Unified Communications Support – Excellence Is The New Standard

For decades, enterprises have grappled with the challenges of unified communications support, facing expertise scarcity and vendor complexities. However, a recent ZIRO email and social poll revealed a surprising revelation: Unified Communications (UC) support has received excellent ratings. In this blog post, we explore why enterprises should expect excellence from their UC support, its impact on productivity and business continuity, and how it fosters customer satisfaction.

The UC Knowledge Gap

Most enterprises rely on third-party service providers to configure and install UC platforms and then use internal IT to support them. This leads to a scarcity of individuals on the IT team possessing a deep understanding of the UC platform. These select individuals troubleshoot issues, optimize performance, and drive the platform’s functionality. The limited availability of skilled UC professionals creates a bottleneck in providing timely and effective support and exposes organizations to risks associated with relying on a small pool of knowledge. This knowledge gap can lead to delays in problem resolution, increases downtime, and limits scalability.

Vendor Complexity Inhibits Unified Communications Support

Another key challenge enterprises face with unified communications support is vendor complexity. UC platforms are sourced from one vendor, while connectivity is provided by bureaucratic carriers notorious for poor customer service. In such scenarios, organizations often encounter a frustrating lack of coordination between the UC vendor and the carrier, leading to prolonged response times, miscommunication, and general dissatisfaction. The disjointed nature of support between these two entities hampers efficient issue resolution, exacerbates downtime, and undermines the overall user experience. Additionally, navigating the bureaucratic processes of carriers known for their poor customer service further adds to the complexity, making it arduous for enterprises to achieve smooth and seamless UC support.

Results of ZIRO’s Unified Communications Support Poll

The above has been the state of UC support for decades, so imagine our surprise to find unified communications support rated excellent in a recent ZIRO email and social poll. It wasn’t a surprise to us, as ZIRO has been delivering this for years.

We took care not to skew the poll by excluding our existing customers or vendors from the email, although the social poll was available to everyone. The results from the email portion of our poll mirrored the social poll. Overall, unified communications support was rated between good and excellent by 72% of respondents.

Enterprise customers should expect excellence from their unified communications (UC) support. Effective UC support directly impacts the organization’s productivity and efficiency. A well-functioning UC system ensures seamless communication, collaboration, and information sharing, allowing employees to work more efficiently and make informed decisions promptly.

Unified communications support plays a crucial role in maintaining business continuity. Downtime or disruptions in communication channels can result in significant financial losses, missed opportunities, and damaged customer relationships. With excellent UC support, enterprises can minimize downtime, quickly resolve issues, and proactively address potential system vulnerabilities.

Exceptional UC support demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction. Enterprises invest in UC solutions to enhance their communication capabilities, and they deserve comprehensive support that addresses their unique needs and challenges. Prompt response times, knowledgeable support staff, and proactive problem-solving contribute to a positive customer experience and build customer trust in the vendor’s services.

Enterprises require ongoing support as technology evolves to stay updated and leverage new features and functionalities. Excellent unified communications support ensures organizations can adapt to changing business needs, integrate emerging technologies, and maximize their investment in UC platforms. By setting high expectations for UC support, enterprises can foster a reliable and efficient communication environment that empowers their workforce and drives overall success.

If you’re not receiving excellent communications support, employees will be less productive, the customer experience will be suboptimal, and your organization will become less competitive. In today’s highly competitive environment, you can’t afford to fall behind due to ineffective unified communications support. We’re pleased to see so many organizations have recognized this and have taken steps to ensure support is good or excellent. If you’re in the minority and still have poor or bad unified communications support, reach out to ZIRO, and let’s talk about how we can help.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our poll.