Question 1

What UCaaS deployment model suits enterprises with hybrid infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

For an enterprise with hybrid infrastructure, we'd recommend a UCaaS deployment that puts call control in the provider's cloud. Keep equipment on site only where a named system, contract or outage requirement needs it, so each piece can be removed when its reason ends. Getting there takes separate choices about which existing systems stay connected, where call audio travels, and what a site can do when its internet connection fails. They're easy to blur together, and a design that answers one of them hasn't answered the other two.

Question 2

How does UCaaS compare to on-premises PBX?

Accepted Answer

UCaaS and an on-premises PBX do the same basic job. Each connects your extensions to one another and to the outside phone network. They differ in where the phone system runs and who looks after it. An on-premises PBX is equipment in your building that your own team or a contractor maintains. UCaaS, short for unified communications as a service, is a phone system the provider runs in its cloud and rents to you per user, usually with video meetings, chat and mobile apps on the same account. That difference decides who does the upkeep and how you pay for it. It also changes what a failure looks like.

Question 3

How do you evaluate UCaaS providers before buying?

Accepted Answer

Evaluate a UCaaS provider in three passes. First rule out any provider that can't meet a requirement you can't change, such as the countries you need numbers in, the phones you already own or the software your calls have to show up in. Then compare the providers that remain on what they will put in writing about price, term and service. Finish by testing your own call flow on your own equipment, in a trial or pilot if the provider will agree to one before you sign.

Question 4

What UCaaS compliance requirements apply to healthcare organizations?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, the main requirements come from HIPAA, and they attach to the organization and how it uses the service. A health plan, a clearinghouse or a health care provider covered by HIPAA has to bring its internet-based phone system inside its Security Rule risk analysis and safeguards. If the UCaaS provider keeps voicemail, recordings, messages or transcripts that contain patient information, the organization also needs a business associate agreement with that provider before using those features with patients. HHS's Office for Civil Rights doesn't endorse or certify technology products, so a vendor's HIPAA label doesn't settle any of this.

Question 5

What is the difference between UCaaS and VoIP?

Accepted Answer

VoIP is a way of carrying voice over a data network using internet protocols. UCaaS is a hosted service that sells calling together with meetings, messaging and the apps to use them, and its calling runs on VoIP. So the two aren't alternatives. VoIP is the technology, and UCaaS is one kind of product built on it.

Question 6

What are common UCaaS call quality problems?

Accepted Answer

The call quality problems people report on a UCaaS service come down to a handful of things you can hear: voices that break up or sound robotic, calls that drop, a lag that has two people talking over each other, echo, and calls where one side hears nothing. Each of them has more than one plausible cause. Some causes sit in the network between the user and the provider, and others sit in a headset, a laptop or the room. So the first job is to work out who and what is affected, and only then to decide what to fix.

Question 7

What UCaaS bandwidth requirements should businesses plan for?

Accepted Answer

Plan for the devices that will be in calls and meetings at the same moment at your busiest time. Multiply that count by the rate your provider publishes for each kind of use, add the other traffic the connection carries at that time, and add a margin you choose. Work out upload and download separately. No single figure covers every UCaaS service, because each vendor publishes its own rates. Microsoft, for example, recommends 58 kbps in each direction for Teams audio, and 2,500 kbps up and 4,000 kbps down for each device in a Teams video meeting.

Question 8

What UCaaS security best practices reduce data breach risk?

Accepted Answer

The practices we'd put in place control who can get in and what they can reach. Require strong sign-in for administrators, limit who can join meetings from outside, restrict who can open stored recordings, and close accounts when people leave. Encryption in transit protects a conversation while it crosses the network. It doesn't decide who is allowed to sign in or who can play a recording back afterward, so those decisions need settings of their own.

Question 9

When should a business switch from VoIP to UCaaS?

Accepted Answer

Switch when your staff need meetings and messaging alongside business calling, in the same apps on their laptops and phones. At that point you're either paying for separate tools or going without. A UCaaS service still carries its calls as VoIP, so the technology isn't being replaced. You'd be moving from a phone service to a hosted service that puts those other tools around the phone. If the phones do everything you ask of them, there's no deadline to meet.

Question 10

How much does UCaaS cost for 50 employees?

Accepted Answer

On four published plans from two providers, 50 users come to between $600 and $1,250 a month in subscription fees. Atlantech Online advertises UCaaS lines starting at $12 and $18 per user per month, which comes to $600 or $900 for 50 users. Nextiva lists $15 and $25 per user per month on annual small-business terms, which comes to $750 or $1,250. Those totals are the per-user rate times 50. The full budget depends on what each quote includes beyond that rate, such as phones, setup and taxes.

Question 11

How much does UCaaS cost per user?

Accepted Answer

Four published plans from two providers run from $12 to $25 per user per month. Atlantech Online advertises its two lines starting at $12 and $18 per user per month. Nextiva lists its Core plan at $15 and its Engage plan at $25 on annual small-business terms. The per-user price is a license fee. What it includes varies from plan to plan, so two similar numbers can buy different things.

Question 12

What are the core components of a UCaaS platform?

Accepted Answer

A UCaaS platform is built from business calling, meetings, and messaging with presence. Calling is the phone system, and meetings and messaging are the collaboration tools around it. Apps on a computer or mobile carry all three, and desk phones carry calls. What makes it one service is that the apps and phones answer to the same phone system, and an administrator manages the same people and numbers remotely in that service.