Tired of Maintaining Your Business Phone System? Cloud Communications is the Answer

The average business phone system has a lifespan of six to eight years, but some stick around for 10-20… or more. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Not exactly. Your system may still work, but how hard are you working to keep it up to date? This doesn’t even account for the fact that the capabilities of phone systems have dramatically improved over just the last few years, let alone decades. If your system is older than the first iPhone, your business has outgrown it.

There are so many ways your employees can communicate today beyond voice: video conferencing, IM/messaging, even texting for business. You may have purchased licenses for certain collaboration applications to communicate in these ways during COVID. Maybe you’re still using them while using your on-premises phone system for calling. Either way, you’re spending time and money on system maintenance when you could instead be investing it in other business needs.

Uplevel Your Communications with Less Upkeep by Investing in Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS)

A UCaaS solution gives you everything you need in terms of business communication, from basic calling to a host of other features that you can choose to use or pass over, plus automatic software updates that give you the latest and greatest without you or your IT team having to do a thing. For example, our award-winning UCaaS solution, Avaya Cloud Office® by RingCentral, automatically updates every quarter without any disruption or downtime. All you have to do is sit back and watch your communications get better over time.   

Here's why an automatically updating system is a game-changer:

• You’ll get cutting-edge capabilities that continually enhance user experience (UX) and increase efficiency and productivity.

You’ll be first in line to start using new capabilities that improve your employees’ experiences. These can include video enhancements (e.g., auto-adjust lighting, virtual backgrounds), camera enhancements (e.g., being able to select the front or rear camera of a mobile device to display inside a video meeting), and AI-enabled capabilities (e.g., closed captioning for live transcription of what people are saying in video meetings). They can also include device-related improvements, like better control of the system from your mobile phone or being able to seamlessly switch from a meeting on a mobile device to a meeting room. The best will always be right at your fingertips.

• You’ll never have to worry about compliance and end-user security.

It’s crucial that your communication system stays up to date from a security standpoint for end-user safety as well as compliance with regulations like HITRUST , HIPAA, and GDPR. Automatic updates first ensure your system stays in compliance as technical and operational standards change (avoiding potentially heavy fines), and also help you always provide your users the best protection possible.

In terms of end-user security, automatic updates could include a new waiting room feature that puts meeting participants in a virtual holding space before being approved by the moderator or updated password protection to prevent unauthorized users from joining meetings. You’ll be on the forefront of security standards without having to do a thing.

• You’ll get access to new integrations that enhance your system’s functionality.

One of the best things about UCaaS is that the system integrates third-party business apps with communications to create one seamless user experience (you no longer need to hop in and out of the different apps you use because everything is available in one place). This list of integrations is constantly growing to give users more possibilities for how they can work in a personalized and efficient way. Automatic system updates provide immediate access to these new integrations.

Integration updates from Avaya Cloud Office have included:

• Microsoft Teams​ Direct Routing: Enhance calling within Microsoft Teams with Avaya Cloud Office direct routing.
• Google Chrome extension: Bring Avaya Cloud Office directly into any web-based work environment within Google Chrome. Access the power of Avaya Cloud Office within your daily web-based apps and workstreams via the Chrome browser and even click-to-dial webpage phone numbers.​
• Outlook Scheduler​: Seamlessly schedule Avaya Cloud Office meetings from your Outlook calendar and apply key security features such as Waiting Room, Join after Host, Require Password, and more.

Thinking about making the move to a UCaaS solution? See why Avaya Cloud Office is a good fit for you.