The Unified Communications Approach to Digital Transformation

The Unified Communications Approach to Digital Transformation

Digital transformation, otherwise known as “DX”, is the process of using digital technologies to create new or modify existing, business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. (Salesforce) Ever since it emerged, it has continued to roll in the business landscape and remained a hot topic among CIOs. These digital transformation initiatives are already underway at nearly 70% of companies, according to Nemertes Research.

What Digital Transformation Really Means to Businesses

As advanced new technology reshaping businesses in various ways, digital transformation proved to be not just hype. It could mean a lot to today’s business, regardless of their verticals and sizes. However, Only a few companies feel they’re getting digital transformation right. 70% of all DX initiatives do not reach their goals, according to Forbes. Perhaps the biggest hinder is that they simply don’t know how to define it for their own business. How and where to start? What does it require to give DX initiatives the best chance of succeeding?

The goal of digital transformation is not only to migrate away from the legacy system, but to embrace the great potential of the newest technologies to foster innovation, increase productivity, and improve customer experiences. For digital transformation to delivering real values to an organization, it needs to seamlessly integrate across departments, support a range of business needs, and be well-received by management.

Though strategies vary given different situations and specific needs, communication and collaboration have always been hallmarks of a successful business. Unified communications is essential for any business undergoing a digital transformation because of its significant impact on improving user experiences. A UC solution, coupled with an IP PBX system, sets a solid communications foundation for enabling a successful DX initiative. For most organizations, especially the SMEs, migration to a UC solution could be the very start of their digital transformation, which need not be complex and painful.


Unified Communications: A Vital Piece to the Puzzle

Gone are the days when the workplace was merely a physical space. Modern companies, especially those with distributed and mobile-first workers are calling upon UC solutions to streamline business communications. Unified communications is about making a wealth of communications channels into a single point of access. The idea behind is that employees can access the same communication system on multiple devices with multiple tools, but its benefits go far beyond convenience.

  • Enabling Digital Workplace and Improving User Experience

The transformation not only happened upon technology. Pew Research Center found that millennials are the largest generation in the workforce today, making up 35% of the labor force. The modern workforce is becoming more agile and disjointed and the means of communication becomes more complex. CIOs often need to factor in employees’ shifting preferences and consider how to align the new technology with employees’ working habits. User experience is a priority to boost the long-term benefits of the digital strategy.

Given that, today’s businesses have begun to implement a new working environment, the digital workplace, to empower employees through collaborating, communicating, and connecting with others. 87% of CIOs believe digitally empowering employees can drive at least 5% additional revenue growth over 3 years. (Source)

Most employees are not willing to add more apps to a bunch of mobile and desktop apps they’ve already used on a daily basis. What they’re looking for is the consolidation of functionality. Unified communications integrate business phone systems, instant messaging, conferencing, unified messaging, file sharing, and more, all within a single system, ensuring a consistent user experience that employees expect.

  • Increasing Collaboration and Engagement within the Organization

Unified communications is about making a wealth of communications channels and options into a single point of access, but the greater value lies in its ability to unify the organization across all departments. The more available and better connected your staff is, the more work they can get done.

With unified communications, on-premise, off-site and on-the-go workers are all reachable via the same business phone number through multiple devices. Saving time from switching between different communications channels, employees will have more time to focus on the business operation, thus improve efficiency and productivity.  Employees who work for firms that make apps available and highly accessible spend  17% less time on manual processes, according to VMware. Virtual collaboration also replaces traditional boardroom collaboration in many instances. More than just telephony, instant messaging, file sharing, unified messaging, CRM integration, and more features offers more alternatives for employees in different scenarios and keeps the team on the same page.

As for the cost, although there’s an upfront investment at the beginning, the long-term ROI is favorable for businesses. Unified communications consolidates a slew of paid tools into a single, all-inclusive communication platform, reducing the additional capital investment on different 3rd party applications. In addition, the improved productivity and time savings resulted from the UC solution also have a direct influence on your bottom line.

Blog Why Unified Communications Solutions: Top 6 Reasons


Opportunities for MSPs, VARs, and Solution Providers

As digital transformation becoming the new norm, it is either staying current or get left behind. It is a great opportunity for MSPs, VARs, and solution providers to on-board more customers by introducing unified communications solutions as a logical first step of the DX journey. Besides, with the surge of cloud adoption, cloud-based unified communications also receive rising demands.

Blog 6 Scenarios Where the Cloud-based UC Solution Is a Perfect Fit

Yeastar offers on-premises and cloud-based unified communications solution, coupled with robust VoIP PBX systems, to meet various business needs. Both the migration to UC and digital transformation are strategic decisions, so if you would like to experience it before jumping on it right away, you can download our Linkus Unified Communications App for free, use it with our Cloud PBX free trial, and see how unified communications gives a boost to your business.

Linkus Unified Communications App

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User Login

Instantaneously receive user login credentials via email once the extension has been deployed by the adminstrator.

Log in conveniently via any web browser for access to the user portal.

Integrations

Integrate various CRM software for better customer service and satisfaction.

Enable transcription of audio messages into text with integration of third-party transcription service.

Enable API for integration with various third-party integrations for advanced performance such as call center and hotel reception services.

System

Provision email SMTP and template settings for event notifications to be sent out.

Manage storage allocation and duration of various types of data being stored on the PBX.

Determine the types of event notifications to be sent out, and the parties receiving them.

IVR

Add various audio voice prompts to be played according to different call scenarios.

Add voice prompts on multiple levels for more effecient and precise inbound call routing.

Voicemail

Customize default voicemail settings for each user extension.

Add various voicemail messages for allocation to different call scenarios and users.

Provision specific rules to how voicemail messages are played over the PBX system for better caller experience.

Reports and CDR

All call log activities are stored, with the option of having audio conversations recorded by default or for specific extensions.

Use intuitive visual call reports, to check various call statistics over extensions, trunks, queues, ring groups, and more.

Call reports can be viewed and downloaded directly from the PBX, or scheduled to be sent via email to respective parties.

Security

Restrict a general group or specific IP addresses to prevent unauthorized access to your PBX.

Limit the number of otbound calls users are allowed to make within a time period to protect against toll fraud.

Restrict certain country codes for outbound calls either company-wide or on certain extensions.

User Login

Determine extension ranges for different functions.

Define use of different voice prompts depending on call scenarios or intended function.

Provision basic and advanced SIP settings to be used on the PBX.

Recordings

Record all calls made on specified trunks, including inbound and outbound calls.

Recordings

Record all calls made on specified extensions, conferences, or call queues.

Paging and Intercom

Create different types of paging and intercom broadcast groups for selected extensions.

Set a time schedule to automatically start your broadcast.

Maintenance

Check for and download firmware upgrades to ensure that your PBX is always up-to-date.

Perform back-ups to prevent data and settings from getting lost.

Perform troubleshooting on your own to debug.

Conference

Pre-set conference settings and dial-in passwords for security, and allow internal users to send conference invites to external parties.

Speed Dial

Create multiple speed dial numbers to respective external numbers frequently used for outgoing calls.

Speed dial is activated when the set prefix (default or customized) is dialed.

Ring Group

Create multiple ring groups and determine custom ring strategies and failover settings for each.

Call Queue

Create different call queues with specific ring strategies and failover settings.

Static agents permanently answer calls in queue, while dynamic agents can log in and out. Allocate different extensions to each group.

Determine what actions are to be allowed for Mangers or Agents to manage on the Queue Panel.

Call Control

Have calls received on specific SIP trunks routed to designated extensions or destinations within the PBX.

Set-up dial patterns so that outbound calls are routed to their intended destinations.

Determine how calls are routed and received at different times of a day.

Contacts

Store, retrieve, and share company contact details easily on your PBX.

Organize company contacts into dedicated phonebooks and determine accessibility rights to extension groups for each.

Bulk import a list of contacts instead of having to key details in individually.

Role and Client Permission

Pre-defined user roles within the PBX are conveniently available for allocation, or create your own set of permissions.

Restrict users from viewing specific extensions, departments, or extension groups with Extension Visibility.

Allow or resrict specific users from managing or viewing certain company contacts

Auto Provision

Pre-defined setting parameters specific to respective IP phone models are conveniently available for easy set-up.

IP Phones can be quickly provisioned to your Yeastar PBX with just the pre-defined template and device MAC address.

Trunks

Register multiple SIP trunks on a single PBX as needed.

Different types of trunks can be created, Caller ID can be customized.

Extensions

View, deploy, add, and remove user extensions within your PBX system.

Configure default call and user settings for individual extensions.

Customize allocation of user extensions to specific ring groups.

Portal Login Page

Receive your administrator log-in credentials and set-up guide via email.

Log-in on any web-browser to get started with PBX set-up.

Installation Wizard will guide you through basic configurations.

User Login

Access all company contacts made available to you by the administrator.

Create your own personal contacts list for easy reference and dialing.

Bulk import contact details for convenient data entry.

User Login

Access and manage user settings for softphone application and voicemail.

Manage call routing and presence status for your individual extension.

Retrieve or download your personal call logs and recordings.

User Login

Receive your log-in credentials and set-up guide via email, sent by your admin.

Log-in on any web-browser to get started with PBX set-up.

Configure contacts and personal settings from the web portal.

Auto Provision

Add, remove, or modify IP phone settings from your web interface.

Upgrade IP phone firmware conveniently from your PBX.

Upload various default setting parameters specific to respective IP phone models for greater convenience during set-up.

Contacts

Store, retrieve, and share company contact details easily on your PBX.

Have detailed contact information for your vendors and clients conveniently stored .

Bulk add a list of contacts instead of having to key details in individually.

PBX Monitor

Monitor the status extensions, whether they aren idle, in use, or unavailable.

Know whether your SIP Trunk running properly, or experiencing problems.

Monitor the number of call conferences currently running on your PBX, and their individual durations.

Maintenance

Check for and download firmware upgrades to ensure that your PBX is always up-to-date.

Perform back-ups to prevent data and settings from getting lost.

Perform troubleshooting on your own to debug.

Call Detailed Report

All call log activities are stored, with the option of having audio conversations recorded by default or for specific extensions.

Filter by date, time, or extension number to retrieve specific call logs or recordings

Playback call recordings directly from the PBX or download to store externally.

Event Center

Determine what events and logs are to be recorded and/or have notifications sent.

Specify particular notifications to be sent to respective authorized personnel.

User Permission

Set up vaious groups of users for allocation to certain sets of access rules.

Determine what features a certain group of extensions can or cannot access.

Determine if users can access, play-back, or download call logs and recordings from the pbx.

Security

Restrict a general group or specific IP addresses to prevent unauthorized access to your PBX.

Determine specific the range of SIP ports for connection between your PBX and endpoints.

Restrict country codes for outbound calls either company-wide or on certain extensions.

Voice Prompt

Upload and designate customised audio recordings at multiple levels of a call journey.

Upload recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by callers on hold.

Upload customised voice prompts to create a professional call experience.

General

Customize general call preferences either company-wide or for individual extensions.

Set-up feature dial codes for convenient user navigation to specific call features.

Determine how voicemails are retrieved, and also upload custom voicemail recordings.

Call Features

Add multiple automated responses to be played at different phases of a call journey.

Designate specific extensions to ring concurrently based on an external caller's dial pattern.

Customize messages and waiting times to keep external callers engaged when put on hold.

Call Control

Have calls received on specific SIP trunks routed to designated extensions within the PBX.

Set-up dial patterns so that outbound calls are routed to their intended destinations.

Determine how calls are routed and received at different times of a day.

Trunks

Register multiple SIP trunks on a single PBX as needed.

Provision SIP trunk settings and dedicate them to particular extensions.

Bulk add DDIs on each SIP trunk, for allocation to an individual or groups of extensions.

Extensions

View, deploy, add, and remove user extensions within your PBX system.

Allocate and deploy specific extension numbers to respective users via email.

Set-up default ring and presence status settings for individual users.

Deal One View

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View cases created for a Deal in One View.

Deal One View

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

Deal One View

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.