Whether you’re prepared or not, unified communications are gradually making the move to the cloud. Today, cloud solutions are moving out of the early adopter phase and into the mainstream communication environment, particularly as brands look for ways to embrace better business agility, cost savings, and flexibility.
Of course, just like with any significant organisational change in your company, it’s important to make sure that you have the right plan in place to facilitate success with your new cloud system. Here, we’ll look at five factors companies need to consider when making a successful move towards cloud UC.
1. Choosing the right partner
The first thing that any organisation needs in their move to cloud business solutions is a partner that’s going to empower them to achieve their distinct business goals. Think about whether you’d be better served by a company that specialises in working with smaller brands and start-ups, or whether you need enterprise-wide transformation.
Succeeding in the world of UC cloud solutions isn't about embracing the latest feature sets as soon as they come out, it's about finding the resources that are best suited to serve your team. Click To Tweet
Look for a partner that has an incredible reputation serving businesses just like yours and opt for someone with plenty of customer support options. The provider you work with should be able to demonstrate the value of the UC strategies you’re using and help you to feel confident about your future.
2. Thinking long-term
No two companies are alike, which means that transitioning to the cloud for business will be a different experience for every brand. Before you begin your transformation, think about what you hope to achieve by moving to the cloud and set goals for the long term, and the short term. For instance, do you want to reduce capital expenditure, achieve better employee engagement, or become more secure?
While you’re thinking long-term, remember to plan for the growth of your brand. While you might only need a handful of UC tools today, your requirements could change as your company evolves. Ideally, you’ll need to partner with someone who makes it easier to scale your business.
3. Getting team members involved
Succeeding in the world of UC cloud solutions isn’t about embracing the latest feature sets as soon as they come out, it’s about finding the resources that are best suited to serve your team. With that in mind, it makes sense to get some input from business users who are going to be working with the UC tools you’re implementing every day. Find out what they need to make their jobs easier and ask whether they’ll need any help to simplify the move to the cloud.
The more input you get from your team members, the more you’ll be able to make an informed decision about your cloud transition. You may even discover that you want to keep some tools on-premises with a hybrid UC plan.
4. Avoiding one-size-fits-all
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make when it comes to implementing cloud solutions, is that they try to make the same strategy work for every employee. However, the truth is that the different teams and segments in your organisation will need to take different approaches to the UC cloud. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Alter permissions and packages according to the specific needs of each group in your industry. This will not only help to make sure that you don’t overwhelm staff with tools they don’t need, but it could also keep your budget on track too.[/inlinetweet]
5. Providing tailored training sessions
Finally, remember that moving to the cloud for business can be a complex experience for some employees, particularly those that have grown accustomed to traditional on-premises resources and hardware. With that in mind, you may need to give some of your staff additional help so that you can make sure that they’re ready to embrace the tools and systems you’re implementing.
Listen to your employees and find out what kind of help they need most from you, then issue customised training sessions to empower and educate your team.
Originally published Apr 12, 2018, updated Jan 17, 2023
