In a post-pandemic world, unified communications will become an essential part of successful business strategies. They provide a simple solution to improving productivity. All the while reducing costs and enhancing business efficiency.
Yet, when implementing unified communications as a service (UCaaS), you have to be sure you’ll generate unified communications ROI.
Many headlines are devoted to why COVID-19 has intensified the global need for unified communications. Namely, reliance on software like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, VoIP calls, and so on, has never been greater. At the time of writing, it’s no wonder the size of the global unified communications market is predicted to reach $74,244 million by 2023. That’s a huge leap compared to its value of $32,879 in 2016.
Despite that, it can still be challenging for business executives to make their case for a unified communications system. This is why calculating unified communications ROI is imperative.
After all, with this info to hand, you’re better positioned to explain the perks of this strategy to your superiors.
Let’s take a look:
What is Unified Communication?
Some of the most popular unified communications methods include:
- Voice services: This covers VoIP, MS Teams, Contact Centre solutions, mobiles
- Cloud services: This includes cloud solutions and public cloud access
- Data networking: This covers managed WiFi and Wide Area Network
- Managed IT services: This includes managed support and hosting
- Cybersecurity: This pertains to virus protection, managed firewall and email filtering
The simplest way to calculate the ROI of UCaaS such as those above is to look at your:
- Upfront costs
- Hard ROI
- Soft ROI
- Customer service costs
Let’s take a look at each of these in more depth:
Upfront Costs
Your upfront costs depend on the existing capabilities of your current systems. It may be that a large part of your upfront costs go on installation expenses if your current systems support new software solutions.
The simplest way to calculate your upfront costs is to calculate the total cost of UCaaS for one year. This cost should include:
- Software License costs
- Handset costs
- Fibre-optic Internet installation
- Monthly bill estimates
Now, let’s take a look at hard ROI:
Hard ROI
These are the direct benefits to your business from implementing a unified communications system.
These are easier to calculate by looking at how much money your organisation would save in upfront, monthly, annual and lifetime communication tool costs.
You can also see how much less your transaction-based costs will be, such as costs per international calling minutes.
As an example, look at the calls your organisation currently makes internally and externally. See how much the total cost of each type of call is (mobile, international, national, local).
Compare that to the price of a unified communications approach via VoIP calls, and you’ll see a considerable reduction.
In particular, look at your existing:
- IT maintenance costs vs implementing a cloud-based solution
- Call costs vs VoIP costs
- The cost of IT tools
The latter includes video conferencing, apps, software subscriptions. It also extends to a centralised portal for texts, emails, chat, video, and voice
You should also examine your existing travel costs, such as between sites vs adding audio conferencing tools to reduce business travel costs and use file sharing, video meetings and group chats as an alternative.
Soft ROI
The Soft ROI is less simple to assess but primarily focuses on how much time a UCaaS will save you because:
- Employees are easily accessible via any device, any time and have no connectivity issues
- Employees are available in real-time
- It’s easier for employees to work together via MS Teams, Slack and other software tools
Lastly, your employees can work remotely and safely.
The Calculation
Now you’re ready to calculate the unified communications for ROI for your business.
Imagine your business’s initial investment will be £40,000, with monthly costs of £6,000. Your total unified communications cost for the year will be £112,000.
- Take your Hard ROI costs. Imagine they come to £68,000.
- Your ROI calculation is £68,000 / £112,000 = 0.60
- To get that as a percentage: 0.60 x 100 = a 60% ROI.
Simple, right?
Other ROI
While not entirely scientific, the above calculation can give you a good idea of the costs you can save in the future by implementing a unified communications system for your business.
There are other ROI’s that can add value to your organisation. For example:
Improved customer retention: You’re more likely to retain customers by offering them a one-call solution.
The same goes for contacting you via multiple means, including VoIP, social media and email. Customers are more loyal to brands when they receive good customer service.
Improved customer satisfaction and, therefore, business revenue: As many as 84% of companies report higher revenue due to providing better customer service.
Happier employees: This can be a by-product of remote working and greater flexibility. Happy workers are more productive. A recent Oxford University study found workers are 13% more productive if they are happy at work.
Remember, it costs more to recruit new employees than it does to retain them, with some reports suggesting it could cost up to £12,000.
More productive employees: A YouGov Microsoft study of 4,000 UK companies found 56% of office workers were happier when they could work from home.
Are You Ready to Calculate Your Unified Communications ROI?
If you’re interested in finding out more about unified communications ROI for your business, get in touch. Our friendly team is more than happy to provide more information.
We can help you calculate your ROI and liberate your organisation through powerful unified communications technology.