This is the second in a three-part series sharing our tips for creating your UCaaS roadmap. Click here to check out the first installment – “UCaaS roadmap starts with deep assessment”.
In part one of this series, we advised how to audit your communication system. The next step is to map out the processes you use now, and plan how those processes will evolve after your transition to unified communications (UC).
Making sense of your current communication processes
Many business communication processes evolve in an ad-hoc fashion because they’re always adapting to changing business priorities and shifting customer preferences. Companies that endure mergers, consolidations, or rapid growth are especially prone to uncessarily complex communication processes.
Your transition to UC will reconcile these processes and mold them into a holistic system that streamlines communications, improves customer service, and encourages collaboration with vendors and colleagues. But first, it’s crucial to identify these processes and understand their functions because you’ll have to replicate them during the UC transition. You’ll also want to flag redundant processes that can be eliminated.
As you analyze current processes, keep these questions in mind:
- How do you handle inbound customer calls in multiple scenarios?
- What happens if there’s no staff available to take incoming calls?
- How does your call volume vary at different times of the day?
- How does your team share information, collaborate, and manage projects?
- How do processes differ for internal teams vs. external partners and vendors?
Each process you identify must be assessed to determine whether it is essential in the new UC environment. When eliminating or modifiying current processes, make sure you train employees, partners, vendors, and anyone else who may be impacted by the change. You may face some resistance to change, but educating them on the improvements that the new process offers will help soften the blow.
Create better processes in your UC system
After mapping your current processes, it’s time to explore the opportunities for UC processes. Your goal is to tap the full potential of UC to encourage collaboration and streamline digital conversations.
Questions to consider:
- How can new features like instant messaging and screen sharing improve collaboration?
- Which features must be enabled to deliver quicker, more well-informed responses to customer queries?
- How will you tap the cloud’s ability to remove geographic boundaries and optimize your call-handling processes? For example, you can establish processes to route calls over multiple locations during busy times to ensure that all calls are answered.
Why process analysis is so essential
UC systems offer a vast variety of communication and collaboration options. You must choose the ones that help your business and avoid the temptation to embrace “nice-to-have” features that might not improve your business conditions. Just because you can adopt a new feature does not necessarily mean you should.
The UC experts at CBTS are here to help. We’ve implemented UC systems in major industries throughout North America, so we know the most prudent, effective UC processes. We also understand the complex challenges of migrating from older, PBX-based systems to the latest cloud-based UC systems.
Want to learn more? Download our free guide for mapping out your journey to cloud-based unified communications.