Some companies are considering the transition from an on-premise unified communication system to a UCaaS system. There could be various reasons, ranging from the age of the prem system, to not wanting to manage the on-site system anymore (manually update the system, etc.), to it being part of your company’s strategy to move as much support systems to the cloud, to you are growing and you want your system to scale better and support remote offices.
No matter what, there are considerations.
One consideration is are the features the same? Some UC features are “easier” in an on-prem system, and some features are older and maybe not available on a newer UCaaS system (fax, analog phones anyone?, hot desking/hoteling for example) so if you have some favorite features or key older technology to support, make sure you ask.
Or maybe you’ve built some of your business processes to work with the on-prem system very tightly. Make sure you ask about that and don’t assume it will work.
Also, maybe you already paid for your phones, so does the UCaaS system support the phones you have already invested in?
And you should create a plan once you’e decided to do it. Make sure there is a transition period where the prem system and the cloud system are both there, and start the data migration (voice mails, etc.) first. Then there are the applications that interface to the phone system that need to be migrated over as well. And make sure your network can support this.
If you are considering a migration, Sangoma is here to help you. Give us a call. We offer both on-premise and cloud Unified Communication systems, and have literally helped migrate hundreds if not thousands of businesses from prem to cloud.