October 19, 2017
Unified Communications are changing the way businesses and organizations of all sizes communicate, both internally and externally. Unified Communications solutions are feature-rich and all of those features work together to streamline communications and help employees communicate effectively and efficiently. Today, I'll be covering a single UCaaS feature in detail: Collaboration.
Before we get started, here's a quick UCaaS overview:
What is UCAAS?
UCaaS is a combination of software that includes telephony functions like voice, video, chat and collaboration, combined with tools available on your mobile, computer, desktop and in the web. UCaaS combines all of this into one seamless stream, creating Unified Communications as a Service. You can get a great introduction to UCaaS in this video.
If you're new to unified communications, here are some blogs and resources to get you up to speed:
- 4 Ways UCaaS Increases Collaboration in Your Organization
- Make Working from Home (Or Anywhere) Possible with UCaaS
- Communication Technology Comparison Guide
- UCaaS 101
UCaaS Feature Highlight: Collaboration
When we talk about collaboration in Unified Communications, the conversation is about the combining of multiple streams of communications into a single, user-friendly interface. Take, for instance, conferencing. You've likely participated in your fair share of audio conferences, web conferences and video conferences. Each one is different in terms of how you're able to communicate and share documents.
In an audio conference, you communicate with just your voice. There's no visual of the other participants - like you see with video conferencing. However, in both audio and video conferencing, sharing documents can mean emailing versions back and forth or working on a live document that's hosted by outside applications. But what if you could have all of those features, plus chat, dynamic presence and the ability to escalate and de-escalate between voice, web and video conferencing with the simple click of a mouse or tap of a screen? That's collaboration.
Instantly Know Who's Available
Dynamic presence allows you to know who is or isn't available just by glancing at your screen. Easy to understand icons let you know if someone is already on the phone or participating in a video call. You'll know if they are available to use their chat feature to answer a quick question, too.
Preset User Preferences
Another feature of UCaaS collaboration is the ability to preset your preferences. You can tailor your settings to fit the way you want to communicate. You can set voicemails to be automatically transcribed into your inbox. When you're on the road, UCaaS can auto reply to any communication request for you. Want to know the best part? There's an application that provides proximity services. This means that when you walk out of the office, your communications are instantly switched over to your mobile device. There's no need to manually change any settings.
Any Device, Anywhere
UCaaS collaboration clients are available on any device, at any location. Whether they're using a desk phone, headset, cell phone, personal computer or web browser, all users can access any and all collaboration features equally. Say you're in an audio conference, and the conversation is lasting longer than planned - we've all been there. In order to get on the road to your next meeting, you need to get going, but you need to stay on your current call.
UCaaS collaboration allows you to seamlessly switch the conversation onto your mobile phone and get on the road without missing a beat. And, external participants can join in on a conference without having to download anything. They can just log in via a web browser.
If you'd like to learn more about UCaaS and uncover how it can help your organization communicate more effectively and efficiently, contact a Marco Rep:
