Cracking the UC conundrum

The UC conundrum
UC is being touted as the new ‘wonder’ technology for dynamic, fast growing companies who want access to technologies previously only afforded by big businesses. The success of UC in the enterprise market has led to many vendors looking at how they can harness the power of UC and make it work for the SME market. But is it fair to simply push a big business technology onto smaller businesses and expect success overnight?

Selling UC to SMEs cannot simply mean taking the same benefits experienced by big business and applying them to selling to small businesses. Improving internal communications in a small office where everyone can see each other is not going to set company directors’ hearts racing. There’s clearly an opportunity to reduce costs and communicate more effectively, but it will only be a success for resellers that can demonstrate the tangible benefits of UC to their SME customers who will achieve long-term customer relationships and sales.

UC for SME?
As any reseller knows, SMEs don’t want to be bamboozled by jargon and technical details. Translating the benefits of a UC solution to your customer’s existing business model should be the first step towards a potential sale. For example, pitching the concept of universal mailboxes accessible through any device will create little excitement, but demonstrate how a salesperson out on the road can instantly access their voicemails through their email inbox, or check on colleagues availability for a last-minute conference call before a crucial new business pitch, and it becomes a real benefit.

Demonstrate how phone calls can be immediately recorded and tagged to the relevant customer record in a CRM system, or how Outlook can be voice enabled to make phone calls and company owners will soon see how UC can not only provide a clearer overall picture of the business, but also help to improve productivity, profitability and efficiency for even the smallest of sales teams.

UC shouldn’t really be seen as a bright shiny new piece of technology, but instead should be demonstrated as the glue that brings together existing real time and non real time applications into one.  Mobile and desktop tools such as phone, email, customer management and file sharing applications help SMEs manage them all seamlessly.

Going hosted
It’s also important to consider the implementation of UC into an SME. The traditional enterprise-level UC model of a PBX in a comms room on-premise can be costly and requires time to implement systems and train staff. For SMEs, the most effective and affordable solution is to implement and access a hosted Software-as-a-service (SaaS) system for a small monthly fee.

At a time where businesses may be making cutbacks or planning for future growth once the downturn is over, a hosted SaaS solution also offers valuable flexibility.  It’s easy to add or remove users whenever necessary, allowing the technology to grow and change with the business.  It’s what we term ‘Elastic IT’.

What’s in it for me?
The beauty of a hosted solution is that it can help retain long-term relationships with customers. Services can be bolted on as the company grows, meaning the technology can continue to add margin, rather than providing just an initial sale.

There’s a real opportunity for the channel to become the UC champion for SMEs. Despite the vast choice of solutions and services already available, there is a distinct lack of information or guidance for company owners wanting to find out more. Resellers can offer that support on an ongoing basis, and use their own knowledge of their customers’ businesses to make sure that they make the right long-term technology choices.