Rethinking Your Unified Communications and Collaboration Strategy

Communication is essential in any business … 

Whatever sector you find yourself in, there is always one clear and pronounced theme that will continue to dominate meeting rooms!

Communication.

Whether that is between teams and workforces, or with clients and customers, the importance of good and efficient communication is absolutely paramount.

As many organisations continue to invest in their IT and tech ecosystem, many are moving from traditional, legacy systems to more advanced Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) systems, and with this comes several things to consider and explore.

• What are the essential operational needs that your communications need now and in the future?
• What functional requirements does the UC&C fulfil and how can communication needs merge seamlessly?

With BT’s ‘ISDN switch off’ approaching in 2025, many businesses are turning their attention to new and more efficient means of communication.

As with any change to business infrastructure, consideration needs to be given to the type of services required, required locations, as well as any existing commercial arrangements with existing IT providers.

The Top 5 Essentials To Consider 

Understanding Your Current Services 

An important aspect of upgrading is understanding what is already in place, and often it’s difficult to fully understand the existing set-up, especially if your IT is spread across various providers.

A full and thorough audit is important to establish a baseline, and to discover how moving to a more modern UC&C set-up can be more beneficial for your business. 

Defining your Workforce User Personas

In our new world of hybrid working, the importance of understanding the needs of certain job roles across the organisation and how they differ is a significant factor to consider when upgrading any aspect of your IT. 

Understanding job roles, locations, workstyles and operational needs for functionality, equipment and system access, all have the potential to drive employee productivity. It also helps with licensing requirements of the business and its core competencies.

Bandwidth 

One of the most important considerations when upgrading your tech is the bandwidth and connectivity requirements.  Whether you’re operating on a cloud-based platform, utilising onsite servers or a mixture of both a review is necessary to establish the right network, connectivity, bandwidth and quality of service. 

Poor connection, low latency and packet loss are all points of potential failure should the bandwidth not be reviewed and addressed accordingly.  

Again, these considerations are often difficult to work through without the expertise of a leading IT provider such as us here at CSG.  Often, ‘in-house’ IT teams attempt to review and make IT infrastructure suggestions, however, we have seen this to be detrimental in terms of accuracy not to mention taking staff away from their regular tasks. 

Timing and Financial Implications 

We can help you understand your current hardware, software systems and maintenance contracts.  Clarifying your situation and how to plan and manage existing and new commercial arrangements, migrations, and contract terminations in line with new requirements.

Reception and the Attendant Console

Often an overlooked area of communication set-up, this is an important element of your infrastructure, especially if you’re working towards excellent customer service.  

Building this console into project plans is an important aspect to tackle sooner rather than later, as the ISDN switch-off approaches in 2025.

How CSG can maximise positive outcomes for your business …

Best in industry IT 

Thanks to our elite partnerships with leading tech companies, we’re in a position to deliver the very highest industry standard IT to our clients.  

This includes utilising Horizon (UK’s number 1 cloud platform) and MS Teams Direct Routing (using Teams as the phone system).

Voice and Video Endpoints 

All organisations and businesses vary, and the requirements and needs vary for each case, from simple voice services to more advanced video experiences.  Having the correct equipment is important in getting the best use out of software and can further enhance the experience for your team and customers.

Having the correct phones, softphones, headsets and video devices, rooms to suit individuals or meetings at home or office is important and understanding native and third-party devices for Teams interoperability for voice and video experiences are vital.

Utilising the expertise of CSG is the fastest and most cost-effective way to ensure your communication solutions work for your team and are in line with business objectives.

Licensing

Licensing continues to be an area of importance, and with many SMEs budgeting carefully throughout the year, the need for carefully planned IT licensing continues to grow.

Maximising your investment in licensing is a challenging area for many SMEs, that’s why we help companies through this complex and intricate world to optimise investment. 

Ensuring you have sufficient user accounts, and virtual user licences from the start ensures you take advantage of all the features you require to achieve business success.

There is no need to over-provision licensing for services that are not required, and blending of licences with add-on options will ensure maximum value from your investment.

And importantly … 

Support from experts here at CSG!

Understanding your IT options in both infrastructure and system, along with ways to reduce operating costs and improve functionality and resilience are fundamental services that CSG can provide through our managed support programme.

CSG can help you define exactly what you need regardless of what collaboration platform you are using or moving to.  We’ll advise you on the smartest way to run your licensing arrangements to reduce costs, and maximise value for your business. 

Hybrid working is only going to increase in years to come and the importance of balancing workforce efficiency with dynamic services and applications, backed by robust security measures across the whole infrastructure is essential. 

How To Contact Us 

If you’re looking to upgrade your IT or feel you need our assistance in migrating or adapting your communications, then we strongly recommend a chat with our team here at CSG.

Please contact us via the means below … 

T: 0330 400 5465

W: csgrp.co.uk