Cloud-based Unified communications (UC) reduces costs and improves efficiency. This article by Limor Maayan-Wainstein from Agile SEO reviews recent innovations in cloud-based UC, including IoT and microservices integrations.
Unified communications (UC) solutions drive unified voice and messaging services. Traditionally, these systems were run by on-premise IT staff. Today, many organizations are moving their UC architecture to the cloud. This shift to cloud-based UC enables organizations to reduce setup and operational costs, and scale on-demand.
This article reviews the most recent innovations in cloud-based UC, including integrations with the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and applications of microservices-based software. You will also learn three must best practices to apply when moving your UC to the cloud.
What Is Cloud-Based Unified Communications?Cloud-based unified communications (UC) is the combination of voice and messaging solutions focused on improving employee productivity. UC as a service (UCaaS) is currently the fastest-growing area of the enterprise communications industry. According to research by ComponentsOpens a new window , it is expected to grow to $24.8 billion by 2024.
Included in cloud-based UC are applications for video and web conferencing, instant messaging, team collaboration solutions, and call recording tools. The tools are hosted and managed by third-parties. Services are designed to provide users with consistent, reliable experiences regardless of a user device.
Benefits of Cloud-Based Unified Communications
There are several benefits that adopters of cloud-based UC can gain. The most common of these benefits include:
- Simplified communications networks—UC platforms eliminate the need for individual platforms for each method of communication. This centralization makes solutions easier for IT to manage and eliminates the need for users to switch between or monitor multiple channels.
- Increased agility—services can be scaled and customized to meet dynamically changing demands. This enables you to ensure that platforms are providing the greatest possible return on your investment.
- Improved employee productivity—platforms support employees no matter where or how they work. Cloud-based UC enables you to support productivity on a global scale.
- Reduced operating costs—cloud-based services eliminate the need for hardware and infrastructure maintenance, saving you on capital expenditures. Many services offer pay-as-you-go services, enabling you to pay only for the resources you are using.
- IoT and UCaaS: Changing Face of Corporate Communications
As UCaaSOpens a new window gains momentum and the number of Internet of things (IoT) devices grows, the intersection of the two seems obvious. While you may not currently plan to adopt these technologies together, understanding the requirements for joining the two can help you plan for future upgrades.
Combining IoT and UC
Combining IoT and UCOpens a new window requires integrating services and data. Data streamed from IoT devices should be accessible and ingestible to UC services. This direct accessibility can help ensure that communications occur in real-time and services can dynamically adapt to the changing environments or network conditions. Ideally, this should be accomplished through network edge orchestration to minimize latency and improve performance.
Another part of this combination is the ability to seamlessly switch between devices. Many teams use a combination of devices throughout the day and consistently swap between services and locations. To ensure that communications are not impeded, you’ll likely need to incorporate automation to handle this switching. For example, if you have an employee that switches from a laptop to a smartwatch in the middle of a call, you need to adjust data streams accordingly.
Learn More: The Role of Persistent Chat in BusinessOpens a new window
Microservices-based Software Architecture
To join IoT and UC, you need to establish compatible environments and ensure comparable availability. The easiest way to do this is to adopt a microservices architecture. MicroservicesOpens a new window enable you to break applications into component pieces and enable each component to scale as needed. This can add resiliency to your services and ensure that you always have sufficient resources to meet demand.
Most often, creating a microservices-based architecture involves adopting Kubernetes, a container orchestration platform. Containers house your microservices and enable you to abstract away environmental requirements. This supports the development of flexible and highly dynamic systems.
Best Practices for Moving Unified Communications to the Cloud
Even if you aren’t ready to jump on board with integrated IoT and UCaaS, you may have on-premises UC solutions and platforms in place that you want to modernize. Rather than abandoning these systems and the technical debt that comes with systems, you can move existing tools to the cloud. Below are some best practices you can use to ensure the move goes smoothly.
Learn More: Automation Solutions Are IT’s Best Friend During the CrisisOpens a new window
Understand your Environment
To migrate successfully you need to understand your current solutions, and any infrastructure requirements those solutions have. This includes network capacity and quality. You need to ensure that you can host tooling in comparable or improved conditions in the cloud. You also need to ensure that your solutions are compatible with cloud resources and services.
When planning your move, make sure to consider the feasibility of implementing microservices or at least containerizing your applications. Doing so can help you gain access to cloud-native features that are otherwise inaccessible to legacy applications.
However, keep in mind that container orchestration can be challenging. If your organization doesn’t have the in-house expertise needed to deploy KubernetesOpens a new window , you may want to consider a Kubernetes as a service (KaaS) provider.
Validate Your Migration and Monitor Performance
After your UCOpens a new window tooling is migrated, you need to validate your migration and configurations before transferring your workloads. Make sure that any databases or data that your tooling relies on has been transferred in a way that maintains integrity.
Once you are sure that systems are working as expected, you can begin transitioning users. Ideally, this transition should be done outside of business hours to avoid impacting productivity.
After the transition, you should also make sure to monitor the performance of your system and configurations. If you have bandwidth bottlenecks or users are unable to log-in, you want to know about it right away. You also need to make sure that access has not been inadvertently granted to illegitimate users.
Learn More: How Robust Communication Infrastructure Impacted the Adoption of UCC SolutionsOpens a new window
Train Users and Provide Support
While you may think that support is not needed for tools that employees are already familiar with, this is not true. When you move UC systems to the cloud you introduce workflow changes that may not be immediately apparent.
To avoid issues, make sure that you train your users on any changes they may encounter. For example, new login requirements or the need to use virtual private networks (VPNs). You should also ensure that users understand how to report issues to your IT team. If video meetings keep getting interrupted by connectivity issues or phone call quality is low, your team needs to know and be able to respond
Optimizing Performance After Migration
Once you have made it past the migration and transition phases, you can begin focusing on optimizing your UC deployment. Apply insights gained from monitoring data to refine configurations and identify areas for improvement.
As new technologies become available and technical debt decreases, you may want to consider retiring legacy tooling. This is particularly true if you have just lifted and shifted tools, preventing you from taking full advantage of cloud benefits.
Conclusion
Unified communications are critical enables of remote work, education, and personal communication. However, not many organizations can run UC on-prem, due to budget or operational reasons. Whichever the case, the cloud-based UC model enables organizations to leverage UC resources at scale.
When combining UCaaSOpens a new window and IoT, you can extend agility and improve real-time communication. However, to ensure granular scaling, you need to use microservices software architecture. If you are migrating an existing infrastructure, you should plan this process in advance, and then monitor continuously, to ensure optimal results.
Let us know if you liked this article on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!