In response to the fast-changing environment, many companies are deploying Unified Communications.
The modern business environment is changing at an unprecedented pace and likewise many companies are still catching up to the pace for their sustainable survivability by actively searching for new business opportunities. In order to successfully do so, corporations are looking for ways to improve organizational structure to be more flexible and effective. As a result of such endeavors, Unified Communications (UC) are notably being deployed by the companies to enhance corporate communications.
UC simplifies the strategy for corporate communication and strengthens connectivity among employees in the organization. UC is operated in a single platform with coherent management tools to provide multiple applications including phone calls, e-mails, messaging, voice and voice conferencing, to enhance the level of the business process across all applications. Hence, many companies deploy UC for responsive adaptation to the dynamic changes in the business and technological environment to ultimately improve customer satisfaction and increase the company profit.
What’s the difference between On-premise UC and Cloud UC?
When searching for a UC platform upgrade or searching for a new solution deployment, companies can now choose from either On-Premise UC or Cloud UC. But what differences does it make by choosing one over the other?
1. On-Premise UC
On-premise UC is generally for individual companies which have their own UC platform or other IT related investments made up of an existing infrastructure and in-house operations and management. The companies with an in-house IT infrastructure will be responsible for the cost of the capital investment as well as the operation and maintenance associated with this. However, the UC operation can be optimized for their own business needs.
On-premise UC has the below characteristics in general.
- Investments in platform unique hardware are often needed.
- Initial investment cost could be expensive in order to establish the needed infrastructure platform.
- Capacity expansion and options are based on the system manufacturer and commonly will require additional hardware investments such as new processors, boards etc.
- Commonly in-house IT staff will operate and manage the platform.
- The platform can easily be optimized and customized for the company’s unique business needs.
- IT security can be maintained from exclusively taking control of the system providing a higher level as required.
2. Cloud UC
Cloud UC commonly referred to as “UCaaS” (Unified Communications as a Service) which provides phone call, video conference, messaging, e-mail as a UC service on a cloud environment. Individual companies rarely run their own cloud platforms. In general, this is a service provided by UC service providers with a monthly subscription model.
Cloud UC has below characteristics.
- Minimize the upfront investment for setting up a complete infrastructure.
- Pay monthly only for the capacity used.
- Flexible changes of organizational scale with ‘pay as you grow’ model.
- IT responsive in-house manpower can be minimized since the service providers will take over the operation and maintenance for you.
- Through periodic updates and upgrades, the solution will be up-to-date and in-line with latest technology trends.
- Individual companies may find it difficult to get a fully customized UC solution for their unique business needs.
Your choice will become easier if you are with Ericsson-LG Enterprise.
Yes, there is no superior choice between choosing on-premise or Cloud UC. Each business’s needs, whether resource availability, currently deployed communications platform, availability of in-house IT staff etc. there’s many aspects to consider for which choice is best for one’s case that my differ from another companies’ scenario. It’s commonly seen recently that companies go with the latest trend without much consideration. This may fail to maximize the benefit from UC deployment that could have surely elevated your company’s efficiency and productivity.
The market research institution, Gartner predicts 2.1% of average annual growth in the UC market by 2023. Cloud UC and collaboration applications are expected to be at the center of the growth*. When Cloud UC and on-premise UC market are adjusted for each market proportion, Cloud UC is forecasted to be at 12.2% growth whereas on-premise UC has been declining nearly 10% every year.
* Gartner Forecast Analysis: Unified Communications, Worldwide (Jan. 2020)
The study done by Gartner shows the trend for Cloud UC is indisputable. However, one must not underestimate the fact that most of the UC market is still on-premise UC and this ratio is forecasted for many years onwards. So, when choosing between cloud UC and on-premise UC, there’s no need for blindly purchase and go for what’s popular. If your company is not ready for cloud UC or there are multiple reasons that are more beneficial by deploying on-premise UC, don’t doubt your analysis. Cloud UC is not superior over on-premise UC.
So, it’s now simple to answer the question of which choice is the best to make.
With Ericsson-LG Enterprise, you are concern-free with simple solutions. Unlike other manufacturers, Ericsson-LG Enterprise has both on-premise and Cloud UC. Therefore, we are able to suggest and design the best possible infrastructure optimized for your business environment. If you are ready for Cloud technologies, then go for iPECS Cloud UC solution if not go for on-premise UC, iPECS UC platform which has various options to fit your needs. Terminals and some hardware used for iPECS UC platform can still be applicable on iPECS Cloud platform. Minimize your investment cost when going to cloud from on-premise UC, with the iPECS UC platforms. We support both platform’s use simultaneously (on-premise and cloud UC) to maximize the system’s usability and improve customer experience.
Now when you need to deploy or upgrade your UC solution, look for iPECS from Ericsson-LG Enterprise. Any option with iPECS is absolutely up-to-date, for the future.
