How Should You Deploy Unified Communications?

Staying in touch with customers and colleagues is an important business process, but advancements in options and channels today requires more thought than a simple phone connection. The innovative office includes voice lines, fax lines, Internet connections, mobile solutions, messaging options and more. With every option on a different platform, it’s a job in itself managing them all.

It is this scenario that drives the demand for Unified Communications (News - Alert). If all channels are put on the same platform, management is streamlined, costs are reduced and you can focus on business processes that drive revenue instead of maintaining connections. Deciding to put in a Unified Communications platform is really just the first step, however. The next step is to define the deployment strategy.

Companies basically have four different deployment models to choose from, including on-site, public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid cloud. There are arguments for and against each one of these methods, depending upon the industry, the office environment, current processes, communication needs and more. The key is to identify what needs have to be met in order to select the right strategy.

Once those needs have been identified, it’s time to examine the solutions available. The costs associated with each deployment strategy can vary based on the infrastructure in place. For instance, telecommunications news channels are full of information concerning the cost savings associated with a cloud-based strategy. But those cost savings have to be compared against current strategies that may or may not prove to be more expensive.

In other words, if investments in a robust system have already been made, it may be more cost effective to deploy an on-site platform that leverages that investment than make a monthly payment for a public cloud solution. On the other hand, if infrastructure is lacking and it’s time to make a new investment, the cloud may be the more efficient strategy.

The key to making the right choice is to understand the options available from all angles. It’s not enough to assume cloud is always the less expensive option or that the on-site strategy will yield the best performance. Weighing the pros and cons of each according to needs, investments and available options is the only way to make the right choice.

To help in the process, Mitel (News - Alert) will examine all of these elements and what to consider in the process of selecting the right UC deployment strategy during, “Optimizing ROI: Making a Business Case for Cloud-Based UC.”