Many businesses are enjoying the benefits of UCaaS. But this can put additional strain on your network. SD-WAN can help lighten the load, ensuring improved reliability and enhanced security, says Elea Andrea Almazora, SEO content optimization manager, RingCentral.
Among all the technology that has changed the way we live and work over the last couple of decades, cloud computing has been among the most transformational. Many businesses have come to rely on cloud-based tools, including a range of software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools which now play an integral role.
Unified communications as a service, or UCaaS, is similar to SaaS in that it involves the delivery of software tools via the cloud. These tools might include free teleconferencingOpens a new window services, live chat, and other services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls.
With the advent of such technologies, businesses are much more flexible and better able to meet their staff and customers’ needs. You can even execute such things as faxing from your iPhoneOpens a new window , which helps you run your business on the move — something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Learn More: UCaaS Popularity Soars As Businesses Look To Optimize Communication
UCaaS is already having far-reaching effects on the way businesses are run and organized, and many of these are taking full advantage. But UCaaS tools can be susceptible to network problems, which is where SD-WAN technology can help. In this concise guide, we will look at why SD-WAN is so important to UCaaS in an increasingly cloud-first world.
What Are UCaaS Benefits?
Few areas have been left untouched by the rise of cloud computing. From DOpens a new window evOpens a new window Opens a new window pens a new window” target=”_blank”>OOpens a new window psOpens a new window to call centers, the impact has been radical. This transformation shows no signs of slowing in the years ahead. The rapid growth of UCaaS is another indicator that demand for cloud-based services is only continuing to grow.
UCaaS, as we have noted, brings a plethora of fully integrated communication tools together. What makes it so convenient for businesses is that it allows them to access these services, for a one-off or regular fee, without worrying about tasks such as carrying out a functional testOpens a new window or upgrades. The latter is done automatically, so everyone on the team is working from the same version.
There are many benefits to using UCaaS, but in particular, it can enhance productivity, improve customer and client relationships, and boost overall service standards. With UCaaS, businesses have better tools to deliver a better service; tasks such as call center schedulingOpens a new window are made easier, minimizing delays and inconvenience for customers.
Another benefit of UCaaS is that it is straightforward and inexpensive to roll out and set up. It does not require businesses to fork out on IT infrastructure themselves. They can simply access the tools they want to use on a subscription basis and let the service provider worry about the technical side of things.
Better still, UCaaS provides plenty of room for flexibility, so as your business’s needs change, you can scale it up with the minimal hassle. Adding new users is simple, which is great when your business is expanding, and you are introducing new recruits to your team.
Why Does UCaaS Need SD-WAN?
As we discussed in the last section, UCaaS has potentially huge advantages for business users. At the same time, it also has certain challenges. In particular, it can be vulnerable to network issues, leading to problems like laggy or jittery connections; sometimes, the connection might drop altogether.
This is because networks are often under severe strain due to the demands imposed upon them. One of the key reasons businesses choose UCaaS is that it does not require them to find the cash for capital investment. Indeed investing in private networks is unlikely to be feasible for a lot of businesses.
However, there is an alternative. By providing a supplementary solution, SD-WAN enables companies to take advantage of the benefits of UCaaS without having to worry about the strain on the network. Let us look at some of the relevant SD-WAN featuresOpens a new window and benefits that make it such a natural fit for UCaaS.
Key Benefits of SD-WAN
So, what is it about SD-WAN that can help users get the most out of UCaaS services? It offers performance-enhancing features like dynamic path control (which allocates the best paths for UCaaS traffic), load balancing (which spreads traffic across multiple links to maintain the connection), and application visibility and control.
The upshot of all this is that UCaaS traffic is balanced more effectively, reducing the risk of an outage affecting all users, while problems are easier to isolate and address. This helps to ensure that businesses can make good use of UCaaS tools while SD-WAN keeps the network up and running, reducing the overall strain to which it is subjected.
It also ensures more effective routing, helping to reduce signs of lagging and jittering in addition to alleviating the risk of packet loss. SD-WAN features such as path conditioning, tunnel bonding, and its dynamic traffic management capabilities help ensure better consistency and reliability in network performance, which is ideal for UCaaS.
Another essential benefit of SD-WAN is that it can deliver improved network security and data protection and facilitate smoother and more reliable UCaaS traffic. This is because SD-WAN segments traffic by application, making it considerably more difficult for hackers to determine the precise location of core applications.
Learn More: 5 Ways Containerized Session Border Controllers Improve UCaaS
Conclusion
If you have spent any amount of time running your own business, you will be all too familiar with the challenges involved. Not only do you have to keep up with things like the latest retail trendsOpens a new window , but you also have to stay up to date with technological trends and changes in consumer expectations.
By combining UCaaS with SD-WAN, you can ensure that your employees can collaborate with one another more effectively and serve your customers to the very best of their ability. Whether you are running a small startup or a rapidly expanding business, you could stand to reap real rewards by adopting these technologies in tandem.Indeed, you could enjoy such rewards across the board. Tasks like project management could be made more efficient
With UCaaS and SD-WAN, your business can get even more out of the cloud. With strengthened security, more efficient manageability, and easy scalability, these technologies make great business sense. And that is before we even get into the potential cost savings they could deliver.