When should a business switch from VoIP to UCaaS?

VoIP is the technology that carries voice over a data network. The NIST glossary defines it as a group of technologies used to provide voice, video and collaboration communications over a data network using internet protocols. UCaaS is a way of buying it. A provider hosts the phone system and sells it with meetings, messaging and apps, usually by subscription. We go through the overlap in the difference between UCaaS and VoIP.

So the question is about scope. Take a business that has a phone service with numbers, extensions and call routing, either hosted by a provider or run from a PBX in the office. It's weighing whether to take the wider bundle. Some services sold as VoIP already include chat or video, so check what your current plan offers before you assume you need a different product.

Paying twice is one reason. If you hold a phone service, a video meeting subscription and a chat tool from three vendors, a UCaaS plan that covers all of them can replace three bills with one. That only works if you cancel what it replaces, and if staff will accept the new meeting and chat apps in place of the ones they know.

Work that happens away from the desk is another. A desk phone serves the person sitting beside it. Staff who split the week between home and the office need the business number on a laptop or a mobile phone, with the same extension and the same transfer options. Atlantech Online's UCaaS page describes this in its hosted service: a softphone whose calling features are tied to the business dial plan, and mobile apps for Android and iOS that take business calls. If people are giving customers their personal mobile numbers, the phone system has stopped matching how they work. We look at that case in the UCaaS features that matter most for remote teams.

A phone system in the office that someone has to look after is a reason to go hosted. A hosted system moves that equipment to the provider, and Atlantech describes its hosted phone system as running in its cloud in place of a PBX in the office. But a hosted phone service does that with or without meetings and chat. So the upkeep of an office PBX points to a hosted phone system. By itself it isn't a reason to buy the wider bundle. We compare the models in how UCaaS compares to an on-premises PBX.

There's a middle route for a business that wants to keep its PBX. Atlantech's page says its SIP trunking can extend a softphone to the users of an existing PBX, so the business gets the app without replacing its system until it's ready. Atlantech would need to confirm that the PBX is compatible. That route suits a company whose system still works and whose only gap is a few people taking calls remotely.

Atlantech's price cards show the size of the step. Its Business Line starts at $12 per user per month. The card lists call handling features such as forwarding, transfer, hunt groups and park and pickup, with unlimited local and domestic long-distance calling. Its Premium Line starts at $18 per user per month and lists voicemail, conferencing, collaboration and a softphone.

Suppose a 20-person office pays the Business Line starting rate, which comes to $240 a month, and pays another $200 a month for a separate video meeting service. Moving everyone to the Premium Line at its starting rate would cost $360 a month, which is $120 more. Suppose the quote confirms that the Premium Line's conferencing does what the office uses the meeting service for. If the office then cancels that service, it comes out $80 a month ahead. If it keeps the service because staff prefer it, it's paying $120 a month more and running two meeting tools.

Both figures are advertised starting rates, so ask for a quote that states the term, the features on each line and any other charges. Then compare the added cost with what the plan replaces and what it adds for your staff. Rates from other providers are in how much UCaaS costs per user.

A working phone system isn't a problem to solve. Suppose everyone sits in one office, calls are all the phones are asked to do, and nobody is asking for more. A wider plan priced above the current one would add cost without changing anyone's day.

It's also worth waiting if your meetings and chat already live in a suite you plan to keep. A company that licenses Microsoft Teams and uses it for both would duplicate those apps by buying a second set from a UCaaS provider. One option to compare is adding calling to Teams itself, which we explain in what Microsoft Teams Phone is. Atlantech sells that route as well. Its Operator Connect service supplies the calling and number porting, and each user still needs Microsoft's Teams Phone license.

Once the reason is clear, your current contract and your phone numbers set most of the calendar. A renewal date is the natural point to compare. Check the contract for charges on leaving before then.

Numbers move by porting, and the order matters. We set out the full sequence in how to migrate from an on-premises PBX to UCaaS. Microsoft's port order guidance for its own calling plans says not to arrange disconnection with the current provider until porting is complete, because inactive or disconnected numbers can't be ported. It also warns that other services associated with the ported numbers, such as broadband, are disconnected automatically once the port completes.

That page covers Microsoft's process, and other providers run their own. The caution is sound whoever you're moving to. Keep the old service running until the numbers have moved, and check what else rides on that account.