You put together a team of people from all over the world who work from home and give them flexibility. But is your team truly working? In the context of remote work, it’s tougher for everyone to get things done when your team switches between Slack, Zoom, and email. Data gets stuck in different places. And even little problems can stop whole projects from moving forward.
This is the exact challenge unified communications (UC) is designed to solve. Imagine a single platform that allows your team to move between group messages and HD video conferencing with just one click and that lets them share files right in the conversation. UC platforms unify communication channels to improve teamwork and make the workday more flexible, efficient, and dependable.
Read on to discover what unified communications is and how it can transform collaboration for remote teams.
What is Unified Communications?
Unified communications combines several ways of communicating into one system. This makes it easier for distant teams to keep in touch and get things done. Everything is in one location for easier collaboration, so you don’t have to switch between separate platforms.
The following four things are the most important parts of this approach:
- Messaging and chat: This is when the never-ending email chain comes to an end. Imagine being able to close a sale or unblock a teammate not after a day of back-and-forth emails, but in a two-minute talk. Unified communications gives you chat rooms that are always open for specific projects. This makes sure that every conversation and instant messaging thread is instantly saved and can be searched. This turns short, relevant updates into a living knowledge base that keeps everyone in your team on the same page and moves projects forward at the speed of conversation.
- Video conferencing: Tired of the misunderstandings that get in the way of a project? Unified communications uses video conferencing to make up for the lack of empathy that comes with working from different locations. It gets rid of the chaos of a conference call without a body and replaces it with the clarity of talking to someone in person. Your team may join a video huddle with just one click from a chat thread. They can use a virtual canvas to draw out a complicated notion or just smile.
- VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Calls: This is your desk phone without the cord. VoIP technology in a unified communication platform frees your staff from their desks and turns any internet connection into a professional business line. The experience is smooth and straightforward. Your top salesperson can easily close deals from their home laptop, while a support worker takes voice calls on their smartphone in the field.
- File sharing: For teams that work from home, files that are spread out are a big problem. A real unified communications platform solves this by adding enterprise-grade file syncing and storage. It’s like having a secure Google Drive or SharePoint built right into your chat and conferencing apps that only your company can use. This keeps everyone on the same page, whether in marketing or engineering, or within a contact center supporting customers.
When a unified communications platform is always available and secure, that’s when it really stands out. To get this level of reliability for their business, many companies need more than simply software licenses; they need to work with a supplier that offers full managed IT services as a strategic partner. This includes keeping an eye on the system ahead of time, having dedicated technical assistance, and a helpdesk that responds quickly.
Why Unified Communications Matters for Remote Teams
Communication is what keeps projects going for teams who work from different places. When information is spread out over several apps, it is easy to get confused and take too long to do things. Unified communications helps get rid of these problems and makes work go more smoothly.
Here are some reasons why it matters:
- Eliminates tool overload: If you keep switching between Slack, email, and Asana, it can be hard to stay focused. Many people deal with this issue every day. Unified communications fixes this by putting all of your important tools in one place. You can reply to a chat, start a quick video call, and share files all within the same app. This keeps your focus steady and helps you get more done faster.
- Enhances collaboration: Remember the energy of a team huddling around a whiteboard, sparking ideas off one another? Unified communications brings that dynamic back to life in a digital way. You can turn a fast chat into a live video call, show your screen to make a point, and work on the same document at the same time. Features such as shared files and other collaboration tools make teamwork even smoother, ensuring everyone always has access to the latest version of important materials.
- Speeds up decisions: In a distant setting, putting off decisions might be expensive. Unified communications shortens your decision-making time by putting all the tools you need in one location. If a team chat brings up an important question, you don’t plan a meeting for the next day. Instead, you @mention a coworker and move the conversation to a brief video huddle.
Technology that doesn’t work well shouldn’t get in the way of your team’s ability to do their jobs. With unified communications as a service, businesses gain reliable framework that allows teams to work together easily and reliably.
Essential Features Remote Teams Should Look for
When choosing a unified communications platform, the first thing to think about is that it should be accessible from anywhere and at any time. A truly cloud-native platform is essential because it lets your staff work from anywhere and keeps your business running smoothly all the time.
But there is more to it than just being able to get to it. Devices need to be able to work together all the time. The right platform makes sure that everyone on your team has a smooth user experience, no matter what device they are using. This fluidity keeps the workflow going, so a team member can start a chat on their laptop and easily pick it up on their phone while they’re on the go.
Of course, the platform needs to encourage collaboration once everyone is joined. This is when technologies that function together, including shared calendars, digital project boards, and permanent workspaces, become quite important. These features make sure that everyone is on the same page by bringing together chats, tasks, and file sharing into one place. This cuts down on confusion, speeds up progress, and creates stronger communication channels across the team.
Implementing Unified Communications in Your Remote Team
A thorough examination of your company’s status is the most important part of any successful UC deployment. Smart companies start by planning their communication ecosystems to uncover large concerns. Apps may take too long to decide or transmitting confidential material over email may be unlawful. This rigorous approach ensures the chosen technology immediately covers these gaps with the right collaboration tools.
Once the demands of your company are clear, choosing a vendor becomes a smart way to make sure that the future is safe. The evaluation must include the provider’s API ecosystem for deep integrations, the responsiveness of their Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and the total cost of ownership over three to five years. At this point, involving people from different departments is necessary to find a balance between technical accuracy and real-world applicability.
Furthermore, mastery is achieved through a specific phase of adoption and optimization. Implementation teams need to think of first training as a continuing campaign, with general tutorials and tailored workshops for certain departments.
Final Thoughts
Unified communications brings together all of your most important tools to help modern, scattered teams. It brings together texting, video, and cloud workspaces in one place that works. This integration gets rid of things that make it hard for people to work together and talk to each other. Choosing unified communications will make your business more flexible, connected, and productive. It helps everyone stay on the same page and get more done, no matter where they work.
