobility and scalability. On-premises UC systems are hosted and managed on site (in-office) by the end user, and are only accessible from the physical location where the server is installed. Therefore, on-premises UCaaS solutions are best for in-house teams prioritizing security and customizability.

 

Cloud-Based UC Systems

A cloud-based unified communications platform is hosted and managed by the service provider, not the end user, on an offsite cloud server.

Because cloud UC systems function via web-based applications instead of on-site servers, they’re not limited to a single physical location. The softphone interface is accessible from anywhere, and on any device, with a working Internet connection.

 

Advantages of cloud-based unified communications include:

• Affordability: Works with existing hardware or personal devices, no physical office space needed, upgrades and maintenance paid for by the provider
• Scalability: Offers scalable, pay-as-you-go plans with monthly and annual billing, individual add-on features, and extensive third-party integrations/APIs. Easily purchase more user seats, add monthly calling minutes or SMS/MMS messages, or upgrade your plan in minutes on the provider website
• Flexibility: Accessible on desktop and mobile devices in any location with Internet access, and users can flip between devices during active calls

Disadvantages of cloud-based unified communications include: 

• Security: End users lack control over security features, data management, and system upgrades. Sharing server space with other businesses can pose security risks
• High-Speed Internet: Call quality is entirely dependent on the strength and quality of your Internet connection, meaning you may need to purchase additional bandwidth or upgrade to high-speed Internet
• Provider-Dependent: Users are entirely dependent on providers–and their timelines–for customer support, feature development, platform upgrades, and maintenance/repairs

 

On-Premises UC Systems

An on-premises UC system is hosted and managed on-site, meaning the end user is responsible for physically installing and housing the server, purchasing corresponding equipment/hardware, and performing ongoing maintenance.

On-premises UC solutions are restricted to a singular location: the physical address (usually an office space) where the server is installed.

 

Advantages of on-premises unified communications include:

• Customizable: Users can build their own UC system from the ground up and customize it to meet their specific business needs
• Security: Users don’t share a server with other businesses and have complete control over user access and data management
• Call Quality: Because on-premises systems aren’t reliant on the strength of your Internet connection, they have high call quality and excellent reliability

Disadvantages of on-premises unified communications include:

• Expensive: Users must purchase on-site servers, compatible hardware, a physical office space, and cover all ongoing maintenance and repair costs themselves
• Requires IT Experience: Because end users are responsible for their UC platform’s installation and upkeep, extensive IT knowledge and experience is required–and most businesses end up hiring a full-time IT staff
• Limited Accessibility: Because premises-based UC systems are only accessible in the physical office space where they’re installed (no remote access), they’re only an option for in-house teams
• Complex Set-Up Process: The on-premises installation process is time-consuming, complicated, and requires lots of equipment and physical setup. The same goes for adding phone lines and upgrading the system

 

Unified Communications Benefits

The top benefits of unified communications solutions include:

 

Cost Savings

UCaaS solutions can save businesses with 100 employees up to $524,469 a year in communications and operating costs[*]. Unified communications tools include unlimited local and long-distance VoIP calling, which can lower your business's monthly phone bill by up to 40%.[*] Flexible pricing options let businesses pay only for the features and user seats they currently need, while allowing them to easily scale up during phases of growth. Cloud-based UC platforms also eliminate the need for expensive hardware and the resulting maintenance fees, saving businesses tens of thousands of dollars.

 

Increased Productivity

The average call center agent spends 14% of their day looking up information between disconnected systems.[*] UC solutions integrate third-party tools and multichannel communication into a single workspace, eliminating constant app switching. AI-powered workflow automation saves employees two hours every day by eliminating busy work, reducing the margin of human error, and optimizing available agents.[*]

 

Improved CX 

Businesses that implement unified communications solutions see a 56% improvement in their customer experience scores.[*] UCaaS tools eliminate top customer pain points like long wait times, increased call transfers, unprepared agents, and repetition. They also make it easy for agents to provide personalized customer service, halving customer acquisition costs and increasing revenues by up to 15%.[*] UC solutions also include advanced real-time and historical analytics that pinpoint customer journey bottlenecks, identify trending support topics, and help businesses further optimize automated workflows and customer self-service options. It’s no wonder that contact centers levering unified communications see an 80% drop in customer complaints.[*]

 

Additional Communication Channels and Features

UCaaS solutions enable omnichannel communication across voice calling, website chat, email, SMS/MMS, video conferencing, online faxing, social media, and more. Implementing omnichannel communication quadruples annual revenue, doubles annual CSAT scores, and leads to a 2x increase in annual customer lifetime value.[*] UC platforms also give companies access to advanced built-in features that are impossible to get on traditional landline phones. These features include CRM screen pops, IVR for 24/7 customer self-service, custom call routing strategies, team collaboration tools, and AI automation.

 

Better Team Collaboration

86% of employees blame poor team collaboration for failures in the workplace.[*] Ineffective collaboration leads to communication silos, human error, agent burnout, and decreased agent and customer retention. UC features like team chat, file and screen sharing, video and audio conferencing, and user presence monitoring dramatically improve team collaboration across channels, increasing agent engagement and eliminating costly miscommunications. 45% of businesses using UC software say the tools have had a positive impact on the employee experience.[*] Further, optimizing team collaboration boosts CSAT scores by 41%, improves product quality and development by over 30%, and can increase revenue by up to 27%.[*]

 

Mobility and Flexibility 

One of the biggest advantages of cloud-based unified communications tools is that they’re accessible from any location and device with an Internet connection. Cloud UC solutions enable companies to hire entirely remote teams or switch from an in-office business model to a remote or hybrid one–saving companies up to $10,600 a year per employee.[*] This mobility also means companies can hire the best possible employees for each position, instead of being limited to the available talent in their geographic area.

 

Components of Unified Communications

The three essential components of UCaaS solutions are voice calling, video conferencing, and team collaboration tools. We’ll cover each key component below and summarize additional unified communications features.

 

VoIP Voice Calling 

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) makes/receives phone calls over the Internet as opposed to the wired PSTN, combining cost savings with advanced call management features. Top VoIP features include Interactive Voice Response (IVR) with Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), visual voicemail, call recording and transcription, call routing, call forwarding, and call queueing.

 

Audio and Video Conferencing

Audio and video conferencing enables real-time collaboration between remote and hybrid team members. Essential in-meeting features include chat messaging, screen and file sharing, breakout rooms, whiteboards, meeting recording, polling, and automated meeting summaries with collaborative notes. Hosts can schedule upcoming meetings, start instant on-demand meetings, add meeting waiting rooms, control participant access, and add meeting co-hosts. Some tools require meeting participants to download a desktop or mobile app, while others offer dial-in or browser-based access.

 

Team Collaboration

Team collaboration tools prevent miscommunications, facilitate real-time communication between agents, and enable file sharing, storage, and co-editing. A unified interface streamlines multiple communication channels (website chat, business SMS/MMS, voice calling, email, and social media messaging) into a singular interface with automatic real-time omnichannel synching. Essential messaging functionalities include canned responses, auto-replies, basic chatbots, and smart routing. Additional team collaboration features include user presence, message threading and user mentions, custom push notifications, public/private channels, searchable message history, and task management tools.

 

Additional UC Components

Additional unified communications capabilities include:

• Analytics+Reporting: Customizable and template-based real-time and historical analytics monitor KPIs like CSAT scores, call volumes, FCR, AHT, call queue length, customer wait times, and missed call ratios. Conversational Analytics leverage machine learning and AI to monitor 100% of interactions, offering insight into customer sentiment and intent, agent activity and performance scores, and common support topics
• Third-Party Integrations: Pre-built integrations with essential third-party CRM, helpdesk, marketing, chat, project management, storage, calendaring, and analytics applications enable real-time call pops and eliminate app switching.
• Agent Assist: AI Agent Assist integrates with your internal knowledge base and helpdesk tools, leveraging NLP to give agents relevant next-best action suggestions during real-time customer conversations
• Smart Routing: Smart (skills-based) routing automatically directs customers to an available agent with the skill set required to provide the best possible assistance–across voice and digital communication channels

 

Costs of Unified Communications Systems

The average UCaaS system costs $15-$35 per user, per month–though exact unified communications costs vary by provider and plan. Most providers offer 2-4 scalable monthly/annual pricing tiers alongside individual add-ons, volume and exclusive use discounts, free trials, and discounts for users in education and non-profit sectors.

• Basic Tier ($15-$20/user/month): Basic UC plans usually include unlimited VoIP voice calling, a limited number of monthly toll-free calling minutes and SMS messages, video conferencing for 1-hour meetings with a low participant capacity, team chat, file and screen sharing, and call logs.
• Standard Tier ($20-$30/user/month): Mid-range UC plans add communication channels like website chat, social messaging, and online faxing. They usually add call recording with cloud storage, voicemail transcription, multi-level IVR, call monitoring with call barge/whisper, basic real-time reporting, and call queues. They may add advanced call routing, AI Agent Assist, basic third-party integrations, call queuing, automated meeting and post-call summaries, and call recording transcription.
• Advanced Tier: ($30-$50+/user/month): Advanced UC plans expand to include unlimited video conferencing, advanced Conversational Analytics, real-time KPI alerts, agent coaching and performance monitoring, real-time call transcription, unlimited cloud storage, intelligent routing, and high-level integrations. They usually provide 24/7/265 customer support, a 99.99% SLA uptime, and advanced security and compliance features.

 

How to Choose a Unified Communications Solution

The best unified communications software for your business depends on your budget, number of agents, contact volume, required features and channels, and the specific industry you operate in. In general, when evaluating potential UC solutions, consider:

• Available Communication Channels: Aside from voice calling, (a standard for all UCaS platforms) determine additional communication channel requirements. Consider business text messaging, website chat, email, integration with messaging apps like WhatsApp, social media messaging, and online faxing.
• Included Features: Determine the specific customer-facing and team collaboration features you need–and the cost of the plans that include them. Also, consider the video meeting lengths and participant caps you require, how many toll-free calling minutes you need a month, whether or not you need international calling, and if you really need advanced, AI-powered features that usually come with a higher price tag.
• Integrations and Hardware Compatibility: Ensure the provider integrates with your favorite third-party tools and is compatible with any existing hardware you plan to continue using.
• Security and Network Reliability: All UC providers should have a minimum 99.9% uptime guarantee and multiple global points of presence. Look for security certifications like HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 compliance. Ensure the provider offers end-to-end encrypted communication across channels, SSO, and 24/7 network monitoring with real-time service alerts.
• Ease of Use: Let agents test out free trials to evaluate the platform’s intuitiveness and ease of use. Look into the quality of provider end-user training and knowledge base materials like video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and FAQs. Ask if the provider offers customizable and in-person end-user training.
• Customer Support: Evaluate the provider’s customer support hours and channels–be aware that these vary significantly by plan. Which plans include 24/7 omnichannel, agent-led customer support, and which ones offer only automated support via chatbot. Evaluate guaranteed response times and paid priority support options.
• Total Costs: While pricing is always a factor in SaaS evaluations, ensure you’ve asked providers about available discounts, free trial lengths, and the costs of individual add-on features. Evaluate required contract lengths, early termination fees, and differences between monthly and annual costs. Be on the lookout for additional “service fees,” which unscrupulous providers use to tack on excessive charges.

 

Best Unified Communications Systems

Below, we’ve provided a quick overview of the most popular unified communications software on the market. All of these products streamline voice calling, web conferencing, team chat, and other collaboration tools into a single interface, improving internal communication while optimizing the customer experience.

Unified Communications Examples by Industry

Unified communications solutions have a wide variety of use cases across numerous industries, including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, IT, education, and more. Popular use cases include telehealth appointments, online ordering for in-store pickup, campus-wide SMS alerts, and virtual learning.

 

Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, UCaaS facilitates HIPAA-compliant telehealth appointments, streamlines communications between patient care teams, and enables remote patient monitoring by integrating with IoT health devices. Additional UC use cases in healthcare include online appointment management, medical bill payment, prescription management and delivery, and pre-appointment form completion.

For example, New York-Presbyterian Hospital lets patients book virtual urgent care appointments directly on their website. Patients then download a secure app that lets them meet with healthcare professionals via video on desktop or mobile devices. Within the app, they can also request prescription refills, fill out forms, search for in-person doctors, and check in for appointments online.

 

Retail and eCommerce

UCaaS plays a huge role in the retail and eCommerce spaces, allowing customers to buy online and pick up in store, schedule deliveries or receive shippping updates via SMS, and get product/service advice via website chat.

UC tools also let companies like Alpyn Beauty send out automated marketing messages, including coupon codes and sale alerts, to customers who have opted-in to SMS marketing.

 

Education

Within the education sector, UCaaS tools are used to send campus-wide alerts and emergency notifications, allow students to view grades or sign up for classes online, and provide a virtual classroom experience.

For example, Loma Linda University leverages UC platforms to send omnichannel campus emergency alerts to students and faculty.

 

Home Services Providers

With home service providers like pest control experts, landscapers, plumbers, or electricians, UC systems let customers book, reschedule, cancel, or receive notifications for upcoming appointments. UCaaS tools also enable virtual consultations with service providers.

For example, Sherwin-Williams lets customers book virtual color consultations, providing a direct line of communication between industry pros and homeowners without compromising privacy.

 

The Future of Unified Communications

The UCaaS market continues to evolve, with recent trends reflecting a shift to combination UCaaS-CCaaS platforms, an increased focus on performance management features, and AI-powered team collaboration.

• Customer Experience Software: Top SaaS providers like NICE, RingCentral, and Nextiva have combined their popular unified communications and contact center platforms into a complete customer experience solution. These CX solutions represent a new, truly all-in-one approach to cloud communications tools, providing omnichannel voice and digital communication alongside workforce management, Conversational Analytics, performance monitoring, team collaboration, customer engagement tools, and more.
• Performance Management: In the past, UC solutions focused primarily on team collaboration tools, voice calling, and basic messaging capabilities. But the rise of CX software has led leading providers like Zoom, Dialpad, and Talkdesk to add extensive performance management features to their platforms. Features like in-call agent coaching, agent scoresheets, AI Agent Assist, custom surveys, sentiment analysis, and even tools that help agents limit filler words and excessive pauses are now standard.
• AI in Team Collaboration: While AI-powered call and meeting summaries have been around for a while, UCaaS providers like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are now leveraging AI to make team collaboration more efficient. Automated message summaries quickly catch agents up on missed chat messages and suggest action items, while GenAI-powered messaging generates message responses that agents can edit for tone and clarity.

 

FAQs