Companies face laws and obligations, so they hire a lawyer. Accounting? The accountant takes care of that. Investing? For that, they knock on the bank’s door.

They have insurers, doctors and other professionals to help them with all their needs.

But who actually helps them communicate?

Communication is a big deal

What do companies and people do most often? Follow procedures and count their money? Error! Yet they have professionals in place to help them with that kind of thing. The thing everyone does more than anything else is communicate.

Of course, we communicate when we talk. And we communicate with facial expressions. When we stare our eyes communicate and when we gesture we do the same.

We write. We are having conversations. And we do so through numerous media.

We communicate even when we are silent. Because what does it mean when you complain to a colleague about something and they just look at you without saying anything?

How long do you stand before the message comes in, turns around and walks out of the room? And that again shows that you understood the message….

We communicate constantly.

True UCaaS

Before we were introduced to Unified Communication and UCaaS, you had the Universal Inbox. That’s where all the e-mail came in. Like new voicemail messages and faxes. Users only had to check one screen instead of three. That was something wasn’t it?

Universal Communication was expanded to include more. Text messaging, voice calls, video conferencing, application sharing, simultaneous collaboration, whiteboarding … it could all be done from a single interface. Fantastic!

Then came covid-19.

By March 2020, everyone who could was working from home. Worldwide, miracles were performed and mountains were moved. After all, how could companies get everyone to communicate, collaborate and keep going?

Suddenly everyone was using videoconferencing. As if we never did anything else. Ad-hoc communication became the norm. We’re app’ing more than ever. We emailed. We sent messages through different platforms.

Silently everything was suddenly incorporated into our communication. From one platform, we sent and received everything digitally. True Unified Communication.

The big surprise

In 1994, Novell Netware was quite ahead of the curve. In fact, President Robert Frankenberg introduced remote working. His colleagues could work from home and still access company resources and communicate among themselves.

Frankenberg declared, “Work is no longer a destination. It is an activity.” You didn’t have to go to work anymore. You were already there.

Yeah, didn’t think so.

In fact, executives did not like working from home very much. It made them nervous. After all, how did they know if their people were actually working?

A quarter century would pass before Frankenberg’s pronouncements of necessity became a reality. Managers had a choice: have their people work from home or not. And suddenly working from home was acceptable.

Then came the surprises!

Suddenly, executives noticed that their people were even more productive when they worked from home than when they were in the office. And hey, they are already starting work at the time they would normally get in the car!

They work until they would get home normally and sometimes even later.

Without anyone asking.

The manager breathing down your neck at the office is totally absent at home and people were more relaxed, also because they no longer spend hours in traffic jams.

They felt comfortable in their own familiar surroundings.

That working from home is suddenly some good thing. Who would have expected that?

What does this mean for the MSP channel?

This change has not resulted in us communicating more, but it has resulted in a much greater need for digital support.

The networks over which we communicate have become much more complex, now that everyone connects via private Internet connections rather than the corporate network. Much harder to secure.

A much more complicated strategy is needed to keep it safe and sustainable.

Unified Communications has become ubiquitous. Unified Communications as a service (UCaaS) has blurred boundaries, making it much easier for widely dispersed teams to come together virtually.

Everything we communicate, we now do over the network. And never before have your customers needed you so much.

The key to success for you lies entirely in bundling solutions. Explore the various UC and UCaaS solutions you can offer.

How well do they integrate with the other platforms you offer to your customers?

How can you offer your customers a fully integrated offering that makes their lives as easy as possible while making you indispensable to them?

Look for vendors that make integration easy and deliver their services as a comprehensive, API-first platform ready to connect to anything.

Focus your marketing and sales on cost savings, security and reducing and minimizing legacy communications networks. Become a true partner to your client and share your knowledge.

You have the opportunity to become your client’s preferred supplier.

Make sure you offer a complete UCaaS solution that supports all communications for your customers. That may yet work out very well for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is UCaaS?

UCaaS is an abbreviation for Unified Communications as a Service. It is a service that enables companies and organizations to simplify and optimize their communications.

What benefits does UCaaS offer?

UCaaS offers several benefits, including:

• Easy implementation: UCaaS can be implemented quickly and easily, without needing much technical knowledge.
• Scalability: The service can be easily adapted to user needs.
• Mobile working: With UCaaS, you can access your communications anytime, anywhere.
• Cost efficiency: Simplified communication allows for cost savings.