International communications should help drive global growth, not hold a business back from expansion. Whether it’s a workforce spread between multiple global offices, or clients in different regions, communication must be seamless, affordable, and scalable. Furthermore, the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) enterprise market is expected to grow to reach an estimated $318 billion in 2022, meaning communication must be accessible and convenient for employees using a range of devices, wherever they are – including on-the-go.

For businesses, global communication is no longer just about voice services. Instead, it must support collaboration, offering tools and services such as video, screen sharing, chat, push notifications, and conference calling. Finally, these services must be available across desktop, iPhone and Android browsers. This is unified communication and collaboration (UC&C), it’s enabled by the cloud, it’s the future of comms in business, and, thanks to BICS’ cloud communications solutions, it’s a trend we’re helping to drive.

BICS’ Cloud Numbers, secure global IPX network, anti-fraud measures, SIP Trunking, and an API-based portal make it easy for businesses to launch and manage cloud-based UC&C. Furthermore, by adopting our solutions, UC&C vendors such as Wildix, are now able to offer their business end-customers a range of services. Indeed, Wildix’ success in recent years demonstrates the demand for and benefits of UC&C to businesses: the company experienced 100% year-on-year growth in sales between 2016 and 2017.

Audio quality still #1

Through BICS’ Cloud Numbers, we can offer the broadest portfolio of business numbers, offering high-quality IP-based voice services and worldwide coverage, plus a range of value-added capabilities. Despite all the additional features offered by UC&C solutions, clear audio, no matter where in the world you’re calling, will always remain a priority for businesses. In fact, in a recent report on UC&C, audio quality was voted the most important part of the UC&C experience.

Our SIP Trunking offers a fast interconnection to businesses’ cloud-based services, allowing them to integrate multi-channel communications, handle conference calls, video, voice calls over a single SIP Trunk, and scale capacity up and down as needed. Our local Cloud Numbers allow outgoing calls to internal, national and international numbers anywhere in the world. Users can also make emergency calls using the country’s short code, keeping them safe while complying with regulatory requirements. We have a local knowledge of telecoms rules and policies, on a global scale, helping to ensure our customers are fully compliant with local regulations.

Finally, SIP Trunking gives us complete control of calls, from origination to end, allowing us to manage the end-to-end quality of service of all calls. This means that the audio quality remains consistently high, helping to deliver the ‘most important part of the UC&C experience.’

Big benefits for small companies

Of course, cloud-based UC&C providers are just one sector which can benefit from cloud comms services. Our solutions are also being used by contact centre-as-a-service companies, PBX providers, software integrators, MNOs, fixed network operators, firms operating in the sharing economy market, and more.

Even the smallest of businesses can benefit from cloud-based UC&C, and it’s often the smallest which have the most to gain. A global package with a unified solution offering intra-communication capabilities, hosted in the cloud, reduces the costs of traditional telephone hardware and connections. It’s also easy and cost-effective to scale.

By consolidating our customers’ communications in the cloud, BICS is helping to increase brands’ visibility across numerous regions, and enhance collaboration within multinational teams. Crucially, our business customers don’t have to expend resources managing on-premise communications infrastructure. That means they can focus on the thing that matters: their business.

An article by Divya Wakankar, Head of Voice Innovation Management at BICS