Unified Communications (often referred to as UC) is a common term for the integration of multiple communication and collaboration tools such as VoIP (hosted voice), Video Conferencing, Chat, Mobile Apps / SMS, IM, Payments, CRM, Workforce Management, Content Sharing, Social Media etc.. into a streamlined product or service.

The service will benefit from a single platform or user interface providing greater productivity whilst improving the customer user experience and allowing for a revenue focused Customer Journey strategy to allow for customer driven 2nd stage purchases.

Commonly, UC is referred to as part of a company’s digital transformation strategy. UC implementation at an enterprise level should allow customers to switch seamlessly from one communication channel to another within a single session regardless of device. 

For example, in a Contact Centre environment the business may want the customer to complete the Identification & Verification (ID & V) process before they are pushed through to the Agent.  Using Hosted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and a simple Application Programming Interface (API) with a simple IVR (Interactive Voice Response) you can push the customer through an automated ID & V process before they are then passed through to the agent automatically once Identity has been established. 

The agent can then deal with the customers query before sending them to a further automated service to complete their journey.. this could be to a payments service to complete a payment / pay a bill etc. 

Once they have performed their call to action you can automate the sending of an email or SMS receipt, a digital coupon reward using Social Media channels like What’s App or even a Net Promoter Score Customer Service Email to understand how your agent performed today. 

The ability to configure this whole experience seamlessly is what Unified Communications Technology allows you to do.  UC software facilitates 3rd party integrations that supports real-time customer channels to provide the end user immediate access to omni-channel communications via a consistent environment.