What Makes a Top-Tier UCaaS Provider?
A unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platform is a great way to consolidate and take control of your communication system. Not only will your communications platform be accessible from anywhere, but it will be easy to use, easy to maintain and affordable. But putting your entire communication system in the hands of another service provider requires trust. How can you find a top-tier UCaaS provider for your business? What features and services should you look for — and what should you run away from?
If you’re looking for a UCaaS provider, you want the best. Let’s take a look at what separates the best UCaaS companies from lesser UCaaS companies out there.
Ask About their Services
First, it’s wrong to assume that every UCaaS provider is the same. Some UCaaS providers are going to focus on voice calling, while others are going to focus on a very multi-channel approach. Today, both are valid. Some businesses do the majority of their business through voice calling and they’re going to need a more robust platform to support that – for instance, consider a business with massive call centers for customer support.
Others use primarily email, online chat and instant messaging services, which means they’re going to need more robust integrations. Think about what your organization needs from the UCaaS provider, and find a provider that specializes in that type of communication.
Look at the Supported Channels
In addition to the services that they provide — voice, video and data — also consider the channels and third-party integration they can support. If they don’t support online chat at all and your organization requires it, then they’re going to need to be able to integrate a third-party system. You’ll want to take a holistic look at the system that you would need to create to support all your communications, both in terms of functionality and in terms of cost.
Check their SLA
Their service-level agreement (SLA) should tell you what you need to know about how reliable and available they will be. When it comes to communication, you need a system that’s not going to go down; and if it does go down, it has to go back up as quickly as possible. 24/7/365 monitoring is essential for most communication systems. Even if it goes down when your organization isn’t in operation, you need to be certain that it will be up by the time your doors open.
Whenever uptime is guaranteed, ask the organization what their historic uptime has been; any organization with less than 99.9 percent uptime is probably not an organization you want to work with. Today, with improved redundancy and traffic management, uptime should be a given.
Resource Management
Some UCaaS providers offer metered resources. Others have unlimited calling, texting and conferencing. You don’t necessarily need unlimited services; in fact, cheap, unlimited services usually come at a cost (such as slower speeds and more intermittent connectivity). But you do need to have the resources that your organization usually uses. Take a look at how much data your organization usually transfers and calculate your resource needs from there.
Contracts and Setup Fees
Beware hidden charges. The best UCaaS providers usually provide no contracts, though there may be some setup fees. When comparing different UCaaS providers, don’t forget the cost of the contracts and setup fees in the total cost of ownership. Longer contracts are always worse for a business, since they lock an organization in and prevent flexibility, unless the business can get a very good deal through that contract. Make sure you ask about setup fees on a per-device basis, as a company may have an initial setup fee and then additional setup fees for hardware and devices.
As Always: The Reviews and Testimonials Matter
Anyone can start a business online and many businesses can look quite professional even if they have few customers at all. When looking for a UCaaS provider, always pay attention to third-party review services and testimonials. How many customers does the business have? Have they all been satisfied? Every company will have one or two bad reviews, whether it was an anomaly or just a customer who entered the door unhappy. But read the reviews critically and look out for things that jump out at you multiple times — such as more than one client claiming that they couldn’t get in touch with their UCaaS provider when they needed to. Common complaints are usually real problems.
Are you looking for the best UCaas provider? At Red River, we pride ourselves on offering the services and support that our customers deserve. Contact us today to find out more about what makes a top-tier UCaaS provider — and what the best UCaaS companies can do for you.
