4 Ways to Cut Costs with Unified Communications

Because of the cost of unified communications (UC) and the opportunity for financial savings that it brings, using UC is a smart decision for most organizations. The reality is that switching to a cloud communications system and adopting UC costs less than using a traditional telephony system.

According to Jose Pastor, former senior vice president of product management at RingCentral, organizations can save tens of thousands of dollars with unified communications.

If you’re thinking of investing in unified communications, you’ll probably save a lot of money, especially in the long term.

But before you invest, you should do your research and perform a cost-benefit analysis for your business. That’s the only way you can assess the value that it can bring to your organization.

You also want to know what strategies you can use to minimize your costs so you can maximize your benefits.

Let’s look at the ways your business can save with UC so you have the information you need to perform a unified communications cost-benefit analysis and make an informed purchasing decision.

The Case for Unified Communications

Businesses of all sizes are implementing unified communications, most of which are either using the cloud or are planning on moving to the cloud soon. The global market for UC is expected to exceed $234 billion in 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20 percent over the next few years.

Why the massive growth?

UC is a necessary communications tool for hybrid work, which is becoming the norm post-pandemic. It also offers tools that empower businesses to enhance the customer experience.

But one of the biggest drivers of adoption is the ability to save money.

4 Ways to Save Money with Unified Communications

With a cloud-based unified communications solution, you can minimize your IT and operating costs, simplify your technology stack, and save on your phone bill.

Here are the ways you can reduce costs when you invest in unified communications and clever ways to optimize those savings.

1. Lower Upfront Costs

With unified communications, you can use a cloud phone system, which means voice data transmits over the internet rather than phone lines. Instead of paying for all the hardware and maintenance costs of a traditional PBX phone system, you can get started with a mobile app downloaded onto your devices and a subscription licensing fee.

How to reduce your costs: Don’t purchase cloud phones for all your users. Pre-configured desktop phones are useful because they offer the same features as modern business phones. But, with UC, you already have a lot of functionality within your software.

Decide which employees need a desk phone – everyone else can enjoy all the features and security benefits of your unified communications solution through the app. They can place calls, host or join a video conference, share files, and more from their laptop, smartphone, or tablet.

2. Fewer Communications Apps

Because you have voice, video conferencing, chat messaging, and file sharing all rolled up into one platform, you aren’t paying multiple vendors. This can lead to significant cost savings. One study found that using a single vendor results in a 56 percent lower total cost of ownership versus using a multi-vendor approach.

How to reduce your costs: When choosing a unified communications provider, look for a vendor that offers all the communications tools your business will need so you aren’t paying multiple vendors. If you want contact center functionality, make sure your vendor has UCaaS and CCaaS. You should also be able to integrate your tools so your data updates across platforms. That will make using your software seamless for users, which can boost productivity and lead to even greater benefits.

3. Smaller Phone Bill

You’ll also see lower costs with unified communications through a better rate per line and reduced long-distance calling costs.

Businesses that use cloud phone systems save money each month on their phone bill. When Intermedia compared what other phone companies were charging, we found that most of our customers were paying about 50 percent less with us. Other phone companies charge about $67 per line, while Intermedia’s hosted phone users pay a fraction of that.

How to reduce your costs: Choose a cloud-based unified communications system instead of an on-premises solution. That way you can take advantage of the immense savings that come with a cloud phone system. You’ll have a smaller phone bill and never have to worry about downtime for app updates – your cloud provider automatically updates the software.

4. Increased Productivity

When you empower your teams with user-friendly, full-featured software, they have the tools they need to work more efficiently. Additionally, with UCaaS, your staff can be productive from anywhere.

Your employees are going to be more productive and more satisfied with their job when they have technology that makes work more flexible and seamless, which means your company will probably spend less on recruitment and training over time.

How to reduce your costs: Choose a provider with excellent customer support and reliability. That way your employees will have the best experience possible, technical support will be there when you need it for fast problem-solving, and you don’t have to worry about issues with downtime.

Optimize Your Unified Communications Costs by Choosing the Right Provider

Cloud communications is a popular business tool because businesses end up saving money when they switch from their legacy phone systems. But, you can optimize those savings if you choose the right cloud provider.

Learn more about why Intermedia is a smart choice for businesses looking to adopt unified communications.

Mark Sher

Mark Sher, a 30-year telecom and cloud communications executive, is the SVP of Product Marketing for Intermedia Cloud Communications, a leading provider of UCaaS, CCaaS, and business cloud application solutions to partners and the businesses they serve. In his role, Mark has global responsibility for all direct and indirect product marketing at Intermedia including product launches, product messaging and positioning, competitive intelligence, analyst relations, and cross-channel pricing.