Unified communications (UC) plays an essential role in supporting hybrid and remote work by enabling a seamless and cohesive communication experience across various devices and locations. However, implementing UC presents some challenges. Integrating voice, video, messaging and collaboration applications requires careful planning and configuration to ensure seamless interoperability and minimal disruption to ongoing operations.
Partnering with a managed services provider (MSP) can be valuable when it's time to evaluate, implement, manage and secure UC solutions. However, choosing the right provider is crucial, as it can significantly impact productivity and efficiency. Here are four key factors to consider when evaluating prospective UC partners:
Track Record
Longevity and stability are always important indicators of quality. Well-established firms are more likely to have a history of successful engagements to illustrate their capabilities. Referrals and testimonials from other customers provide valuable insight. Professional certifications indicate that the provider’s team has completed specialized training and demonstrated their knowledge and skills in the field.
It's also a good idea to look for a provider that has experience working with businesses similar to yours. Industry-specific experience makes them more likely to understand your organization’s unique challenges and communication requirements. Providers should also have experience integrating their solutions with various business systems and applications.
Customer Focus
Evaluate whether your potential provider is genuinely interested in your business or just looking to make a sale. Look for an MSP that doesn’t just talk about technology, metrics and methodologies. Those are important factors, but you need a provider that can describe how their services will drive desired business outcomes and help your company reach its goals.
Top providers will also devote significant resources to assessing your business and IT environment before any implementation. Real-time voice and video applications can significantly impact network performance due to their high bandwidth and low latency requirements. A UC-specific network assessment will help determine if the network can handle the increased UC traffic.
Reliability and Flexibility
Communication failures can be devastating to businesses, leading to missed opportunities, lost productivity and frustrated customers. When evaluating UC providers, inquire about their uptime guarantees, disaster recovery capabilities, customer support services and response times. These are all indicators of their commitment to providing uninterrupted communications.
Whether your business is expanding rapidly or experiencing seasonal downturns in demand, your provider should also have the flexibility to modify their services to meet your changing needs. Look for a provider that offers various plans or customizable options that allow you to add or remove features as needed.
Security Measures
UC creates a broader attack surface due to the greater number of endpoint devices connecting to network resources. Choose a provider that can demonstrate a strong security focus to safeguard sensitive business communications and information.
At a minimum, they should use end-to-end encryption to protect data in transit and at rest. Providers should also be able to demonstrate proficiency with other key security controls, including identity and access management, session border controllers, VoIP-aware firewalls, and virtual private networks.
How Verteks Can Help
UC is essential for supporting today’s highly distributed workforces, so selecting the right provider is an important decision for any business. Evaluating providers’ past performance, expertise, feature sets, reliability and security can help you make an informed decision.
With years of experience designing, deploying and maintaining UC solutions for businesses across a wide range of industry sectors, Verteks is uniquely positioned to help you address your communication and collaboration requirements. We have the depth of expertise and the customer focus to craft a solution that addresses your specific requirements. Contact us to set up a complimentary consultation.
