I have extolled the benefits, features and exciting growth of Hosted Unified Communications for several years. However, I realize that many of you have only recently begun to read my blogs and, therefore, are not aware of the range of data on the market, value propositions and suggested sales methodologies discussed in this blog. To that end, I will cover, once a week, some of the problems or issues businesses face which are solved by implementing Hosted UC.

Generally speaking, the following represent the seven benefits of Hosted UC:

• Increase employee productivity
• Improve and integrate employee mobility
• Increase collaboration between employees and departments
• Attain Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery
• Improve cash management
• Maintain pace with technological improvements
• Decrease your carbon footprint

Most of the participants in the IP Community and ecosystem can list these benefits, but few can actually give pertinent details or facts that define the range of improvements. It is with that in mind that we will explore current industry studies to see why Hosted UC is growing in demand and penetration.

Hosted UC leverages a growing interest in cloud-based applications. But only a subset of the benefits listed above can be achieved with hosted VoIP or premise-based IP PBX UC solutions. To be competitive in a world where geographical boundaries are no longer barriers to entry, leveraging IP communications across all aspects of the business grows in importance. Therefore, providing businesses with facts regarding UC benefits should not only shorten the sales cycle, but give the business owner important information to add to his/her business strategy and vision.

This week I will be attending and speaking at IT Expo in Miami. My presentation will be called “Hosted UC: A Carrier’s Perspective.” Join me for an interesting exchange of ideas in Miami on Wednesday at 12:30. Then, on Thursday at 1:30, I will join a panel convened to discuss SIP Trunking, UC, WebRTC and more. I look forward to seeing you there!