Info Advantage Blog

Today, more and more businesses are opting to move their unified communications (UC) to the cloud. Businesses that move their UC to the cloud can experience a host of benefits; lower costs, more flexibility, and simplicity. If you are one of the many businesses looking to make the switch to the cloud, here are a few tips that will help your migration run seamlessly.

Gradual Change-Over

Many businesses are able to recognize the benefits of a cloud-based UC system, but are worried that a transition may cut into valuable company time. If the downtime of a transition to the cloud is holding you back, consider implementing the switch gradually. Start with one department that can benefit from the transition, and allow them to work with the new system to make sure it works properly. This way, employees can ease into the system without experiencing transition downtime.

Check Your Bandwidth

When making the transition to a cloud-based UC system, many businesses may overlook their current IT environment, which can cause issues with speed and performance. If you are planning to implement a UC system in the cloud, make sure that you have a stable, reliable internet service. It’s also important that you have some sort of backup in case the internet connection is down to limit any interruptions should the internet go down.

Test Your New System

Like with any new system, it will take time before you are fully able to efficiently use your cloud communications. While the transition may appear to be seamless, there may be a few unexpected elements that can cause issues down the road. Rather than waiting until the issues become a problem, experts recommend to test the system throughout the duration of the cloud migration. Testing the system will allow you to create benchmarks and predict patterns for future use. It will also allow you to ensure that the overall user experience is as simple and easy to use for you and your employees as possible.

Constantly Monitor

While a cloud UC system is much less likely to go down than the traditional in-house communications system, there are still issues that could arise as your employees begin to use the service. In order to be successful, businesses should continually monitor their cloud-based UC system for any issues that may come up after the migration. Monitoring your system also allows you to get a full picture of how well the system works, and can help you decide if any changes need to be made.

Vacations are an important part of maintaining one’s sanity, especially if you’re a business owner. However, unless you have a reliable staff that can handle the management of your business, chances are that you might feel like you can’t get away from the office long enough to relax. While it might seem tempting to disconnect yourself from the office entirely while on vacation, it’s actually better for your business if you don’t.

Consider this: your employees encounter a major issue that only you can resolve, but they have no way to contact you while you’re out of the office. If this happens, progress can be hindered and you’ll come back to one catastrophe after another. This is why completely disconnecting from the office can be a bad idea. In order to keep your business healthy and functioning, even while you’re out of the office on vacation, consider using these strategies to stay connected to your team.

• Check your email once a day. It’s easy to check your email when you’re in the office; you might have a tab up on a monitor with your email open all day. However, while you’re on vacation, this could mean sitting on the beach with your smartphone. If you want to fully enjoy your vacation, you should limit yourself to checking email once a day, and only respond to immediate and important inquiries. Not everything is a priority, and you should be able to determine the immediacy of a task or request. Plus, by dealing with these issues without them all piling up, you make your return to the office easier.
• Set boundaries for your availability. If you’re concerned about your employees bugging you while you’re on vacation, make sure that they know when you’re available. You should try to limit yourself as much as possible (considering you’re still on vacation); perhaps an hour in the morning or afternoon would be best. You can use this time to check in with the office and ensure that operations are proceeding forward as intended. You can then get back to enjoying your vacation.
• Establish a clear chain of command in your absence. Leadership is an important part of being a business owner, so it’s your responsibility to make sure your employees have someone to look to for guidance in your absence. In fact, having a clear chain of command even while you’re in the office can be a great benefit. This helps your team stay organized, and can make the delegation of issues and responsibilities easier in the long run. If you have someone you can rely on to handle any issues that surface while you’re away, your vacation will be that much sweeter.

By using these three tips to your advantage, your business will be in much better shape while you’re away on vacation. This means that you can enjoy your time off, without worrying about whether or not your business will be standing when you return to the office. For more great tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe to Info Advantage’s blog.