UCaaS - 90% adoption by 2021?!

With the recent announcement from RingCentral and Avaya, we felt like it’s a good time to revisit why Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is generating so much buzz right now. If you are not familiar, UCaaS is taking a legacy phone system (PBX) and moving the phone and other collaboration components (chat, video, etc.) to a cloud based system. With organizations moving more systems and applications to the cloud, the UCaaS space has been one of the fastest areas of adoption.

According to a study done by Avant Communications in September 2019, UCaaS deployments have been the most adopted within the eCommerce, Healthcare/Medical and Consulting/Business Services verticals.  Additionally, if you look at the statistics, companies with revenues between 10 million to 100 million annually have embraced UCaaS systems the quickest.

What are some of the benefits of adopting UCaaS:

  • Easier to maintain - Adopting a cloud based system eliminates the need for patching, maintenance, downtime, etc. Overall, UCaaS requires less time for the organization to manage and support.

  • Less CapEx - Other than the physical cost of the phones (if you are using phones), there is virtually no CapEx spend when leveraging a cloud based system. Depending on the size of the organization and use case, OpEx may also be reduced.

  • Feature-Rich - Unlike traditional on-prem phone systems where all features were implemented at once, today’s UCaaS systems allow organizations to pick and choose which functionality is most useful to their operation at that given time. Furthermore, the various functions can be up and running within a few clicks.

  • Cloud-Strategy - Many organizations have committed to a cloud strategy and plan on "getting out of the data center business." However, often organizations realize this transition is harder than expected due to the vast amounts of data, compliance concerns, existing contracts, etc. With that said, a UCaaS deployment tends to be one of their first transitions “to the cloud” because it lacks sensitive data or compliance regulations.

  • Beneficial for Geographically Diverse Workforces - Since UCaaS systems require no physical hardware outside of the phones and an internet connection, a cloud based system is favorable for workforces that are geographically diverse. Additionally, with the rise of work from home employees, UCaaS allows these workers to operate at the same level of efficiency as they would in the office without disruptions or security concerns.

  • Integrations and Modernization - With hundreds of UCaaS vendors in the market today, each provider touts their ability to seamlessly integrate with an organization’s existing systems. These integrations will be tremendously beneficial for employers who are looking to reduce the amount of “point products” their employees use on a daily basis. Not only will this company see a reduction in cost by removing overlapping tools, but they should also see increased productivity from their workforce.

Who are the UCaaS players?  Without listing all 200+ providers out there, here are some of the notable brands in the market:

  • Cisco

  • Microsoft

  • RingCentral

  • 8x8

  • Fuze

  • Mitel

  • Vonage

  • Nextiva

  • Dialpad

  • Google

We will continue to share the trends as we see them, but we recommend you consider how a UCaaS deployment can benefit your organization. Gartner would agree as the below stat came from their latest Unified Communications as a Service Magic Quadrant report in October 2018.

“Gartner predicts that by 2021, 90% of organizations will not have a premise based phone system.”

Schedule time with Opkalla to learn more.

UCaaSAaron BockOpkallaUCaaS, Unified Communications, Cloud Strategy, Phone System, Collaboration, RingCentral, Cisco, Microsoft, 8x8, Fuze, Mitel, Vonage, Nextiva, Dialpad, Google