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Beyond Remote Work: The Benefits and Challenges of Hybrid UC

11/12/2024
Ruairi O'Shaughnessy

The Unified Communications (UC) market is experiencing unprecedented growth and transformation. Rapid advancements in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and strategic vendor partnerships, are reshaping the landscape at an astonishing pace. This evolution presents a double-edged sword for customers and C-Suite (CXOs) who find themselves navigating a complex array of UC options.

“We rushed to implement new tools to adapt to an increase in remote working, but my employees are coming back to the office, is my UC environment still optimal?”

“Everyone is moving to the cloud, but I need to keep some of my business on-prem, what do I do?”

In 2024, we engaged with our UC and UCaaS Partners, analysts and customers, and conducted a market research survey involving 120 business decision-makers around Europe. The aim was to uncover the genuine concerns and identify the key trends that are influencing leaders’ decision-making today.

One of the clearest consensus from across the market is that Hybrid UC is the infrastructure model of choice for enterprise communications today.

A global Frost & Sullivan survey of IT/telecom decision makers in 2024 found the vast majority, 82%, expect to be managing hybrid environments with elements of both cloud-based and premises-based solutions in 2026.

Understanding the Basics

Before we dive into the hybrid model, let's clarify some terms:

Unified Communications (UC)

A technology that integrates various communication channels like voice, video, meetings, messaging, and collaboration tools into a single platform. Traditionally an on-premise or private cloud delivery model.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)

A cloud-based delivery model for UC services, where providers manage the infrastructure and software, offering flexible and scalable solutions.

Hybrid UC

A Hybrid UC approach combines on-premises communication systems with cloud-based services. This allows organisations to leverage the benefits of both worlds, such as increased flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, while maintaining control over data and business critical systems.

Components of a Hybrid UC Model

A typical hybrid UC model comprises the following components:

On-Premises Infrastructure

    • PBX systems
    • Voice and video conferencing servers
    • Meeting Rooms
    • Contact centre solutions
    • Security infrastructure (firewalls, VPNs)

Cloud-Based UCaaS Platform

    • Voice and video calls
    • Collaboration tools, file sharing, whiteboards
    • Instant messaging and presence
    • Video conferencing
    • Mobile and remote work capabilities
    • Integration with other cloud services and tools (e.g., M365, CCaaS)

A true hybrid model allows IT decision makers to pick and choose the right mix of tools to suit their unique business needs. Smooth integration of this mix is the key to optimising performance and return.

At Damovo, we expand the hybrid definition to the ‘Hybrid Modern Workplace’ to include on-premise CC and CCaaS, Meeting Rooms and Devices - all backed up by secure data and networking.

From talking to customers and analysts this year, the feedback is that enterprises need the ‘Unified’ in UC to include more integrated tools than just traditional voice and collaboration.

Benefits of a Successful Hybrid UC Deployment

So, the important part first, what does adopting a Hybrid UC model give you?

Best of both worlds

  • It gives both Control and Security for critical or sensitive functions, and data & flexibility and scalability for growing business needs.

Improved Collaboration means improved Productivity

  • Supports flexible work arrangements, enabling employees to work from anywhere.
  • Enhanced real-time collaboration and streamlined workflows regardless of location or device or role.
  • A unified platform, with same look and feel for all, enhances the user experience.

Better Customer Experience

  • Quicker response to customer inquiries and issues with access to expert resources no matter the location.
  • Multichannel options allow you to hit a balance between automation and the human touch.

Cost Savings

  • Reduced infrastructure costs, optimising hardware and software investment.
  • Commercial and resource gains from not managing multiple separate systems.

Futureproofing at Your Pace

  • Allows IT leaders to gradually transition to the cloud at a cost and pace that suits you and your people with minimised operational disruption.
  • Ability to respond faster to changing markets and technology advances.
  • Opens integration possibilities with other as-a-Service tools.

Enhanced Cybersecurity and Compliance

  • Provides different cybersecurity options to protect sensitive data.
  • Ensures compliance with industry regulations and data privacy standards.
  • Facilitates robust disaster recovery and business continuity plans.

Challenges to consider with Hybrid UC

Like with any transformation, to maximise the benefits there are key challenges that we must plan for first:

Complexity

We need to simplify the options. First, determining which workloads are best suited for on-premises or cloud models. Second, selecting the right vendor mix to complement your business. Finally, deciding which new technologies to support internally and which make sense to outsource.

Security Concerns

Ensuring security in a hybrid environment requires careful planning and implementation. There are now multiple different entry points into your network that require specific actions to secure.

    • Reliable and secure connectivity between on-premises and cloud-based components with your WAN.
    • Advanced security measures to protect sensitive data, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption.
    • For cloud UC environments, identity and access management and policies are crucial to ensuring access to the network is protected across platforms and devices.
    • Data readiness assessment: cleansing, classification, indexing and backup.
    • Do you maintain separate security postures or look for a unified ZTNA – (zero trust network access) tool across the entire environment?

Vendor Lock-in

Choosing the right vendor and avoiding vendor lock-in is crucial. Cost savings and the agility of the cloud can easily be lost if you are tied to a vendor that can’t integrate easily with new solutions. Similarly licensing models are only cost effective if they suit the dynamic nature of your business and your different resources’ needs.

Convergence of UC and Contact Centre

Contact Centre integration is becoming a critical component of hybrid UC. Cavell Research this year shows over 92% of service providers have sold a combined solution of UC/UCaaS and CC/CCaaS.

As the ‘Centre’ evaporates from CC with increasingly distributed agents, businesses can gain from the flexibility of UC solutions. Agents can access relevant subject matter experts regardless of location, on the one platform, to help customer response times.

For the CTO, it can mean saving on IT resources, training and hardware maintenance. For the CFO, there is the reduction in the costs associated with managing two separate systems. But again, it must fit into the enterprise strategy to secure the ROI.

The Power of the Right Partner

A skilled system integrator or channel partner can help organisations overcome the challenges of hybrid UC. Firstly, by consulting and collaborating on the design to ensure the right solution. Then by outsourcing deployment and management of the infrastructure and applications, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic business initiatives. At a minimum they should provide:

Expert Consulting

Assessing your organisation's specific needs and recommending the best mix of solutions rather than a particular vendor’s technology. With the rapid changes in the market, they should have one eye on futureproofing your environment.

Design and Implementation

Designing and implementing a robust, secure, hybrid UC solution with the flexibility to integrate further tools in the future.

Migration Services

Smoothly migrating from legacy systems to a new hybrid environment. Ensuring certain workloads keep critical functionality while also helping end users adapt to any feature and access changes within the cloud.

Security Advice

Often when considering a hybrid transformation, IT leaders fear the added complexity of securing new channels adds excess risk and costs. A partner should be able to assess your business, simplify your options, and ensure you are neither under-secured, nor over-secured and overpaying.

Ongoing Support

Support and maintenance is important but also continuous infrastructure assessments and optimisation. With subscription also comes the risk of spiralling costs and it’s vital that licensing and usage are monitored too.

Conclusion

In conclusion, hybrid UC is the future of enterprise communications. Customers want it and the vendors are tailoring their solutions accordingly.

For IT Leaders and CXOs it’s no longer an On-premise vs Cloud decision. In increasing cases a hybrid model is the most cost efficient and flexible model, and the vendor market and the latest technology is evolving to match.

While the vast array of technology and vendor options can seem overwhelming at first, it is providing greater flexibility for decision makers. You just need to allow your team to take the time to design the optimal UC mix of models and technologies.

By working with a trusted partner and understanding the key components, challenges, and benefits, organisations can leverage this powerful technology to drive business growth and improve employee productivity.