IT Solutions for Small and Mid-Size Businesses

5 Tips for Picking The Best Unified Communications Provider 

Person with unified communications provider

In the world of office communications, unified communications (UC) is the all-around winner. As you learned while researching the best office communications solution, it is important to have a cohesive and comprehensive solution. Unified communications can provide both of those things like no other solution can. Now that you have decided to use UC for your office solution, it’s time to pick the right unified communications provider.

Top Unified Communications Providers Offer Great Services 

In your research, you probably found that all unified communications solutions provide voice, video, messaging, and email services as a bare minimum. These features are not only going to help you and your employees simplify the workspace, but also promote collaboration. If your provider cannot offer you the basics, move on.  

Okay, so you found a handful of providers that offer a great product. Now what should you look for? Well, many providers offer different services. You need to find a provider that offers the services that give value to your business.  

Supportive Staff 

A great unified communications provider will have fully trained and supportive staff members. A supportive staff must be available to you when you need it. You need a reliable provider that will answer your calls quickly to help you troubleshoot any issues that may arise.  

Along with excellent technical support, unified communications providers should also offer great customer service. The service and support you receive should make you feel comfortable and confident with your purchase.  

Migration Assistance 

When you make the decision to switch to a UC solution, you may feel a little apprehensive migrating all your communications to the new system. To avoid this overwhelming feeling, you need to find a unified communications provider that will assist you with the migration. Your provider should have a procedure set in place to help you that includes any cost for set up and a general migration plan you can research. This plan should be transparent and outline what the provider will do to help you migrate from your current communications to their UC solution.  

Tutorials 

Now that we have discussed all the live support a great unified communications provider offers, let’s discuss another area of support that can be offered to you. That is tutorials. We know that transitions can be difficult. That’s why it is so important to find a provider that offers training to ensure that you understand not only how to access your account, but also to utilize the features you need. 

Service Level Agreements  

Unified communications providers service should always be accompanied by a service level agreement, or SLA. SLAs are a contract between your provider and yourself to ensure a basic level of service. Included in this agreement could be any number of topics. These topics can range from usage and uptime to privacy and security.  

Security Protocols 

According to Forbes, “A full 44% of the executives surveyed said that their growing use of partners and suppliers exposes them to significant security risks.” Therefore, the use of unified communications itself can cut down on security risks. Did you know that a great unified communications provider offers a product with built-in security features that protect you from fraud, SPAM, and data breaches? 

A Provider Who Cares 

ACI is here to put you and your business first. We know that finding a great fit can be difficult. However, rest assured that when we say we are here for you, we mean it. Our highly trained staff is ready and waiting to help you with your unified communications platform 24/7/365.  

The above-mentioned services come standard with our products. Along with all that, our IT department can help you though a plethora of troubleshooting issues. Contact us today so you can get started with a great unified communications solution.