What is UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service)?

Business cloud usage has exploded in recent years, with 77 percent of enterprises now storing at least one application, or a portion of their computing infrastructure, in the cloud. This trend is bound to continue accelerating.

Related: 10 Reasons Businesses Are Switching To UCaaS

One of the most popular ways that companies are leveraging the cloud today is with Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).

But what is UCaaS, and how can it help your business?

UCaaS: A Popular Way To Deploy Unified Communications

Unified Communications, as you may already know, is a concept which involves centralizing multiple communications solutions into a single, centralized platform. It allows businesses to combine a variety of disparate communications technologies like voice, video, text, fax and more into one easily accessible console.

Businesses love the idea of centralized communications because it helps enhance customer service, boost productivity, and save money. With it, businesses can enjoy the cost-saving benefits of VoIP and migrate off of landlines.

Up until recently, businesses had to deploy their communications on-premises, using their own computing resources. Deployment and maintenance was generally much more resource-intensive.

This has changed, thanks to the advent of the cloud, and the emergence of Unified Communications as a Service—a model that enables service providers and aggregators to manage, deliver and even host communications services for customers.

Unified Communications as a Service


With the ability to provide centralized communications, business agility, and increased productivity, UCaaS has quickly become a market buzzword and cutting edge technology. Here are just a few of the benefits that are motivating businesses to choose UCaaS solutions:

Rapid Deployment

In the past, unified communications had to be physically deployed to each individual site. This made global deployment difficult, and time consuming. UCaaS, however, can be rapidly deployed to any global location using the cloud, which is much faster and more efficient.

Easier Management

Another issue that businesses have traditionally encountered with communications infrastructure is ongoing maintenance. To that point, many business leaders are hesitant to deploy new technologies that will place an extra burden on their already overworked IT teams.

When you invest in UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service), however, you don’t have to worry about keeping it up and running. The service provider will manage it for you. You will receive high quality software with regular updates, and SLA-backed service guarantees. And if you choose a fully cloud-based solution, IT won’t even have to manage any on-site hardware.

Guaranteed Uptime

To that point, businesses that choose to deploy and manage their own unified communications solutions have to constantly fight to maintain system uptime. IT workers often have to spend nights and weekends making system repairs to restore access to critical communications services.

In order to solve this pain point, most Unified Communications as a Service solutions are built on high-quality networks that offer excellent protection against downtime. Some solutions even pair their cloud-based connectivity with cutting-edge backup services and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) for maximum reliability.

What is UCaaS?

Some businesses prefer to take a best-of-both-worlds approach to UCaaS, and leverage managed services on their own network infrastructure. This can be easily accomplished by working with providers that offer multiple deployment options. This approach is called Full Spectrum Communications, where businesses can choose from pure cloud, zero-hardware options to on-premises cloud platforms with cloud-based and edge device components, and everything in between. A true Full Spectrum solution also includes all of the features, supporting services, maintenance, and customization options a business needs for their ideal communications system.

With Unified Communications as a Service, it’s possible to leverage communications services in a way that best aligns with your unique needs—and without having to go through multiple communications providers in the process.