With work from home and hybrid work environments becoming the go to business model, more and more companies are moving to the cloud and investing in Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) as the go to infrastructure for internal communications and productivity.
Organizations are increasingly embracing the benefits of migrating from a mix of on-premises and cloud-based applications to a singular, unified platform that offers calling, meetings, team messaging, and contact center experiences.
Research shows that 55 percent of organizations will adopt UCaaS solutions by the end of 2021. Additionally, over 87 percent of these organizations will continue to support remote work in 2021 and beyond, so it is critical that their communications solutions are capable of supporting work across multiple locations and devices.
What’s included in UCaaS Cloud Solutions?
Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral puts their UCaaS solutions into three key areas: easy migration to cloud communications, new ways to connect over video, and global expansion capabilities.
RingCentral recently published a press release explaining the benefits of each key area:
Easy Migration to Cloud Communications
Visual Voicemail – Navigate voice messages on your desk phone screen, view transcripts or listen to messages, and perform a number of operations like delete, forward, and call back, by using the desk phone buttons.
Bridged Call Appearance – Enables a primary number to appear on multiple phones, so delegates can act on behalf of the phone number owner to: call on behalf, hold, pickup within the group, share a line, or join calls. Delegates can act as the owner of the line – not only answering calls, but initiating the calls on behalf of the owner. This is especially convenient in the manager/admin assistant scenario.
Park & Page – Initiated with the press of a button, which invokes a page to a defined group, and enables an “Answer” soft key for anyone in the group.
Group Call Pickup – Allows any member of a designated group to be notified when a group member receives an incoming call, and they can answer if the intended recipient is unavailable, by simply pressing the pickup key on their phone.
New Ways to Connect Over Video
Avaya Cloud Office Rooms – Combined with an Avaya Collaboration Unit, Avaya Cloud Office turns any workspace into a conference room. For a wide range of rooms, from home to office, huddle spaces or large boardrooms, and using one or two displays, this feature is the perfect solution for getting everyone together, wherever they are.
Avaya VantageTM – The Avaya Vantage portfolio of smart devices offers a new always-on high quality audio and video option for Avaya Cloud Office as well as one-touch access to favorite cloud-based apps and productivity-boosting AI tools such as Amazon Alexa.
Plug and Play USB devices – Avaya offers additional USB cameras and audio-conferencing devices, and a docking station to help users connect everything, including your display and laptop, while running Avaya Cloud Office.
Global Expansion Capabilities
EU Essentials package now available – Avaya Cloud Office is available in four license tiers including Essential, Standard, Premium, and Ultimate. The Essential tier has now been added to the following EU countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
New default data residency – To facilitate data residency requirements in certain markets, Avaya Cloud Office customer data is now stored in-country by default, without the need for Opt-In, in the following markets: U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K.
More Global Office markets added – Customers can extend their global reach even further, with Global Office licenses now expanding to over forty countries including Greece, Slovenia, Estonia and South Africa. Global Office licenses extend the ability of organizations in the thirteen Avaya Cloud Office markets to include staff from additional countries that can be billed through the home office license.
Why is Migrating to the Cloud Beneficial?
There are other benefits to cloud migration besides the features already mentioned. Forbes recently published “Why Migrate To The Cloud: The Basics, Benefits And Real-Life Examples” which lists six benefits of cloud migration: cost reduction, scalability, security, reliability, and fast implementation.
Cost and security may be the greatest benefits of moving to a cloud-based solution. There is no need to purchase expensive server equipment that also needs storage space and maintenance. For security, providers will upgrade their services to the latest industry standards and reduce the risk of cyberattacks.
How to migrate to a UCaaS Cloud Solution
Migrating to the cloud can seem like a daunting task. Luckily, there are companies that can help you build a “cloud migration strategy” and take the heavy lifting off your shoulders.
VOX Network Solutions describes a cloud migration strategy as:
A documented plan to move an organization from their legacy on-premises IT solutions to an Enterprise Cloud solution. It must be driven by the organization’s business goals, priorities, and objectives to be effective.
An effective Cloud Migration Strategy will clarify what will move to the Cloud based on its goals and requirements: technological and business functions, software applications, and services. It should include a specific timeframe, pace, and approach.
VOX will partner with you to create the plan through three easy steps, and continue to support you through their Lifecycle Program. The VOX Lifecycle is a comprehensive methodology that assists and guides organizations as they evaluate various Enterprise Cloud solutions — along with all other aspects of Digital Transformation.
Learn More
To learn more, visit https://alturacs.com/cloud-migration/ and join us Thursday July 29th at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for an exclusive event hosted by VOX, RingCentral, and Avaya! Click here to register.