No matter where you are on your technological journey or what industry you are in, there are three key questions to ask when looking for ways to grow and optimize your business:
- Do I want to improve my company’s performance?
- Would we benefit if employees were more productive?
- Can we make our stakeholders’ experiences even better?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, Unified Communication and Collaboration (UC&C) may be an ideal solution for you. UC&C is a collection of cloud-based technologies that integrates communication tools to improve productivity and efficiency. UC&C platform components can include voice and video conferencing, instant messaging, audio and web conferencing, IP telephony and other tools to streamline collaboration.
Cloud-based communications deliver a range of benefits and are one of the most effective ways to meet the needs of your customers and employees. And while the journey to UC&C is complex and may present obstacles, you can gain considerable advantages once you successfully navigate these issues.
Overcoming Communication Challenges to Embrace Opportunities
Recent research1 shows that more than 90% of midsize businesses plan to invest the same amount or more in UC&C solutions in the next several years. The challenges for these companies, however, are real:
- Up to one-third of those planning to invest feel unprepared or underprepared for the transition to cloud communications.
- 1 out of 3 need help with planning, solution design and technical resources, and 25% need help with the implementation.
One major issue many midsize companies face with UC&C is the complexity for IT departments, business administration and employee users. In fact, among businesses that are already using cloud-based UC&C2:
- 64% have three or more solution providers.
- 83% think it is important to consolidate the number of communications and collaboration solutions they are currently using across their organization.
Despite these challenges, the positive outcomes of UC&C implementation are clear and can significantly enhance your business operations.
Top Benefits of UC&C Implementation
Businesses of all sizes primarily want their UC&C solutions to improve the efficiency of their business processes, business resiliency and employee productivity. They also need security, cost savings, managed services, and most of all, support and consultation during times of change.
Some of the most striking outcomes businesses said they achieved include3:
- Cost optimization: 82% said they experienced time savings among IT staff due to more efficient business operations
- Efficiency: 83% said they saw an improvement in remote/hybrid employee productivity
- Time-to-market and agility: 81% saw faster time to market for services and products
- Customer and employee experience: 77% saw improvements in the quality of customer engagements, and 76% saw an improvement in employee morale
- Security: 77% saw improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of their organization’s IT communications-related security operation.
To fully leverage these benefits, midsize businesses need a reliable partner to guide them through the complexities of UC&C implementation.
Why Lumen Managed Services Is the Answer
Midsize businesses experience significant benefits from having a partner to help them navigate through various UC&C challenges. A provider that has deep network and communications services expertise—like Lumen—is even better.
According to a March 2024 study from IDC4, current Lumen Digital UC&C and Voice customers will realize average benefits worth $16.01 million per year per organization ($649,400 per 1,000 users). We help customers maximize ROI and minimize TCO by:
- Providing high-quality, efficient and cost-effective collaboration services so they can deliver timely and high-quality services and support to customers and prospects.
- Empowering their employees to work more effectively regardless of time and location. This is particularly beneficial for contact centers and sales and marketing teams that need both flexibility and high performance.
- Helping them achieve cost savings and operational efficiencies by utilizing the cloud-based Lumen platform, reducing the number of solutions used and taking advantage of Lumen support, expertise and enhanced performance.
To see the tangible impact of these services, let’s explore a real-world success story that demonstrates the effectiveness of Lumen UC&C solutions.
A Real-World UC&C Success Story
To see how midsize businesses can achieve their desired outcomes with a UC&C provider, look no further than the consumer goods retailer that turned to this technology to improve their ability to develop, manufacture and distribute their products worldwide. Their primary issues included outdated voice communications and an inadequate unified collaboration platform—challenges that hindered efficient communication and collaboration among their teams.
To help this customer, we developed a comprehensive five-phase solution:
- Discovery: We assessed the retailer’s existing communication infrastructure, identifying the specific areas that needed improvement.
- Design: The Lumen team produced a tailored plan to modernize the retailer’s voice communications and implemented a UC&C platform for improved collaboration.
- Planning: Detailed project planning and coordination with the company’s employees helped ensure a smooth implementation.
- Proof-of-concept: The retailer tested its new system in a controlled environment to ensure it met all requirements.
- Delivery: We rolled out the new voice communications and UC&C platform across the company’s global operations.
In the end, the retailer experienced significantly improved communication and collaboration among their teams, which led to better coordination and efficiency in their operations. The new system provided reliable and modern voice communications, which enhanced the overall productivity and effectiveness of their business.
The relentless pace of modern business makes UC&C solutions indispensable for midsize companies. Act now to transform your operations and experience the major return on investment that UC&C can offer.
If you’re ready to enhance performance, maximize efficiency and delight your stakeholders, check out our portfolio of collaboration solutions to see how you can get started today.
1IDC, Migrating Voice to the Cloud: Realizing Greater Business Effectiveness & Outcomes, November 2023.
2IDC, How Midmarket Organizations Can Overcome Legacy Voice System Challenges, November 2023.
3IDC, Migrating Voice to the Cloud: Realizing Greater Business Effectiveness & Outcomes, November 2023.
4IDC, The Business Value of Lumen Cloud-Based UC&C and Voice Solutions, March 2024.
This content is provided for informational purposes only and may require additional research and substantiation by the end user. In addition, the information is provided “as is” without any warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. Use of this information is at the end user’s own risk. Lumen does not warrant that the information will meet the end user’s requirements or that the implementation or usage of this information will result in the desired outcome of the end user. All third-party company and product or service names referenced in this article are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with Lumen. This document represents Lumen products and offerings as of the date of issue. Services not available everywhere. Lumen may change or cancel products and services or substitute similar products and services at its sole discretion without notice. ©2024 Lumen Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
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