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Records
For an enterprise with hybrid infrastructure, we'd recommend cloud call control, with equipment kept on site only where a named system, contract or outage requirement needs it. Coexistence, media routing and survivability are separate choices, shown with Teams Direct Routing and, as a separate service, Atlantech's hosted lines.
UCaaS and an on-premises PBX do the same calling job in different places. A PBX is equipment at your site that your team or a contractor maintains. UCaaS runs in the provider's cloud for a per-user monthly fee and adds video, chat and mobile apps. Cost, upkeep, outage exposure and control of data all follow from that difference, and a business can keep its PBX while changing the service that feeds it.
Evaluate a UCaaS provider in three passes: rule out providers that fail a fixed requirement, compare the rest on written price, term and service terms, then test your own call flow on your own equipment before signing.
In the United States, HIPAA sets the main requirements. A covered entity using UCaaS has to include it in its Security Rule risk analysis and safeguards, and needs a business associate agreement before using features that store patient information, such as voicemail, recordings and transcripts. HHS's Office for Civil Rights doesn't endorse or certify products.
VoIP is the technology that carries voice over a data network using internet protocols. UCaaS is a hosted service that sells VoIP calling together with meetings, messaging and the apps to use them. Compare the applications you need with the ones you already have, since the labels overlap.
Common UCaaS call quality problems are broken or robotic audio, dropped calls, lag, echo and one-sided silence. Each has more than one plausible cause, in the network or at the desk, so narrow a complaint by who and what is affected before changing anything.
Size a UCaaS connection from the devices in calls and meetings at the same moment, multiplied by the provider's published rate for each use, plus other traffic and a chosen margin, with upload and download worked out separately. Microsoft's Teams figures are one vendor's example: 58 kbps each way for audio, and 2,500 kbps up and 4,000 kbps down per device for meeting video.
UCaaS security practice that reduces breach risk controls who can get in and what they can reach: strong sign-in for administrators, limits on outside meeting access, restricted access to stored recordings and closed accounts when people leave. Encryption in transit doesn't settle account access.
Switch when staff need meetings and messaging alongside business calling in the same apps, and you're paying separately for them or going without. UCaaS calling is still VoIP. If the phones meet every need, there's no deadline.
On four published plans from two providers, 50 UCaaS users come to $600 to $1,250 a month in subscription fees: $600 or $900 on Atlantech Online's $12 and $18 starting rates, and $750 or $1,250 on Nextiva's $15 and $25 per user per month on annual small-business pricing. The full budget depends on what each quote includes beyond the per-user rate, and the number of licenses can differ from the headcount.
Four published plans from two providers run from $12 to $25 per user per month: Atlantech Online starts its two lines at $12 and $18, and Nextiva lists Core at $15 and Engage at $25 on annual small-business terms. The rate depends on what the plan includes and the agreement behind it, and a quote can add phones, setup, add-ons and taxes to the per-user price.
A UCaaS platform combines business calling, meetings, and messaging with presence. People use them through apps, with desk phones for calls, and an administrator remotely manages users, numbers, routing, reporting and integrations. A given plan may include only some of these.
UCaaS, or unified communications as a service, is a business phone system sold with tools such as meetings and messaging, run in a provider's cloud and billed by subscription. The provider maintains the system, and the customer still looks after devices, the connection to the provider and the call setup.
Treat each remote worker as a small site. Where each person has a direct number, that means an account with a phone license and number, an app and headset, a confirmed home address for 911, and a home network that can carry a call. Make the per-person steps repeatable, check the 911 record with 933, and give support a way to investigate one person's calls from a distance.
For a small business that depends on incoming customer calls, call handling comes first: hunt groups, transfer, forwarding, voicemail and an after-hours rule. A softphone or mobile app comes next, then meetings and chat if they aren't already paid for elsewhere.
Build the new phone system beside the old one, then port your numbers on a date the old carrier has confirmed. Inventory numbers, call flows and analog devices first, decide what moves to the cloud and what stays, pilot on temporary numbers, test inbound calls right after the port, and cancel the old service last.
For a remote team, the UCaaS features that matter most replace what the office provided: a softphone and mobile app tied to the business phone system, call handoff with presence and messaging, remote administration of users and numbers, emergency location for home devices, and per-user call records.
A supported connector lets people call from inside the CRM and records the calls it is set to record, but it works only with the right licenses and a phone service with an assigned number. Decide what each call should leave on a record, confirm a supported connector exists for your phone system and CRM, enable it for a few people, and test with real calls.
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