Let’s examine a bit more why starting with a video-centric UC platform could be problematic for your business.
First of all, most video calls are handled on the internet. High bandwidth enables 1:1 and large group video calls. And most of us have been on them – with a large group of friends, team meetings at work, etc. It’s a great tool to use at work. And since many people are using it at work, they’re thinking, “why don’t I just use this all the time to do the calls I need to make?” Well, precisely because it’s pretty much fully internet-focused, it’s “heavy lifting” for this class of communication type to be the PBX or UC platform for the business.
For example, you need to set up phone numbers; you need to set up SIP trunking; there is network interoperability and least cost routing to be put in place. Your “phone” vendor has been dealing with this for years and knows how to do this. Your phone vendor also knows how to fax and send and receive text messages integrated into your UC clients.
One of the hardest parts about telephony is when the company receives a call. Call routing rules need to be put in place, IVRs set up, etc. Telephony-centric vendors have been doing this as their business for years and years. They understand this ‘hard stuff.’ It is not easy to replicate. And as indicated above, the majority of customers are still calling you. You want to answer them with a telephony-centric, integrated system. Not a video-centric, non-call control centric system with add-ons galore.
And what about physical phones? Many businesses, while using UC mobile and desktop clients, are also still primarily using physical phones. And many of those call control type functions described above, such as IVR, UC clients, and call routing, are deeply integrated with the physical phones.
So, if you have a business to run, start with a UC system (such as provided by Sangoma) because you need to talk to customers, and then add on a video meeting service (such as also offered by Sangoma 😊).