Unified communications (UC) is a technology that has the potential to save your business a lot of money in the long term. When you combine all of your crucial tools together into one unified platform, you can reduce the number of bills you get from different providers, minimise back-end management and improve efficiency.
What’s more, with UC you provide your employees with an environment that’s specifically designed for enhanced productivity, potentially improving your bottom line.
Of course, before you can begin tapping into the benefits that UC has to offer, you’ll need to figure out how much you need to invest in a solution like this one. Total cost is one of the biggest contributors to the decisions that businesses make about which new technology they should be investing in. You’ll need to think about things like one-time, upfront, and ongoing costs, as well as maintenance and potential savings opportunities.
So, how much can you expect to pay on a UC strategy?
Calculating Total Cost for UC Strategy
The costs associated with your UC strategy will depend on a lot of factors, including the size of your company, the type of service you want to deploy, and your preference for deployment. For instance, the most affordable option for today’s brands is usually to embrace the cloud of a traditional legacy-based on-premise deployment.
On-premise UC deployments do offer benefits to some companies, but they also come with a lot of hidden costs to consider that might make it more difficult to manage your communications budget. For instance, all on-premise UC solutions come with telecom charges to consider, like trunks, PRIs, and local and international call charges. Solutions over the cloud deliver a very different experience, where you don’t have to worry as much about things like the increased cost of international conversations.
At the same, with an on-premise UC deployment, companies have a lot of on-premise equipment to worry about, from installing equipment to managing the maintenance of those tools over time. Frequently, users will need to pay for licence fees, upgrades and installations that add more ongoing costs to their calculations. If you don’t have a trained professional on-hand to help with maintenance, you may even need to spend money on an external resource.
Other Hidden Costs of On-Premise UC
An investment in cloud-based UC isn’t just a way to cut your initial installation costs; it’s a strategy for reducing the long-term expenses that you have to manage too when it comes to things like managed services and expertise. Some companies even find that they can reduce the costs of the standalone services that they need to pay for when they have an on-premise offering.
Often, when you install an on-premise UC solution, you’ll choose features and functionality based on what you know that you need at that moment. However, as the communication landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, there’s a good chance that your company could end up needing additional software and solutions as time goes on. This means paying for additional disconnected solutions. On-premise phone systems are a far cry from the UC-as-a-service (UCaaS) offerings provided by cloud-based UC providers.
RingCentral’s flexible UCaaS systems offer the ability to chat, call and meet within a single platform. Your users get the functionality they need, with options to upgrade as needed, and you only pay a single flat price. For many companies, this is much cheaper than working with multiple vendors – particularly when some of those vendors bill on usage.
Even adding new users and phone systems to your UC solution is easier with a UCaaS solution from RingCentral. When you embrace the power of the cloud, you make sure that you’re ready for whatever the future might be, even if that means opening up offices in a new location.
When it comes to the total cost of ownership, cloud UC pays off a lot faster than its on-premise counterpart. To find out more about cost savings, increased productivity and streamlined workflows, get in touch with RingCentral to schedule a demo and find out how your business can benefit from UC.
Originally published Nov 15, 2019, updated Jan 17, 2023
