The top UC service management platforms are becoming powerful solutions for today’s business leaders. As the communication stack continues to evolve, working styles change, and companies strive to accomplish more with less, UCSM technologies are becoming vital.
These platforms offer companies comprehensive visibility into their technology stack and make managing complex multi-vendor environments simpler and more cost-effective. With today’s innovative solutions, companies can simplify the migration to the cloud, boost productivity, reduce operating costs, and even improve compliance.
As the number of innovative UCSM vendors grows, new trends are emerging in this landscape. Here are the major trends you should be aware of as you explore the burgeoning UC service management environment.
1. Top UC Service Management Providers Support Cloud Migration
Cloud adoption has grown significantly in the last few years as companies adapt to a growing need for scalability and flexibility in the workplace. According to Gartner, on-premises investments are decreasing, paving the way for a cloud-first future. However, transitioning into the cloud isn’t simple, as every company has its own legacy investments and solutions to consider.
As demand for cloud communications continues, particularly as we move closer to the date of the PSTN/ISDN switchoff, the top UC service management providers are simplifying migration. They’re working hand-in-hand with companies to help them build the ultimate multi-vendor environment while reducing provisioning and configuration complexities.
Leading vendors offer insights and support for both on-premises legacy equipment and innovative new cloud platforms, helping companies transition to the cloud without incurring unnecessary costs or facing compliance issues.
2. Mobility and the Future of Work
In recent years, the evolving workplace has had a significant impact on UC service management solutions. Hybrid and remote working styles continue to thrive, despite the attempt from some companies to encourage staff back into the office.
UC service management solutions empower businesses to manage remote and distributed teams more effectively with zero-touch provisioning solutions. They allow companies to rapidly provision licenses and features to team members wherever they are. Some even come with self-service portals where staff members can access troubleshooting tools and reports.
As mobility continues to emerge as a major trend in the communications landscape, the top UC service management platforms will also help companies maintain insights into various network connections, such as 5G connectivity. They’ll even help companies identify opportunities for innovation and automation that improve remote worker productivity.
3. Consolidation and Integration Options
For some time now, the top UC service management platforms have focused on giving companies a unified environment where they can monitor all forms of communication tools, apps, and services. As the communication stack grows more complex and companies move more of their processes into the cloud, the flexibility of these platforms is growing.
Today’s market leaders empower businesses to build their best-of-breed communications environments, bridging the gaps between collaboration platforms, call reporting tools, CRM systems, and more. Some even empower companies to leverage combined insights into their UC platforms and contact center solutions in the same environment.
With flexible technologies, companies can create a complete single-pane-of-glass environment for asset management and analytics. This helps to not only ensure end-to-end visibility into all communication tools, but it can help to reduce compliance and security issues too.
4. The Top UC Service Management Providers Embrace AI
AI (artificial intelligence) has had a significant impact on the entire communication and collaboration landscape. Companies in all industries are reinventing workflows with AI-powered assistants, as well as intelligent reporting and automation capabilities.
With AI-powered solutions in the top UC service management platforms, companies can track the performance of bots and AI resources alongside team members. They can mitigate risks and unlock opportunities with AI-powered automated monitoring and alerting systems. Companies can even build comprehensive workflows that leverage AI tools.
Innovators in the UC service management space use AI to introduce “self-healing” to the technology landscape. These tools combine real-time monitoring with AI and machine learning to ensure companies can rapidly detect and address issues without human intervention.
5. Broader Insights from Top UC Service Management
A significant benefit of UC service management solutions has always been leveraging in-depth insights into your company’s communication technology stack. The top UC service management vendors are taking these analytical capabilities to the next level.
Not only are they using AI to help companies identify trends and risks in their ecosystem in advance, but they’re also providing organizations with more intuitive reporting tools. For instance, some vendors allow companies to leverage tools that help them identify underutilized licenses and opportunities to consolidate services, reducing operational costs.
Others can provide insights into how employees are using devices, meeting rooms, and software to assist companies in improving employee experiences and engagement. There are even innovative analytical solutions that can help businesses improve their sustainability by ensuring devices operate in low-power mode when they’re not in use.
6. Increasing Emphasis on Cybersecurity
Compliance remains a significant concern for business leaders, particularly as communication networks grow more complex, collecting and leveraging huge volumes of data. The top UC service management solution providers are helping companies adapt to this complex landscape.
They provide access to tools that allow companies to monitor endpoint device usage, reducing the risk of BYOD policies and simplifying remote deprovisioning. They’re also leveraging AI to help companies automate things like detecting potential risks or suspicious activity in the workplace.
Moreover, many of the top UC service management solutions come with comprehensive role-based access control options. Some even include multi-factor authentication technology to mitigate the risks that today’s businesses face in the communication landscape. All of these tools help companies maintain agility without compromising on security.
7. Comprehensive Vendor Support
Finally, the complexity of the evolving communications ecosystem has left companies in many industries searching for more support. Not every company has the resources required to invest in IT experts and migration specialists.
Fortunately, the top UC service management providers are stepping in to bridge the gaps. In addition to providing companies with user-friendly platforms to manage integrations, licenses, and software, these companies are also offering a range of value-added services.
Leading vendors can help companies leverage open API frameworks for custom automated workflows and plan their migration into the cloud. They can even offer training and onboarding support to boost the adoption of new technologies.
The Top UC Service Management Trends
Modern UC service management solutions provide business leaders with the necessary resources to leverage, optimize, and manage crucial communications tools. As the technology stack continues to evolve in the communications market, these resources are becoming increasingly important.
With the right UC service management solutions, you can make the most out of your communication infrastructure, empower teams, and reduce costs. Plus, you may find that you can stay one step ahead of common problems and compliance issues.
This post originally appeared on Service Management - Enterprise - Channel News - UC Today.