UCaaS Helps Businesses; Furry Creatures Not Included

UCaaS Helps Businesses; Furry Creatures Not Included

UCaaS provides a means for small businesses to communicate more efficiently and effectively. Kind of like a Disney princess.


UCaaS provides a means for small businesses to communicate more efficiently and effectively. Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is offered by many software companies and ISPs (internet service providers). There’s a long and technical explanation for how they do this, but given I’m not the most technically savvy, I’m not going to try. Instead, as I like to do, I’m going to use something for pop culture to help me understand it. From what I’ve gleaned so far about UCaaS; they provide communications within a company through the cloud. I take that to mean that UCaaS does something for you and you get to relax. Or at least, have one less thing to worry about. Almost as though you can sing a few notes, and someone will come to help you with something. Like a Disney Princess!

Furry Creatures are Helpful

Disney Princesses, from the very beginning, were portrayed as a friend to all living creatures. It was never really explained how they got to be such good friends, they just were. Along with this friendship, the Princess in question could sing a few notes and the woodland creatures would immediately gather around her. This strange power, again, was never really explained. But it meant the animals knew her, knew her voice, and knew the notes needed to put them at her beck and call. A group of animals would show up and create a semi-circle around the princess. She’d smile as they’d eagerly await her commands. She’d then break into song as the animals carried out some task. No instructions are given. The animals simply knew what was expected of them.

Reality Sucks

This trope, as amusing and nostalgic as it is, leads to some false beliefs. For one, I dumbly believed all animals were good-natured. Second, they inherently knew what I needed. The first one was proven false when a random dog bit me. The second one was also disproven when my own dog stared at me dumbly when I told him to roll over. That trick took a while for him to learn. Maybe it was because I wasn’t a princess? No matter, I managed to train my dog to roll over, play dead, and occasionally fetch. It was a growing experience for both of us.

Laughing At Themselves

The trope continued on in many Disney, and non-Disney, movies. And with any writing convention that’s gained trope-hood, parodies soon follow. Not to be outdone, Disney joined the trend. Back in 2007, Disney parodied itself with Enchanted. In this film, Princess Giselle is sent to a horrible, terrible place with no magic- New York City. But Giselle being Giselle, she’s still able to call woodland creatures to her when she needed help. The only problem with this is she’s in New York City. This metropolis is far, far, far away from any real forest. So she has to make do with city animals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n15UKexKf4k It’s quite entertaining. But this isn’t the only movie to spoof the trope. Check out the best internet deals so you can download and stream a wide selection of them. You’ll save time and money while you laugh!

UCaaS doesn’t use Woodland Creatures

Disney Princesses calling forth furry creatures for help does resemble UCaaS… in a way. Don’t worry, UCaaS providers aren’t trapping and forcing helpless animals to do their work. Instead, UCaaS is unseen within a business until it’s needed. Much like a Disney Princess who needed to clean a Manhattan Loft. The skill is there all along. While UCaaS doesn’t need a special tune to be activated, it does need to be properly installed. UCaaS includes a range of services; video conferencing, messaging, voice, apps for collaboration, and a way to track all the devices owned by the company. When properly installed and maintained, UCaaS blends in with the rest of the company’s network. This means employees and managers can use it without the hassle of running multiple apps at once. And isn’t that the point of UCaaS?

Types of UCaaS

UCaaS comes in one of two different setups. There’s the single-tenancy. Single-tenancy is a customized software created for a specific company. As you can guess, this is expensive. The upside is UCaaS is integrated with on-site applications, and the service is unique to the company itself. The provider uses a template and modifies it to fit the company’s needs. And there’s multi-tenancy. With multi-tenancy, UCaaS is installed and used on a subscription basis. Multiple companies can use the same software that’s hosted off-site. By setting up an account, a company is granted access to all the unified communication applications. The downside to this is that its offsite and if one customer goes down, chances are all will go down. It’s cheaper though. Which is good news for small companies that need communication services. Or it’s helpful for companies that have high turnover due to seasonal employees. Larger companies can still use UCaaS. They can either take the single-tenancy approach or the multi-tenancy approach. Single-tenancy might make more sense as larger companies would have more funds to create a customized UCaaS that’s hosted within their network. But, if they have multiple locations, a multi-tenancy may be better. Having someone else run the cloud is one less thing to worry about.

How to Pick a UCaaS?

Unified Communications as a Service are available from many different providers. A few ISPs have also created their own UCaaS to integrate within their own internet services.

What Does Your Business Need?

To find what’s best for you and your business, first, determine what your business needs. What works for one business doesn’t always work for the next. Take the time to do an honest assessment of how your business communicates and how they can do that better. Once you know that, then you can search the internet to find UCaaS that have the right services for you. There are basic packages with a few key services but look for the ones that have all the services that you require. If they have one or two that you don’t, see if you can negotiate that out of the contract. Better to pay less for what you need than more for something you may never use.

Check out their service agreement.

This does involve reading the fine print, that way you know exactly what the UCaaS provider is going to do for you. And since it’s your business, it’s better to be prepared than blindly signing with another company. This service will have access to your internal network. With that in mind, make sure they’re worthy of the responsibility. Once that’s done, you’ll also want to know what their network requirements will be. This is important because you'll want to know how much they’ll be able to access from their end. If security is a touchy subject, then move on to the next provider.

How Do they Work With You?

Check with their customers. While reviews are helpful, they’re not always unbiased. Most reviewers only write a review after they’ve experienced a problem, or felt they’ve been mistreated. This often skews the tone of the review to sound negative. Instead, ask their customers how often they use the UCaaS and for what. This puts on the focus on the real uses of the service and away from any negative reaction they may have had. And finally, the last piece to consider is the cost.

Is Your Business Ready for UCaaS?

Disney Princesses have a convenient skill for getting work done for them. I have yet to see one run an entire company though. Maybe that should be the premise of the next Disney movie? Not a bad idea. In the meantime, check into your businesses development and functionality. It might be time to consider having a system for unified communications. This will allow you to save time and frustration. If you’ve chosen the right UCaaS provider, then you’ll have one less thing to worry about.