A day in the life of a small business owner with a staff of less than 20 differs significantly than the owner of a larger company. With fewer resources, small business owners often find themselves wearing many hats including handling many of the day-to-day administrative tasks. Regardless, they still need to find ways to communicate with their customers and employees no matter where they are – work, home, or on the road. This is where the sharp managed service provider (MSP) can step in and demonstrate the value of unified communications (UC) systems which is sometimes difficult to see. Many small businesses have landline phone systems that do the job reasonably well – so why try to fix what isn’t broken?
What’s the Value of Unified Communications for Small Businesses?
Flexible connectivity. While landline phone service does connect your customers to your office when you’re there, what happens when you’re not? Traditional systems are cost-prohibitive for connecting satellite offices, or workspaces for remote employees. UC systems can connect all employees despite their location, establishing a single, virtual office. With UC systems, small businesses can create the appearance of a much larger company. Providing this information to your customers could spur your customers to not renew their contract with their landline provider.
Ease of use and maintenance. Since unified communications systems are often cloud-based, they are typically maintained remotely for small businesses by MSPs, taking the burden off the small business owner. They are integrated with most VoIP systems and are very intuitive. This positions MSPs with an additional solution to bundle with current offerings. It’s really a win-win…the small business gets added functionality, and the MSP gets additional recurring monthly revenue.
Disaster protection. The cloud-based nature of unified communications removes many of the “points of failure” of traditional phone systems. Without redundancy and business continuity options, a small business can be shut down for extended periods of time because of a power outage, a loss of phone lines, or severe weather that prevents employees from going to work. Educating customers on how unified communications can eliminate a business shutdown could be a powerful selling point.
Mobile operation. The same features that provide excellent disaster protection can actually create the best in mobility. Being “on the road” no longer means being disconnected from the business or having communication with no business phone features. UC functionality enables a business presence, whether you’re in the office or not. For dedicated, hardworking business owners, this is key for business continuity.
How Do I Drive More UC Sales?
Consider your current customer base. Can you think of any whose existing phone systems are antiquated and subpar? If you need help getting started, then get in touch with us at D3UC. Our line of cloud-based phone and UC solutions comes with no upfront costs, complete support, and the features that you’ll need to make the best case.
