In 2017, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) will continue as one of the top trends shaping the market for business communications services. Businesses of all sizes, notably SMBs, are shifting their focus from being actively interested in UCaaS as an alternative to on premise solutions, to officially adopting UC as a hosted service.

Streamlined processes. Improved efficiencies. Refined manageability. What do these have in common? They all help improve the cost-effectiveness and overall customer service of a Contact Center. 

Businesses of all sizes have employees, teams and departments that engage with both internal and external customers on a regular basis. Whether a new business or one already running a 24x7x365 operation, valuable time and money can be wasted maintaining, upgrading, and troubleshooting a contact center system. And when customers need support, if outdated technology gets in the way, businesses can lose much more than sales – they lose opportunities to build long-term customer relationships, eroding the value of your company’s most important asset: customer loyalty and the repeat business it brings.

Although enterprises across the world greatly differ, both culturally and operationally, a commonality they share is the need to connect their disparate workforces. Now more than ever, we’re seeing a sharp, global rise in telecommuting, with 34 percent of business stating that over half of their full-time employees will be working remotely by 2020. While this has benefitted businesses by opening the doors to worldwide talent, it has also created more opportunity for partners to drive new revenue streams from UCaaS.

International opportunities in the channel are on the rise. Download our comparison guide to learn what international providers and solutions you can offer with TBI.

As mobile technologies continue to emerge and evolve, businesses will invest more in mobility. According to Citrix, 71 percent of enterprises currently regard internal mobility as a top priority. That should come to no surprise when seeing the benefit it can bring to both employees and employers. Among many other perks, mobility enables employees to access critical apps and data remotely, allowing them to be productive when out of the office.

Enterprise mobility is on the rise. Here are some mobility opportunities you can make more money with, along with discovery questions to start the conversation. 

Suggesting VoIP solutions to companies within healthcare, finance, government, and retail is tricky. Businesses and organizations operating within these verticals are under high levels of legal scrutiny because they frequently transmit sensitive customer and patient data. In order to comply with legislation, they need a hosted voice system that uses strong cryptography and security, such as SSL/TLS or IPsec, to protect data during transmission over public networks and while at rest.

Hosted VoIP has been widely adopted across the globe. Whether your customers are looking to adopt this technology or switch to one of TBI’s best-of-breed providers, help them save money and get better service. Download our guide to further understand the ins and outs of this technology, how to effectively position and who to sell to no matter the vertical.

Long gone are the days of one device for everything- email, social media, work applications, database and server access, conferencing (web and video), etc. In order to operate a mobile workforce and disparate office locations, corporate communications infrastructure has to adapt. Real time access to corporate systems, access to third-party applications, tools and collaboration software is of the utmost importance; navigating how employees will connect is a top priority for most IT departments.

Collaboration has evolved drastically over the past several years due to the proliferation of unified communications, conferencing and collaboration tools. Learn how your customers can utilize these tools to improve business practices.

How Collaboration and Unified Communications Can Help

In PGi’s 2016 edition of The Future of Business Collaboration we get a preview of what is on the horizon in the era of the mobile workplace. Download the full eBook here.

The finance and healthcare industries share many similarities and challenges when selecting technology solutions. Facing ever-changing regulatory and economic issues coupled with fierce competition, organizations require efficient and speedy UCaaS. Both verticals call for advanced and secure communication and real-time collaboration.

Figure out the right IP-Based connection from an enterprises’ telephone system to the service provider’s network.

With a virtual connection to the PSTN, SIP Trunking helps an organization scale, it allows for more operational cost savings. It improves voice capabilities and the overall call experience.

The start of a new year brings promises of a brighter future and exciting new technology. Experts predict quite a few developments in the coming year as communications continue to grow. No one knows what exactly 2016 will hold but here are TBI’s top predictions:

I doubt you've gone a few days without hearing one of these terms: smart car, smart home, smart city, smart grid or smart phone.

According to Gartner’s 2014 Market Trends report, "Key Trends in Unified Communications Technology, Adoption and Delivery", by 2017 approximately 48% of IT planners expect the cloud to be their primary deployment model for U.C. functionality.

Step into the cloud with hosted voice. Learn which providers fit your customers' needs with this hosted voice guide.

Download our "Hosted Voice Provider Guide".

The telecom landscape is constantly changing with new, more efficient technologies being introduced to the marketplace seemingly every day. The scalable access to cloud-based offerings, fast-expanding use of video beyond conferencing, and machine-to-machine communication (M2M) are just a few of the services changing the dynamics of telecom today. These offerings are redefining the essence of how businesses communicate both internally and externally.

When pitching corporate clients, VARs need to go beyond the same old technical differences, strengths, and limitations of MPLS and Ethernet services. Instead, focus on the operational and business advances that are tipping the scales in favor of the LAN-turned-WAN technology.