Let’s face it: launching a UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) system from scratch is daunting. This type of cloud phone system incorporates many different types of communication/collaboration services to help your business succeed, including voice, video, messaging, meetings, presence, and team-based collaboration.

And while the hallmark of a UCaaS environment is its ability to bring together all of these elements, there are many (frequently overwhelming) considerations you have to make on the back end to determine if and how it can work for you. Then, there are past investments of time and money in traditional communication and collaboration options that are now outdated.

It’s easy to feel stuck with what you’ve got—even if it’s holding your team back.

The good news is that migrating to UCaaS doesn’t have to be complicated—or expensive. The right provider doesn’t just sell you software and leave you hanging—they simplify the process from planning to deployment, so your team can stay focused on work, not tech headaches.

At Sangoma, we’ve helped thousands of businesses make the switch without disrupting day-to-day operations. Our experts handle the heavy lifting—setup, support, and integration—so you get a seamless transition and a future-ready communications system that works from day one.

What is UCaaS?

UCaaS—or Unified Communications as a Service—is a cloud-based platform that combines business-critical tools like voice, video, messaging, and conferencing into a single system. It’s designed to support collaboration across devices and locations, whether your team is in the office or working remotely.

Key benefits:

• No more juggling apps—calls, chats, and video meetings all happen in one place.
• Lower IT overhead—no servers to maintain, and updates happen automatically.
• Scales with you—easily add users or features as your business grows.
• Perfect for businesses on a budget—get started right away with just a simple monthly cost, avoiding the need for a large upfront investment.

With UCaaS, businesses get a flexible, cost-effective communications system that boosts productivity, supports remote work, and keeps teams connected—without the complexity of managing it all in-house.

UCaaS is one way to unify your communications—but depending on your needs, a hybrid or on-premises setup might be a better fit. Explore all your options in our complete guide to Unified Communications solutions.

Reasons Why You Need to Migrate to UCaaS

Hanging onto outdated communication tools can feel safe—but it’s costing you. Dropped calls, missed messages, and clunky video meetings don’t just frustrate your team—they slow down your business. Here’s why making the move now is the smart choice.

Seamless Multi-Location and Remote Work Enablement

Your team isn’t always in the same office—or even the same city. A UCaaS solution connects them as if they were. Calls, chats, video meetings, and file sharing happen on one platform, accessible from any device. Whether you’re running a single location, multiple offices, or managing remote staff, everyone stays in sync without extra apps or workarounds.

With Sangoma’s cloud-based UCaaS, remote work feels just like being in the office—minus the commute. TeamHub, Sangoma’s collaboration app, brings calls, messaging, SMS, file sharing, and team chat together in one place—so your team isn’t wasting time switching tools or losing track of conversations.

When face-to-face communication matters, Sangoma Meet supports video conferencing with no limits on meeting length, annotation, remote desktop control, and built-in screen sharing—available from any browser or device.

Cost Efficiency Without Sacrificing Quality

Legacy systems rack up costs fast: maintenance, hardware, upgrades, and separate services for calls, video, and messaging. UCaaS changes that. It combines everything into one subscription with predictable pricing and zero surprise fees.

Sangoma’s UCaaS leverages VoIP technology over the internet, eliminating the need for separate phone lines, reducing call costs, and offering free internal calls. Plus, you only pay for what you use, without compromising on quality or service.

Enterprise-Grade Security and Compliance

Security isn’t optional—especially in industries like healthcare, finance, or legal. Sangoma’s UCaaS platform offers end-to-end encryption, secure access controls, and compliance with major regulations like HIPAA and PCI-DSS. Additionally, it meets the requirements for Ray Baum’s Act, Kari’s Law, and includes RoboCall mitigation through STIR/SHAKEN standards, E911, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to ensure your communication remains secure and compliant.

Your data stays protected in transit and at rest, with frequent security updates managed by Sangoma’s in-house team. That means fewer vulnerabilities and less time spent worrying about audits or breaches.

High-Quality Voice & Network Optimization

Call quality matters. Poor connections and dropped calls cost more than time—they cost business. Sangoma’s UCaaS prioritizes voice traffic using QoS (Quality of Service) and SD-WAN technology, ensuring crystal-clear calls even on busy networks.

Built-in failover options—like 4G LTE backup—keep your team online during outages, and geo-redundant data centers ensure 99.999% uptime. In short, you stay connected, no matter what.

Unified Communications and Workflow Integration

Switching between apps to find customer data, share files, or start a meeting kills productivity. UCaaS integrates with your existing tools—CRMs like Salesforce or Zoho, collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, and custom workflows—so everything works together.

With Sangoma, customer data pops up when a call comes in, meeting notes sync automatically, and messages don’t get lost in disconnected apps. It’s all in one place, saving time and reducing errors.

Staying Ahead with Next-Gen Communication Technology

Business needs evolve—fast. UCaaS keeps up. Sangoma’s platform is continuously updated with AI-driven features like voicemail transcription and smart search.

You don’t need to plan for the next upgrade—it’s already handled. With Sangoma, your system is always current, always improving, and built to support the way you’ll work tomorrow—not just today.

Your Roadmap for UCaaS Migration

Moving to UCaaS doesn’t have to be complicated—but it does need a plan. A clear migration roadmap will set you up for smoother communication moving forward. Here’s how to approach it step by step.

Reality Check: Assessing the Current Communication Infrastructure

Start with what you have. Take inventory of your current phone systems, collaboration tools, and network setup. What’s working? What’s holding your team back? Look for issues like dropped calls, app overload, or poor video quality. Identify hardware or software that’s outdated, and note which tools your team actually uses (versus what’s just sitting idle).

This isn’t just a tech audit—it’s a reality check. The goal is to find the gaps and inefficiencies that a UCaaS solution can solve.

Success Criteria: Analyzing Business Goals and Needs

Your communication system should support your business goals—not fight them. Are you planning to expand? Hiring remote teams? Need better support for customer service or compliance? Clarify what success looks like after migration.

For example:

• If scaling fast is the priority, you need a platform that adds users without red tape.
• If uptime is critical, your provider’s reliability and failover options matter more than flashy features. Align your UCaaS migration with where your business is heading—not just where it is now.

Preparation Phase Before Migration

Preparation is where most migrations succeed or fail. Before making any moves:

• Run a network assessment: Make sure your internet connection can handle VoIP traffic, video calls, and real-time collaboration without lag.
• Back up your data: Protect contacts, call logs, voicemails, and files.
• Get buy-in: Talk to stakeholders across departments. Understand their needs, concerns, and workflows. The smoother the communication upfront, the smoother the migration.

Choosing the Right UCaaS Provider

Not all providers are equal. Look beyond the feature list. Ask:

• What’s the guaranteed uptime? Ask if there is an uptime monitoring tool that you can refer to. (Sangoma offers 99.999%.)
• How’s the security? Look for end-to-end encryption and compliance with HIPAA or industry-specific needs.
• Is support handled in-house or outsourced? Can you get real help when you need it?
• Does the platform scale easily as your team grows?

Sangoma handles everything in-house—from infrastructure to support—so you’re not chasing down third parties when something breaks. 

Deciding If a Phased Migration is Needed

Not every business can flip the switch overnight. A phased migration might make more sense if you’ve got multiple locations, legacy systems, or strict compliance requirements. Roll out UCaaS to one team or department first, work out the kinks, then scale it out.

On the flip side, smaller teams or newer businesses might benefit from a full deployment—clean, fast, and less complex.

The Migration

There’s a misconception that system migrations succeed or fail on launch day. They don’t. Success comes from what you test, when you switch, and how you prep your team.

When it’s time to go live, here’s how to keep it smooth:

1. Test in real-world conditions
   • Don’t just check if calls connect. Run full scenarios:
     • Place simultaneous calls and video meetings using Sangoma Meet
     • Confirm CRM or helpdesk integrations sync properly.
2. Schedule the switch for low-traffic hours
   • Avoid peak business times. Early morning, late evening, or weekends give you breathing room to catch and fix issues before customers feel them.
3. Prep your team—clearly and early
   • Share exactly what’s changing, when, and how to get support. A short internal guide with screenshots can prevent dozens of avoidable support calls.
4. Lean on expert support
   • Sangoma and their partners handles the heavy lifting:
     • Setup and system configuration
     • Number porting with no downtime
     • Live support during rollout—real people, not tickets

With Sangoma, this process is fully supported. We manage the heavy lifting—setup, porting numbers, configuring features—so your team isn’t left in the dark.

Post-Migration Steps

The work doesn’t stop at go-live. The real test of a UCaaS migration is what happens in the weeks after. Most communication issues don’t show up immediately. They surface in patterns—a queue that builds too quickly, a drop in call quality during peak hours, or users defaulting back to old tools because the new ones feel unfamiliar. 

Here’s how to get it right.

• Monitor performance in real time—not just when something breaks
  Tracking uptime and call quality from day one helps you catch small issues early. Sangoma’s built-in analytics make this simple. For example, if call drops spike at 3 PM daily, it’s likely a network bottleneck—not a system failure. Knowing this lets you adjust bandwidth or prioritize VoIP traffic before it costs you business.
• Train users with real scenarios, not generic overviews
  Tools like TeamHub and Sangoma Meet only deliver value if your team knows how to use them in their daily flow. Train support staff on managing SMS and chat in TeamHub. Show managers how to start video calls directly from chat without needing another app. The goal isn’t just adoption—it’s habit.
• Adjust based on real-world use—not the rollout plan
  No plan survives contact with reality. After a few weeks, audit your call flows and queues. Are customers waiting too long? Are some departments getting overloaded? Sangoma’s admin tools make it easy to tweak routing, adjust ring groups, or add voicemail-to-email for faster follow-ups.
• Document your internal processes while they’re fresh
  While everything’s still top-of-mind, create simple internal guides: how to add users, change call routing, or retrieve call logs. This reduces future support tickets and helps new team members onboard quickly.
• Support that shows up
  When things do go sideways—and they will—response time matters. Sangoma’s 24/7 support isn’t a ticket system that leaves you waiting. You get real people who know your setup and solve problems fast.

Pro Tip: Set a 30-day review with key stakeholders. Walk through user feedback, system data, and any open issues. This is where you fine-tune—not just the tech, but how your team interacts with it.

Migration Challenges You Need to Consider

Migrating to a UCaaS platform is rarely about the technology alone. It’s about how that technology fits into your business without slowing you down, exposing you to risk, or blowing the budget. The challenges aren’t always obvious—but if you ignore them, you’ll feel them later. Here’s what to expect, and how to manage each one.

Avoiding Downtime and Service Disruptions

Downtime doesn’t just disrupt—it costs. Missed calls, dropped meetings, and frustrated customers add up fast. The goal during migration is continuity: your team needs to stay reachable, your systems need to work, and nothing can fall through the cracks.

How to avoid it:

• Phase the rollout for larger teams—start with one location or department.
• Schedule outside peak hours—early mornings, evenings, or weekends.
• Run live tests before go-live: calls, video, chat, and integrations.
• Have backup options ready—Sangoma supports failover paths like LTE or POTS lines if your network stumbles.

Sangoma also handles setup and number porting directly, so you’re not chasing vendors when the switch happens.

Security Risks and Compliance Challenges

Migrating communications opens a window—one that attackers love. Data in transit, stored voicemails, customer info—all of it needs to be protected. And if you’re in a regulated industry (like healthcare or finance), compliance is non-negotiable.

How to address it:

• Choose a UCaaS provider with built-in compliance (HIPAA, PCI-DSS). Sangoma’s platform includes encryption, access controls, and regular security updates.
• Audit your permissions—who can access what? Lock it down before going live.
• Document your data handling practices—especially if auditors come knocking.

Security isn’t just an IT problem. It’s a business continuity problem.

Integration with Current Systems

One of the biggest hidden challenges? Making sure UCaaS doesn’t live in a silo. Your CRM, helpdesk, or project tools still need to connect—otherwise, your team wastes time toggling between disconnected systems.

How to handle it:

• Map your key systems—CRM (Salesforce, Zoho), project tools, support platforms.
• Test integrations before rollout—check data flow, call logs, screen pops.

Integrations aren’t just “nice to have.” Without them, productivity suffers, and your UCaaS investment doesn’t pay off.

Overcoming Resistance to New Technology

Even the best system fails if people won’t use it. Resistance usually comes down to one thing: people don’t trust that the new tool will make their job easier. That’s fixable—with the right approach.

How to address it:

• Involve users early—ask what they need, what’s frustrating now.
• Train for real-world tasks, not just features. How do I transfer a call? How do I message a customer? Make it practical.
• Offer quick-reference guides and support during rollout—TeamHub, Sangoma Meet, voicemail setup, etc.
• Celebrate early wins—show how the system saves time or makes life easier.

Adoption isn’t about technology—it’s about trust. Build it.

Navigating Budget Constraints and Costs

Cost overruns are real, but they’re also preventable. The key is understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO): not just licensing costs but setup, maintenance, and downtime costs as well.

How to plan for it:

• Get clear pricing—Sangoma offers all-in-one pricing with no surprise fees.
• Factor in savings from consolidating tools—no more separate services for calls, video, and messaging.
• Plan for future growth—can you add users or features without jumping tiers?
• Evaluate ROI—reduced IT overhead, better uptime, and fewer missed calls all pay off quickly.

Best Practices for UCaaS Implementation and Migration

A successful UCaaS rollout doesn’t start with technology—it starts with clarity. What does your business need? How will UCaaS fit into your current workflows? The best implementations solve real problems without overcomplicating the process.

Below are the core best practices for UCaaS migration to help you take action, avoid common missteps, and get real value from day one.

Choose the UCaaS for YOUR Needs

In most cases, your provider may be able to handle the setup work for you. The key is to select the specific features and elements that your organization needs, and see what sorts of deployment options are available from the host.

So … whether you’re starting out from scratch or migrating to a full-on – or even hybrid – UCaaS environment, most of this rollout involves the streamlining and automation of a la carte options.

Before deciding, map out your team’s actual communication needs:

• Which tools are used daily—voice, video, messaging?
• Any compliance or security requirements to consider?
• Do you need mobile access, CRM integration, or both?

Sangoma offers pure cloud for simplicity and speed, or hybrid UCaaS if you need local survivability and more control. Either way, you get flexibility without being boxed into a system that doesn’t fit.

The real trick? Knowing which features matter. Don’t let a bloated feature list distract you from your team’s daily pain points. Do you need deep CRM integration? Flexible call routing for support teams? Or just a reliable phone system with built-in video? Start small, solve real problems, and scale up.

Consider Scalability

Communications and collaboration options abound, but are not all necessary in every business case. From a UCaaS perspective, it can be scaled as necessary, with features added or taken away in an a la carte fashion as your organization’s needs change. In other words, UCaaS allows you to establish custom communications infrastructure exactly as you need while also supporting future growth initiatives.

For that reason, you should carefully evaluate the options and capabilities made available to you by the various providers, weighing them against your own unique needs.

Scalability should answer one question: Can your system grow without disruption or added complexity?

Checklist for scalable UCaaS:

• Add users or devices instantly without downtime
• Flexible licensing—pay for what you use, not more
• Easy expansion for new locations or remote staff
• Support for integrations as needs evolve

Sangoma’s platform lets you scale on demand without needing new infrastructure every time your team expands.

Embracing Flexibility

One of UCaaS’ best traits is how optimal it is for remote and telework environments. This cloud-based system can be deployed across many different types of communication channels and devices. The flexibility it extends to YOUR deployment runs much deeper.

In particular, focus on factors such as extending customer communications channels and streamlining CRM services with these options.

Flexibility means supporting how your team works—not just where. Consider:

• Device diversity: Desktop, mobile, softphone—does your UCaaS support all?
• Channel diversity: Can your team switch from chat to video in one click?
• Tool integration: Does it connect with your CRM, helpdesk, or ERP?

Assessing Reliability

With flexibility comes the need for reliability, a factor that can largely be out of many organizations’ control. Sadly, the stability of a UCaaS is largely tied to the state of your – and your remote workers’ – internet connection, as well as the relative strength of the service provider and UCaaS architecture that it provides.

In most cases, the smart move is to choose a deployment that guarantees virtually unlimited uptime and availability, as well as geo-redundancy, for better backup integrity. Many vendors claim accessibility to these. Reading customer and peer reviews, however, can often tell a different story.

When evaluating reliability, don’t just trust claims—ask for evidence:

• Uptime guarantee? Have them share their uptime monitoring site. Sangoma delivers 99.999% uptime.
• Redundant data centers? Ensure geo-redundancy for failover coverage.
• Failover options? Sangoma offers LTE and POTS fallback in case of outages.
• Real-time monitoring? Visibility into uptime, call quality, and alerts.

Focus on Real Time

UCaaS users tend to be the most productive when they can communicate and collaborate consistently in real time, as if seated in the same room as one another.

Real-time communication needs instant, seamless transitions between tools:

• Team chats turn into video calls in one click with Sangoma Meet
• Presence indicators show who’s online and available—no guesswork
• File sharing and SMS inside TeamHub cuts the need for third-party apps
• Call routing updates in real time—no wait for IT

Weigh Cost Versus Benefit

Like most extensive software deployments, the price tag will almost always play a factor. Choose a UCaaS system that gives you the most proverbial “bang for your buck,” weighing the critical features that you need against the feasible cost of their implementation.

While it’s often good to take a chance, gaining access to the most sought-after features and elements for the lowest available cost is almost always prudent.

Cost evaluation shouldn’t stop at license fees. Dig into Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):

• Does the platform replace other tools? (VoIP, video, chat—all in one)
• Are there hidden fees for features or support?
• What’s the cost of downtime or poor call quality?

How Does Sangoma Handle UCaaS Migrations?

Most businesses don’t fail at migration because of technology—they fail because no one owned the details. Timelines drift, users get left out of the loop, and when something breaks, there’s no clear fix. Sangoma takes a different approach: we own the process, so you don’t have to.

Here’s how it works.

• Step 1: Planning with Purpose
  We don’t hand you a checklist—we walk you through a real plan. What systems are you replacing? What tools need to be integrated? What’s your team’s workflow? We map everything before the first change is made.
• Step 2: Pre-Migration Testing
  Your current setup is assessed for bandwidth, device compatibility, and call routing needs. We set up your UCaaS environment—cloud or hybrid—and test it in real-world conditions before anything goes live.
• Step 3: Seamless Deployment
  We handle number porting, feature setup, and system configuration. Whether you migrate all at once or in phases, downtime is minimized—and so is the hassle.
• Step 4: Go-Live with Real Support
  Our in-house team is on hand during rollout. If something doesn’t work, you get fast  support.
• Step 5: Post-Migration Optimization
  We don’t walk away after go-live. You get performance monitoring, user training resources, and help tweaking call flows, integrations, and settings based on real-world use.

With Sangoma, UCaaS migration isn’t a risk. It’s a managed process that keeps your business running—and sets you up for long-term success.

Ready to Future-Proof Your Business Communications?

A better communications system doesn’t just happen—it’s built, step by step, with the right support. Whether you’re dealing with outdated tools, managing remote teams, or planning for growth, Sangoma helps you migrate to cloud or hybrid UCaaS without disruption, hidden costs, or surprises.

Talk to an expert today. We’ll help you plan your migration and get your business on a platform that’s ready for what’s next.

• Explore Hybrid UCaaS
• Explore Cloud UCaaS