Collaboration is an essential component of any workplace. With trends shifting toward more remote workforce models, the need for a single source of communication is essential to empower employees to be productive and efficient. A unified communications platform connects teams across popular communication mediums to offer a streamlined way to collaborate — regardless of location or device.
What do you need to know about this shift in workforce management? Moreover, how can unified communication solutions empower your employees who work remotely? Let’s explore those questions and more.
The Shift to a Remote/Hybrid Workforce
During the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, businesses quickly shifted to remote or hybrid workforce models. Teams needed to do business safely. That meant no more in-person meetings or days in the office.
Unified communications platforms easily filled this need and offered organizations a simple and efficient way to connect remotely. Experiencing the benefits that remote/hybrid work can offer, many businesses have permanently implemented a remote/hybrid work model, which will make employees very happy. According to VMware, 61% of employees believe that remote work is no longer a perk but a prerequisite (VMware).
Moreover, many people don’t want to work unless it’s from home — putting the responsibility to provide remote and hybrid workforce options on to businesses. Moving forward, offering remote or hybrid options for work may be the only way for businesses to continue to attract the best and brightest talent. Businesses that adapt to these changes could benefit by being a top pick for future hires.
To support these shifting employee needs, a UC platform, including cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS), provides the means for modern businesses to communicate and collaborate, no matter where employees work.
How a UC Platform Simplifies Remote Workforce Management
First, what is unified communications? Simply put, UC brings together all your organization's communication channels into an easy-to-use platform. The overall goal is to take all the tools your team needs to collaborate and deploy them as a single service.
This includes:
- Messaging
- Call center services
- Desktop sharing
- Video conferencing
- Audio calling
So, how does this simplify remote workforce management?
If your team relies on messaging for daily operations, a UC platform can give them access to collaboration, no matter where they are or what device they are using. Moreover, with a UCaaS solution, IT teams won’t carry the burden of managing a vast network of work-specific and personal devices.
This not only reduces the budget impact on the IT department, but it also frees the tech team up to tackle more important tasks.
Additionally, some teams already use workstream collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex. The ability to integrate these two platforms to allow collaboration is essential for remote workforces. UC solutions, like the award-winning one we offer at Evolve IP, have this kind of integration natively.
Instead of managing a disparate collection of employees and technologies, UC offers a simplified and streamlined way for remote teams to work together.
Benefits of the Remote Work Model and Employee Satisfaction
UC and UCaaS offer robust and beneficial models for remote work management for businesses. In the end, though, the goal is to provide a streamlined collaboration platform for end-users.
When it comes to benefits, you’ll find quite a few positive features of UC and UCaaS platforms:
- Productivity — With a single source of communication and collaboration, employees can work together in real-time without technological hurdles. Consistently accessible from an office desk or a home computer, teams will enjoy improved productivity using UC solutions.
- Flexibility — Whether it’s from a phone, a tablet, or a laptop, employees can access the same tools they need for day-to-day operations. If they have reliable access to the internet, work can get done as easily as it was performed when everyone was in the office.
- Customer service — Employees are one side of the equation; the customer is the other. With UC solutions, teams can easily provide more efficient service for customers by immediately knowing who and who isn’t available to take calls and quickly getting the customer to the right person the first time.
- Savings — Decrease spending and time waste by combining multiple communication functionalities in one single platform.
- Security — Cybersecurity should be a prime concern for any remote workforce. UCaaS solutions put security front and centre with advanced encryption practices and other security features like Multifactor Authentication (MFA) and consistent patching, configuration, Antivirus, and backup standards.
Empower Your Team with the Right UC Platform
The last thing a business wants to do is sacrifice efficiency for flexibility. In the past, the decision to switch to a remote or hybrid workforce meant dealing with new challenges. With advancements in UC and UCaaS technology, this just isn’t the case anymore.
UC empowers employees to work with fewer communication boundaries. It puts the power of the latest voice, text, video, and chat capabilities all in one place. With cloud-based UC platforms, this means access from any tablet, computer, or smartphone.
A single platform means teams can jump from device to device and still engage in streamlined collaboration. With 24/7 access to these systems, team members can collaborate regardless of the time of day or where they are located. No matter when or where your users need to meet, the platform is always available.
UC also empowers employees to provide better service. With a single platform, teams can know exactly when other team members are available. Instead of dealing with bulky and inefficient call transferring, an employee can easily connect customers to the people they need most without wasting time.
Imagine the benefits of easy access to shared calendars or instant messaging. UC platforms provide these features and much more. Everything leads to simplicity for the end-user. That means less time wasted and more time delivering exceptional service.
Connecting Your Team with Evolve IP
When it comes to choosing a unified communications platform, Evolve IP is here to help you understand your options. Our UC solution delivers your team an award-winning source of crystal-clear voice services and other communication features that easily integrate into your existing IT infrastructure and workflow.
Whether you’re implementing a fully remote workforce management model or a hybrid model, our best-in-class UC platform will help your employees connect and collaborate seamlessly. Looking for more information? Reach out today to learn more about how we make the future of work better for everyone.
