Unified communications has been around for the last few years and many businesses are benefiting from the technology. Organisations who are utilising unified communications have noticed their business processes, revenues and profits improve. However, there are many benefits that aren’t generally quoted and businesses may experience but don’t recognise.
1. Communication with your team no matter where they are
Workforces are more likely to work remotely at least some of the time by 2021. This can be a benefit as it cuts down on many costs such as office space and equipment. However, it can be annoying if you’re trying to reach a colleague and you can’t get through to them because you don’t know their current location or number.
However, with unified communications, you can use the same contact details to get hold of a colleague no matter where they are. This can help reduce the time it takes to contact people. Research has found that being able to get hold of employees on the first try can add 20 minutes worth of productivity per employee each day.
In addition, unified communications allows you to take advantage of modern hot-desking designs. Medical research has demonstrated there are numerous benefits for staff spending between 30 or 40 minutes of every hour at a standing desk.
The benefits of this new office design are numerous and include health benefits for employees and high productivity levels for the company.
Unified communications allows you to reach staff no matter what desk they’re at in the office.
2. Keep a record of important conversations
Each day you probably have a lot of conversations. You can talk to colleagues, staff, clients and suppliers and all that information can become challenging to remember. According to statistics, the average person receives about 105,000 words per day through many different mediums (Tech 21 Century).
It is challenging for anyone to consume and remember all that information. In fact, within 24 hours you’re likely to forget about 70% of the conversations you’ve had. What if some of that lost conversation is really important?
Thanks to the technology deployed by unified communications, you can record and save important communications. Then, when the need arises, you can go back to conversations and ensure that you’ve got the right information for the task.
The major advantage of this is that you can improve customer service by checking the work that you’ve done matches the needs of the customers. It can also improve productivity by not asking the customer to repeat requirements – you just need to re-listen to the conversation.
It can also help you improve the quality of service given by using conversations as training tools with staff. Use the calls in training sessions and help staff to make better decisions.
This feature also allows you to monitor how employees are using the communications network. Are your staff using the network for numerous personal calls that they shouldn’t, or are they using it for inappropriate conversations with staff members?
3. Staff can work from anywhere
We’ve already discussed the ability to communicate with staff no matter their location, but the benefits for your staff should also be considered. Working remotely has been linked to several health benefits including better mental health and higher levels of job satisfaction. These help to improve productivity and the quality of work delivered.
At the same time, you can monitor communication between staff and what they are saying to clients. This helps you to monitor staff behaviour and ensure that work is being conducted properly.
Clients will also be pleased with being able to speak to their key contact in your business regardless of their location. Some clients will appreciate being able to speak to them outside of regular office hours. Improving customer satisfaction is the key to increasing client retention, which can lead to greater revenues and higher profits.
4. Integration with social media
Lots of customers and clients are using social media to communicate with brands. Therefore, if you aren’t monitoring your business’ social media channels on a regular basis, you could be missing out on some pretty important contacts.
Unified communications technology can be integrated with social media communications so that all messages sent to your brand can be sent to managers and staff for prompt responses. Research has shown that customers expect answers from brands within just a few hours. The less time it takes your team to respond to social media conversations, the more revenue you’re likely to generate.
5. Your team can use multiple devices
Not all devices you use in your business have the same features and advantages. This means staff sometimes have to switch devices in order to complete some work. Without unified communications it can be challenging as you need to keep data in two places rather than in a central location.
Unified communications allows you to save time, prevents copied data from becoming outdated, and most importantly allows for your business to maintain better security. It also means that you can allow staff to work from home because they only need a device that connects to the internet to access the communications network.
It also means you can use whatever device is best for the task at hand. This can help reduce costs through efficiency and product improvement.
If you understand the full benefits of unified communications, you’ll know that you won’t only improve your business’ performance, but help staff be more productive and happier too. This is an important aspect as a happy team are less likely to seek new positions or take time off due to illness. This is important as sickness costs the UK £77 billion every year. Recruitment can also cost on average £50,000 for the first year for each employee recruited. If unified communications can help keep these costs down and improve revenues, your business needs this technology to succeed.
