As businesses plan for 2023, some research indicates that the majority of businesses are looking to have their employees return to the office. A recent survey found that 90% of companies will require employees to return to the office in 2023. To this end, 21% will fire workers who do not return, and 88% will offer incentives to get their employees to return.
Despite this apparent determination on the part of many businesses, 95% of job applicants want a remote or hybrid position, making it difficult for companies to recruit or retain qualified staff without at least a hybrid workplace.
Although the majority of organizations plan on having employees return to the office, most are considering a hybrid environment, averaging between three and four days a week.
- 16% plan to require that employees work four days a week in the office
- 46% plan on requiring three days a week in the office
- 21% plan for employees to work in the office full-time
The remaining percentage of companies are considering a fully remote workplace.
Over 50% of business executives say improved communication is the primary reason for having employees return to the office, followed by creativity, productivity, and company culture. In this new working environment, organizations will be looking for solutions that facilitate communication and collaboration, regardless of work location.
Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud-based solution that system integrators, managed service providers, and value-added resellers can offer customers as they return to office-based organizations.
What is UCaaS?
Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud-based technology that delivers unified communication (UC) services to users regardless of location. The technology integrates software to support asynchronous and synchronous communication from any device. The primary components of UCaaS are
- Cloud-based platforms running integrated applications
- Clients that users download onto devices or access via web browsers or plugins
- Endpoints such as mobile devices, phones, whiteboards, and desktops
UCaaS platforms offer extensive features, including online meetings, collaboration tools, video conferencing, and messaging. Many UCaaS platforms incorporate capabilities such as auto-attendant, call routing, and interactive voice response (IVR).
These platforms leverage cloud capabilities to secure communications and enable business continuity. With this technology, third-party providers can deliver a UCaaS communication platform that meets their customers' needs as employees transition to the office in varying degrees.
How UCaaS Can Simplify a Return to the Office
Most companies had difficulty pivoting to a remote workforce when lockdowns were enforced. In a rush to keep operating, businesses pieced together technologies that addressed short-term needs. Those solutions no longer meet the requirements of a permanent work environment that includes remote workers.
With the right UCaaS platform, your customers can simplify efforts to create connected companies that foster collaboration and innovation. These platforms can solve the challenges that customers face as they require their employees to return to the office and, in many cases, adapt to a hybrid situation.
Building an Engaging Culture
A 2019 survey found that 63% of employees say that workplace culture impacts a company's success. Over 75% believe that corporate culture has a direct influence on job performance, productivity, and efficiency. While employees value a positive corporate culture, organizations today struggle to develop and maintain an environment that encourages collaboration and innovation.
UCaaS provides connectivity across an enterprise. Employees use the same applications to engage with co-workers, whether they are at home or in the office. Fully-featured web, audio, and video conferencing capabilities enable real-time collaboration.
With a uniform interface, your customers’ employees spend more time engaging productively with others and less time trying to make collaboration tools work. There's no need to learn a different application depending on where workers are located – with the right platform, every communication is consistent.
UCaaS resellers can deliver tools that make their commitment to collaboration possible and minimize feelings of isolation for those who work from home. You can also help customers demonstrate their commitment to the health and well-being of their own employees through UCaaS communication.
Creating a Better Employee Experience
Employees have discovered that working from home has benefits. No long commute times. Fewer interruptions. Even those who had difficulty working from home found it easier to achieve a work-life balance.
UCaaS made remote work an effective alternative for businesses that deployed the solution during the last two years. Organizations that deployed a patchwork of solutions did not have the same employee experiences. Remote workers had to use multiple applications to perform basic tasks. The process reduced productivity and frustrated users who were continually moving from one application to another.
UCaaS resellers provide the solutions that are essential for integrating with existing technologies to deliver a more seamless employee experience. In addition, UCaaS can interface with existing customer relationship management systems (CRM) to present a comprehensive view of customer interactions. They can support existing PBX and telecom solutions and extend the capabilities of these traditional systems through softphone implementations. Ultimately, the right UCaaS partner can help resellers serve their customers by providing a ready-made solution when customers call.
Delivering Operational Agility
UCaaS platforms offer all the agility that comes with a cloud-based solution. Companies have minimal up-front costs. With SD-WAN deployments, organizations can subscribe for today's needs and plan for tomorrow's. As organizations move back toward a more office-based workplace, a white-label reseller can adjust to the customers’ needs based on implementation status. If the move happens faster than anticipated, resources can be increased quickly.
Once operational, UCaaS lets businesses respond to unexpected changes with minimal disruption. Suppose a team schedules a meeting for a Wednesday when everyone would be in the office. Overnight severe weather hits, and 30% of the team can't make it to the office.
Instead of rescheduling the meeting, companies with UCaaS solutions can quickly message all participants with the necessary information to participate in a virtual meeting complete with whiteboard functionality.
The meeting occurs on schedule, and the project is not delayed. Without collaborative tools, the meeting would not happen, decisions would not be made, and the project would fall behind schedule. Solutions that integrate with other applications make project management almost seamless.
What White-Label Resellers Need to Look For in their UCaaS Offerings
MSPs, VARs, and system integrators can help their customers return to the office with a UCaaS solution that is tailored to their needs. First, a UCaaS platform must provide features that companies want, such as:
- Voice mail transcription
- Call recording
- Business messaging
- Web and video conferencing
- IP fax
- Click to call
- Conference rooms
Third-party providers need white-label solutions that offer call center capabilities and integration into existing phone systems. Interfacing with CRM solutions and other applications can streamline workflows, making for a more cost-effective solution. White-label platforms allow providers to build their brands while delivering the required functionality.
Unless the UCaaS partner understands the business requirements of resellers and managed services providers, the technology may be too cumbersome to implement. For example, a true multi-tenant solution enables individualized tracking and reporting.
Third parties do not expend resources compensating for a single-tenant implementation. Separating services by the tenant can be labor-intensive, cutting into already tight profit margins.
Reseller Management Tools
When customers have a problem, a UCaaS solution should provide tools to trace connectivity issues. With end-to-end call visibility, integrators and resellers can troubleshoot and resolve concerns quickly, delivering exceptional customer service. Having the ability to create custom dashboards ensures that the most critical information is always available.
Beyond white-labels, UCaaS platforms should include administrative tools to help with billing and administration. Payment processing, calculating charges, tracking invoices, and matching payments can take significant resources. UCaaS platforms that facilitate these business processes can improve profit margins. These back-office tools make it delivering branded services more cost-effective.
Reliability is crucial to a UCaaS solution. Finding a platform with performance reliability and minimal downtime ensures satisfied customers and reduces support costs. Redundancy is equally important. UCaaS implementations are designed for failover, and business disruption strengthens the product offering.
With the right platform, support should be minimal. However, it is as important as the product features. Without reliable access to support services, MSPs and integrators can be left hanging when a problem arises, leading to dissatisfied customers.
Customer-Focused Solutions
Resellers looking for a white-label UCaaS platform need a solution that delivers high-demand, customer-friendly features without increasing operational expenses. Their customers need communication technology that facilitates a return to the office by:
- Delivering operational agility
- Creating better employee experiences
- Building engaging cultures
To ensure your organization has the tools to help your clients return to the office, schedule a demo to discuss how SkySwitch can help.
