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It’s crucial not to stray from meeting customers’ needs

No matter how far we’ve come from the invention of the wheel or how complex things have become in today’s Information Age, the old adage “necessity is the mother of invention” remains relevant.

The source of all digital progress is (or should be) solving a problem for a user or making an individual’s life better. And in the current post-pandemic business communications environment, meeting the needs of the growing mobile, work-from-anywhere workforce is a huge opportunity for unified communications and collaborations (UC&C) vendors. 

Now more than ever, it’s crucial that today’s UC&C vendors not stray from meeting their customers’ needs. So, when it comes to service capabilities, pricing models, or even styles of customer care, all should be aligned unerringly with what the service providers and end users need most.

Needing many communication channels

There are many ways in which today’s business team members need to be there for each other across space and time. Whether it’s cloud-based calling, video conference and webinar capabilities, mobile-first app solutions, or contact centers, ambitious organizations require a wide array of tools at their disposal in order to succeed. 

Today, being there for projects and fellow team members means being available via diverse, reliable, and powerful communications channels. Yet, meeting these customer needs also means simplifying and streamlining their lives wherever and wherever possible. 

The UC&C platforms like SNAPsolution that deliver these attributes are helping end users get all that they need in one platform. Having a managed UC&C service option can also be a godsend in terms of keeping complexity low for service providers, even when customer needs grow across a variety of channels. 

Pricing models mismatched

Unified communications and collaboration platforms have evolved as have the service providers that sell them and the businesses that utilize them — but UC&C vendor pricing models haven’t changed. This is where we see that the needs of solution providers and most UC&C vendors’ solutions and pricing are mismatched. 

In the future, we foresee more and more individuals hopping online for business calls and presentations, it’s still likely that only a very small percentage of a company’s employees will actually be on a call at any given time. In a seats-based model, the service provider is still paying for all those empty, unused seats. This is how traditional pay-per-seat approaches have gone from outdated to actively harmful for service providers. 

Now, sessions-based pricing is the way of the future. This is how UC&C can remain scalable and flexible — while ensuring the customer can get what they need without paying for what they don’t. In short, it puts the power and the margins back into the hands of the service provider. 

Personalized service never goes out of style

So, what allows a vendor to remain in touch with its customers’ needs, even when demands change and diversify so rapidly? How can a service provider trust they are getting a partner that will listen and adapt as they seek to do the same for their own customers? 

In a fast-moving world, the ultimate competitive edge still resides with customer service. In fact, customer service capabilities have become even more vital as business grows more demanding — and, despite what a largely digital world might make us think about personal relationships falling by the wayside, a personalized approach to service still holds its own. 

Remaining close to the customer from end to end holds a number of benefits. Not only does it allow the customer to trust they will be taken care of regardless of any challenges that may crop up, it also allows the vendor to have a continuing dialogue with the customer about what’s needed now — and what’s to come. This two-way street approach keeps both the solution and the solution user on pace with each other, so neither one ever falls behind and can stay firmly ahead of demand. In other words, digital transformation has fewer hiccups and less time to market. 

Keeping service providers ahead of the curve

This type of approach is why NetSapiens is an award-winning UC&C platform. We believe that remaining attuned to our service provider partners’ needs is always first priority, because we are only successful when our customers are successful — and that means optimizing on their behalf without question. 

Our services and disruptive models certainly speak for themselves. However, our dedication is heard clearest in our day-to-day approach to delivering market-leading solutions that allow us to keep our service provider partners ahead of the curve — and in the strong relationships we’ve forged as a result.