Four common pitfalls, when transitioning to the cloud
Avoid these mistakes when transitioning to cloud communications.
1. Failing to analyze network performance
Limited network bandwidth can seriously impede your performance on the cloud, so understanding your current network infrastructure is vital to a smooth UC migration. Make sure that your network speeds can accommodate video conferencing and large file-sharing on top of your enterprise voice requirements, so you’ll be equipped to take full advantage of cloud communications functionality without call quality issues. Speak with your provider about prioritizing voice traffic if call quality is critical to your business or customer experience.
Integrating voice, video, chat, and text messaging applications into a single unified platform demands strong connections and stability to enhance the quality of these cloud-enabled communications. To pave the way for more robust cloud communications, many companies are tapping into the synergies between UCaaS and software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN). When used together, SD-WAN systems provide the capabilities to prioritize applications, bandwidth, and intelligent processing power to enable peak performance as you migrate to UCaaS platforms.
Read more: Improve your UCaaS experience with SD-WAN.
2. Missing key features
The second biggest mistake companies make when migrating to the cloud is overlooking the key features that employees and customers relied on in the past.
Your existing phone system might provide some features that you take for granted, like call recording, hunt groups, and auto attendants. If you fail to ensure that your new platform supports those same capabilities, you could upset a lot of employees—and even turn away customers who expect certain options when they call.
To make sure that your cloud-based communication solution offers all the functionality you need to manage your business day-to-day, start by auditing your current communication services to gain a clear understanding of the tools your team uses to connect with colleagues, customers, and partners.
3. Ignoring the process roadmap
Navigating a road trip without directions could leave you stranded or lost—likewise trying to tackle a migration to the cloud without a detailed roadmap might leave your business disconnected. To avoid this dangerous pitfall, dedicate time to process mapping to understand how cloud-based communications will change workflows and impact the customer experience.
In addition to auditing your enterprise communication equipment to understand which tools people use, you also need to observe your team’s communication and collaboration processes in action. This might reveal opportunities to improve collaboration with innovative new tools, even allowing your employees to work remotely with secure access to the applications they use every day.
It’s also important examine how your company’s move to the cloud could impact customer experience. Process mapping helps ensure that customers can enjoy streamlined cloud communication across channels, instead of getting lost in hunt groups or falling through the cracks of your auto attendant.
4. Overlooking training
Even if you properly plan and execute all the other aspects of your cloud migration, your transition won’t be successful if you skip the critical component of training. Turning your team loose on a new system without any guidance or ongoing support is a recipe for disaster. Training prepares employees to make the most of the new tools so they can be even more productive on the cloud.
Training should be relevant to the specific work your employees do. For example, warehouse workers will use cloud communications much differently than your salesforce does, so tailor your training accordingly to give each department the tools they need to be effective and efficient.
Training leads to adoption which is where we see businesses struggle the most:, paying for new technology that no one is using is why it’s critical to get it right the first time.
Your UCaaS partner can provide customized training, white-glove support, and step-by-step guidance to help your company transition smoothly to the cloud. When you work with OnX, we’ll help you coordinate every detail of your migration so you can unlock the full potential of cloud communications without encountering any of these pitfalls.
Learn more: The six reasons IT leaders choose UCaaS.
Ready to reap the benefits of unified communications for your company? Contact OnX today to make your transition to the cloud hassle-free.