Small businesses owners often only have once chance to make an investment that truly benefits employees.
Often times, it can be the difference between success and failure. Nearly 97 per cent of companies in Australia have between one and 199 employees, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It could be argued that many of them are one decision away from hyper-growth, or shutting their doors for the last time.
In this sense, it's difficult to gather buy-in for most applications or solutions. At the end of the day, what you really need is a solid business case to present. Unified communications makes that part of the problem an easy one to deal with.
Creating a successful company is like laying the foundation of a building.
Envisioning the right infrastructure
Creating a successful company is in a sense like laying the foundation for a building; with an effective framework, both will likely stand the test of time. Investments should follow the same idea. While some solutions can be useful in streamlining certain aspects of the day-to-day routine, do they benefit the entire organisation?
Unified communications breeds collaboration between employees by seamlessly connecting various devices and applications with one overarching goal: Make it easier to connect with coworkers and customers. It's an advantage that's gained throughout the organisation, rather than giving marginal benefits to particular departments.
Let's face it - many business phone systems simply aren't reliable. Especially given the fact that some startups neglect to invest in effective hardware and PBX servers. They can suffer from poor call quality and dropping. It's unlikely the customer would want to call back after that happened more than once.
Facilitating flow of information
Some unified communications platforms come with proprietary solutions only available through integration. These include drag-and-drop calling, screen sharing, video conferencing and employee chat. This makes it easy for a customer service representative to find information on an issue without making the client wait an exorbitant amount of time, or a sales member to contact a product specialist to get specifications.
Small business growth relies on smart investment decisions that improve the company.These types of solutions may seem to have negligible benefits on the surface, but being able to get in contact with other employees at the click of a button drastically reduces the time spent wandering around to find them or waiting on calls to be answered. All in all, it can save roughly two hours per day in productivity.
Boosting reputation
There's a reason that many highly talented candidates want to work for the Apples and Googles of the world: Their reputation precedes them. Prospective employees know that management will provide the tools they need to succeed, rather than giving a list of objectives and telling them to, "Get it done."
Unified communications is an investment that values collaboration over everything else.
This type of brand reputation is essential when trying to grow from a 20-person operation to 50 or more. While people are always looking for employment, it takes a special type of employee to enter the high-paced startup world and truly help his or her company succeed.
Making an investment into the infrastructure of the company with a solution like unified communications proves your business values collaboration over everything, and that's key to recruiting.
Make the smart investment
At the end of the day, big decisions that could sway the future of a company shouldn't be all about the ones and zeroes. While unified communications has been proven to save money by reducing communications costs by 35 per cent on average, Cisco reported, or cutting down spending on infrastructure in favour of gaining better productivity, that's not the only reason it's a smart investment.
Harking back to Apple and Google - the intangibles of a company make all the difference. Invest in infrastructure that supports employees' potential, and therefore helps the organisation as a whole reach its objectives. Contact a Fonality representative today for more information.
