Guest Column | July 7, 2015

A Buyers Guide To Cloud Unified Communications

By Ed Wright, Director of Product Management, ShoreTel

The cloud is perhaps the great equalizer in technology, making advanced technology easily accessible to even the smallest companies. The number of cloud communications solutions has increased, giving companies more options than ever. So it is important to be able to evaluate which cloud option is the best — because not all cloud solutions are created equal.

The cloud provides a simplified model to the VAR community as it offers faster rollout features as well as cost savings. There are three categories for cloud communications:

  • Private cloud communications enable flexible, software-based unified communication (UC) applications that are hosted internally, within a company’s on-premises technology infrastructure. In fact, many SMBs leverage a private cloud solution to deliver a single, common communications experience across the entire organization.

    Private cloud solutions reduce some capital expenditures and on-going maintenance costs, but do not provide the cost-savings of a public cloud solution. Some companies favor a private cloud to maintain control over the software and particularly to safeguard sensitive information and customer data.
     
  • Public cloud communications are UC services that are delivered by a third-party provider via the Internet. This can be a Unified Communications-as-a-Service or UCaaS offering with pay-per-use pricing. This model is especially attractive to companies that may need to suddenly scale services up or down due to seasonal spikes in business. The public cloud virtually eliminates hardware costs and is often the most cost-effective for many companies.
     
  • Hybrid cloud communications offer the best of both worlds by combining on-premises, private and/or public cloud services. The hybrid model allows a company to keep sensitive applications or data on-premises in a central location while also leveraging the private cloud and even public cloud applications as part of the communications solution. This is an especially attractive solution for many SMBs that are migrating to the cloud, but looking to make a smooth and gradual transition. A hybrid cloud communications solution allows a company to dial in cloud functionality at its own pace.

The cloud is much more than a check mark on the short list. Today’s solutions are highly differentiated, which means solution providers and VARs should assess options closely, so they can provide the best advice. A good cloud solution will not only meet a company’s needs today, but also stretch to meet emerging new objectives.