The UC Upper Hand: 3 Top UCaaS Myths Debunked

Traditional telecom providers and the techies we refer to as ’data guys’ are a little resistant to selling cloud and managed services. But, as the demand for integrated cloud based communication and collaboration quickly outpace legacy voice solutions, it’s time for them to abandon their fear of the unknown and switch up their strategies.

’I think that fear drives a lot of decisions, and sometimes it’s a good fear, and sometimes it’s an outdated fear. We believe that fear is not really a legitimate fear anymore,’ says Mark Sher, vice president of unified communications, product and marketing at Intermedia.

The three common myths that surround UCaaS include:

• IT environments are complex and provisioning is challenging
• Support and billing expenses will eat into profits
• And, it’s difficult to add value to a vendor’s branded services

But thanks to new cloud capabilities, these barriers to entry are gone.

’We know that it’s difficult for partners often to spend the time, the money and the resources,’ says Sher. ’Whenever you’re launching any new service to your customers, you’re going to have to handle training somehow, and you’re going to have to learn about the product. We know that. That’s why we give our partners support wherever they may be.’

Designed with the channel in mind, Intermedia Unite is an affordable, all-in-one communication and collaboration platform. Partners can simplify deployment and get the support they need every step of the way.

’We help you learn how to use it; we help you with marketing; we help you get your customers set up, supporting and billing them,’ says Sher.

Intermedia offers online certification training that takes just a few hours. It teaches you how to wrap services around Intermedia’s line card, which ultimately lends to a shorter sales cycle and new recurring revenue streams.

’So, you’re going to get that check every month, which is what you need to do to grow your business,’ says Sher.

Experts peg the UCaaS market at 3.5 billion dollars, and project it to grow four-fold in the next five years. With that in mind, it’s not a question of if your customers will need unified communication, but who will provide it … you or your competitor?