What’s the Difference Between UCaaS and VoIP?

What’s the Difference Between UCaaS and VoIP?

For any team to be effective, and for any workforce to be productive, clear communication is essential. In recent years, the nature of workplace communication has undergone some seismic shifts, forcing businesses to rethink their approach.

These shifts can be attributed to several different factors:

• More and more companies have embraced remote or hybrid dynamics, a trend that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Employees who do venture into a traditional workspace tend to have more and more devices that they need connected to the internal network.
• Employees and customers alike have heightened expectations, specifically for diverse communication options and rapid response times.

Simply put, legacy telecom systems are increasingly ineffective at meeting these new challenges and expectations. Fortunately, today’s businesses have some much more advanced and robust communication solutions to choose from. In particular, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) have come to dominate.

The question is, how do these two communication solutions compare and differ? And how should businesses determine which option is right for them?

Comparing UCaaS and VoIP

Of the two options, VoIP has been around for far longer. In fact, VoIP dates back to 1995, when telecom providers first developed cost-effective ways to transmit voice over the Internet. VoIP remains a tried-and-tested option to cut back on long-distance and international phone charges, making it easy and affordable to communicate via voice with customers, employees, or collaborators all over the world. VoIP is still in use today, usually as a cloud-based service.

In comparison, UCaaS is much newer: It’s been prominent since 2014 and has embraced the cloud from the very beginning. Because it’s exclusively cloud based, UCaaS tends to be nimble, scalable, and cost-effective. UCaaS combines voice with a range of other features, making them all available in a single platform and emphasizing portability.

UCaaS and VoIP: A Quick History

One way to delineate these two options is in terms of historical progression. VoIP was a groundbreaking telecom innovation, signaling the shift toward cloud-based solutions. UCaaS builds on this innovation, offering a more comprehensive set of communication tools. In other words, VoIP was an important forerunner, but UCaaS represents the more advanced iteration.

Generally speaking, VoIP is strictly a voice service provider, handling inbound and outbound voice calls, occasionally incorporating video conferencing as well. By contrast, UCaaS provides comprehensive communication tools, all available in a single platform, available from anywhere.

As such, UCaaS offers inbound and outbound voice calls, but also features such as email, texting, chat, and video conferencing. Rather than having to juggle several different applications to access these different features, your team members can access them from a single program. And these features can be accessed from any type of device.

UCaaS and VoIP: Which One is Right for You?

Both options provide a number of benefits for your business. Here’s a quick rundown:

For companies that only need voice call capabilities, VoIP may represent the most elegant solution. But many businesses prefer to have a wider range of communication tools, integrated into a single platform. For these businesses, it’s worth exploring the benefits of UCaaS:

UCaaS can be integrated with customer relationship management (CRM) software, allowing team members to quickly access customer histories, creating a more seamless experience for the end user. UCaaS is highly portable; team members can access the same set of tools from their desktop computer but also from their tablet or phone. This also makes UCaaS an excellent option for remote work environments.

While VoIP was great for its time and may still be a good option for companies that limit themselves to voice-based communication, UCaaS represents a more sophisticated set of tools, integrated into one seamless package. The telecom industry has increasingly moved toward UCaaS, and it stands as the best option for businesses that require nimbleness and flexibility.

As you navigate the different ways to enable robust workplace communication, we’d love to provide guidance, or to answer any questions you might have. Reach out to TelWare at your convenience.

Learn more about staying current with the latest communications technology, contact us at 1.800.921.9680 or email us at info@onecloud.com. OneCloud provides UCaaS solutions for businesses of all sizes. Manage calls, voicemails, business texts, video conferencing, and more on any device, and from any location.