The UCaaS market is set to explode with UCaaS adoption growing year on year. It is estimated that it will be worth 28.69 Billion USD by 2021.
Gartner estimates that 28% of telephony users will be in the Cloud by 2021.
Migration to the cloud is being reimagined by UCaaS providers and is being treated more like a journey than a jump. UCaaS providers must look at the incremental incline of consumer expectation.
Here’s a look at 7 things enterprises are expecting from their UCaaS in the coming year.
1. Collaboration:
Cloud-based solutions in 2019 are expected to become more feature-rich and competitively priced, changing enterprise communication and collaboration needs completely.
UCaaS providers must offer better interoperability and integrations with other software platforms:
- Use APIs that will embed powerful communication features into business applications.
- Possess the capability to scale, even on a global level, if needed.
- Transform business communications, collaboration, and customer experience using technologies such as AI and chatbots.
- Quickly accommodate innovative collaboration technologies as they emerge.
- Ensure seamless integration with other crucial enterprise applications like task management, CRM, etc.
2. Personalization:
UCaaS providers must work towards delivering highly personalized experiences to stay ahead of the curve.
Ensure the enterprise system allows communications with internal employees or customer support through the user’s preferred means such as internal messaging, SMS, mobile applications etc., in a device agnostic manner.
In 2019, enterprises expect this wave of personalization to rise further and expect to give the users the power to customize interfaces and integrate unified communication platforms with a broad set of collaboration tools and business applications as well.
3. Contextual Communication:
Communication is expected to become more contextual and task-based. UCaaS providers must enable this by:
- Delivering simplified and frictionless user experiences (such as allowing the customer to have a multimedia conversation directly from an application or webpage), and
- Leveraging relevant and transactional data.
The technology that makes this achievable is Web RTC or Web Real-Time Communication. The objective of this technology is to enable real-time communication over peer-to-peer connections via a common set of protocols to make interactions more personalized, efficient and engaging. Technologies such as AI and Machine Learning play a pivotal role here to determine the right information and communication context that is derived from a huge data pool. This consequently offers greater personalization and decision-making capabilities.
4. Mobile Integration:
While mobile integration has been rising steadily, enterprises in the coming year expect this to become more friction-free and seamless.
UCaaS providers must provide deep mobile integration with their services portfolio to allow enterprise employees to enjoy the same level of productivity in a mobile setting as they would from their desks. Staying connected with colleagues or customers via any way a user may choose – video chat, audio, screen sharing or IM – is essential.
Ensure access to unified communication systems and data on-premises or in the cloud in a device-agnostic manner.
5. Integration of CCaaS and UCaaS:
While integrating UCaaS with CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) might seem a little radical, the growth of Cloud technologies is enabling collaboration between the two. This integration:
- Removes restrictions of on-premises hardware.
- Enables the contact center with more fluidity.
- Improves the speed of responding to customers.
- Boosts customer centricity.
- Makes access for service agents to internal experts possible.
- Provides the customer with personalized and convenient service-on-demand, and
- Enhances customer communications.
With this new business model, enterprises expect to support the customer in new ways by allowing contact center agents to draw on the expertise from the entire organization.
6. SD-WAN and UCaaS Come Together:
SD-WAN is expected to change the enterprise landscape and unlock the cloud’s true potential. More than just basic SD-WAN functionality is required to address growing business needs and evolving customer WAN requirements.
Real-time Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) services are emerging as key drivers in SD-WAN deployments as enterprises transition to broadband with the expectation of quality, availability, and reliability that exceed traditional telephony solutions. UCaaS and SD-WAN providers will need to partner together to meet these expectations of the enterprise.
7. Global Coverage, Delivery, and Support:
Enterprises also expect UCaaS providers to allow global coverage, delivery, and support. UCaaS providers must ensure that, along with global reach, they have:
- Local sales and support,
- Language localization facilities, and
- Local partners.
Basic regulatory and structural differences in each country must be addressed. For example:
- Local DIDs,
- Operator registration with local regulators,
- Different call rates for calls made from mobile or more international calls,
- and others.
Meet (or Exceed) Expectations:
The expectations from UCaaS providers are increasing and will only keep rising in the year ahead. UCaaS providers must reevaluate their service offerings and payment plans to ensure that they are able to meet the enterprise demands. At the same time, they can be confident that they have robust billing strategies and solutions in place so that no revenue slips through the cracks in this coming age of customization.
Find out more about a revenue management system that can help UCaaS providers meet expectations in 2019.
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