8 critical questions to ask about unified communications in Singapore

The deployment of unified communications (UC) technology is on the rise in Singapore, with the majority of executives believing that UC leads to faster decision making within the business. 

UC is transforming businesses across Singapore by consolidating and organising diverse communication systems onto a single platform. 

It is enabling organisations to adopt new ways of working via integrating innovative processes to better collaborate and share digital content, both internally and externally – allowing staff to interact more effectively via email, voice mail, instant messaging and audio/video/web conferencing – all integrated into the phone system.

By incorporating existing IT systems into the UC system, businesses can facilitate easier management, lower cost of ownership, and smoother installation and migration.

Though the benefits of UC are compelling, organisations need to evaluate carefully a solution provider or value-added reseller (VAR) to manage the implementation and subsequent support of the UC system. 

Of course, not all IT providers are created equal – some have expertise in particular industries, whilst others have savvy business consulting skills or excellent networking expertise or rich know how of business applications.

Below are eight critical questions to ask when selecting a solution provider to assist your move to UC:

1. How should we measure the total cost of ownership (TCO) of UC?

A decision to move to UC should begin with a clear definition of your objectives.  Two metrics, return on investment (ROI) and TCO, are common purchase criteria. 

ROI should be used to justify the business case and secure the budget, whilst TCO should be used to determine which vendor’s product to buy – possibly using a three-to-five year timetable. 

2. Should I deploy UC on premise or in the cloud?

Most UC systems are on-premises deployments today, especially those organisations that need to meet stringent requirements of business continuity or privacy. 

However, hosted UC solutions are gaining in popularity – especially for small and mid-size businesses with multiple office locations.  Whilst hosted and cloud-based UC solutions are still in the early adoption phase, it is important to be assessing solutions based on their flexibility and ability to adapt to incorporate cloud capabilities in the future.

3. What is the best way to compare UC vendors?

Ask your solution provider for its perspective on how to compare different vendors’ solutions.  For instance, is the UC solution highly complex to install and manage, or is it simple?

Other vendor- selection criteria include the recommended architecture, reliability, initial capital investment, need for upgrades, and energy consumption.  

4. How can the solution provider customise the UC system for your business?

Many organisations want to integrate UC capabilities into their business processes to further increase ease of use and worker productivity, so check each UC vendor’s compatibility with your key applications, such as your business analytics tools and your customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

5. Will your provider conduct a network assessment to ensure a quality VoIP deployment?

Ask for an assessment of your network infrastructure to guarantee that it can successfully carry IP voice and video. 

Then monitor the network for several days to identify any changes required to make the infrastructure VoIP-ready; ascertain that the appropriate LAN and WAN protocols and standards are supported; and determine if the network has the performance capacity to deliver toll-quality voice.  

A poor user experience that is caused by network issues has the potential to damage the uptake of UC and limit the benefits you were expecting to achieve with the deployment.

6. What kind of support and service does the solution provider offer?

If your organisation has multiple locations, make sure the provider can maintain your system either directly, or through affiliate relationships with partners where it does not have a presence.

Alternately, assess the UC systems available to find a solution that can centralise the management and maintenance, ensuring that key technical resources only need to be maintained in one or two main sites.

7.  What investments has the solution provider made in selling and supporting its UC product lines?

Understand why the provider chose to sell a particular UC vendor’s solutions, and what investments it has made in selling and supporting these UC solutions.  Is the provider’s staff certified to install and maintain the UC system you want to purchase?

8. Does the solution provider have reference customers for similar deployments?

Confirm that the provider can give you proof of satisfied customers who are using the same solution, including case studies and peer references.