Integrations - The secret to UCaaS success for resellers

Why are integrations so important?

As more businesses place UCaaS solutions at the heart of their day-to-day activities, it is more vital than ever that these tools integrate with other business-critical software platforms in order to ensure that all business tools can seamlessly work together. This includes a rich variety of out-of-the-box integrations with tools that businesses use throughout their day-to-day proceedings, that can be equipped quickly and with no technical skill required on the customer’s side. Your customers want integrations to save them time and effort, all the way from install and adoption through to usage. 

Unsurprisingly, the number of software solutions that companies use is increasing as technologies expand and customer expectations grow - according to BetterCloud, the average number of SaaS applications per company has increased from 110 in 2023 to 130, and this number is continuously rising. As managed service providers, this presents an opportunity for resellers to add value and monetise their offering to customers in a variety of market verticals, specifically when focusing on the software that would integrate well and boost the productivity features of their cloud phone system.

Common integration examples

The platforms most commonly integrated with UCaaS solutions are CRMs (or Customer Relationship Management). 

This is because CRMs are an end customer’s ultimate contact database, no matter what industry they operate in or their size. Integrating this with their phone system allows for an entirely personalised experience for customers, with tools available such as contact record ‘pops’ when customers call, enabling the agent to not only identify the caller but edit or add any required notes during a call to that record. 

It’s common for businesses to need to link out to call recordings and add this data directly to their CRM solution, for a complete audit history for customer interactions , especially within industries  with regulatory compliance obligations. 

It is beneficial for businesses to choose a UCaaS provider that integrates seamlessly with tools they already use and are established in their business. It means they do not have to reevaluate their existing methods of productivity, while allowing employees to manage every aspect of their workflow in one place. Information is all stored in one place, which means minimised risk of leaks or unauthorised access. 

Market specific CRMs 

 While some CRMs are generalised across all industries (for example, Hubspot or SalesForce) others offer a more specialised experience and cater to one specific market. This is because certain industries may need a more tailored solution to help with compliance measures and for managing specific types of data.

For example, within recruitment, platforms such as Vincere and Bullhorn offer several features that are focused on applicant data. This could be CV screening, pipelining candidates for suitable job application princesses, or creating talent pools and managing relationships with candidates. CRMs tailored to this industry will have features focused on tracking the recruitment process, and may come with additional tools such as job board distribution.

Other niche markets may include healthcare (where platforms like Dentally come into play) where CRMs will offer features designed to improve patient care and streamline operations. This may include screenpops with electronic health records on patient files, appointment scheduling features, and text reminders that can automatically be sent out to patients. Perhaps a practice would like to improve its service, in which case their CRM may offer automatic patient feedback tools like surveys, all in-platform. 

Industries such as healthcare require a lot of organisation, sensitive data management, and file sharing between colleagues, so a CRM specifically tailored to a certain market is key to successful business management. There are over  11,500 dental practices in the UK, putting into perspective the scale of these different verticals for business potential.

Niche markets are typically poorly served and so there is room in the industry for deep integrations. Vendors are seeing partners enjoying longer customer lifetime value when they are able to offer integrations with these niche solutions, on top of a high quality UCaaS offering, because ultimately it makes customers more sticky - if the tools they use on a daily basis are seamlessly integrated with their phone system, they will be more reliant on this solution and less likely to seek out alternatives.

Integrations beyond CRMs

While CRMs are perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when considering ‘go-to’ integrations customers would benefit from, there are a whole host of other software platforms that businesses use on a daily basis that can be integrated with a cloud-based phone system. Let’s take a look at some other areas where strong integrations are key to a rich UCaaS offering:

Cloud storage

An integration with cloud storage solutions, already utilised by businesses, enables call recording to be backed up automatically, for longer durations, or with additional geo-redundancy where required for compliance. Leading storage providers such as Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Drive and Dropbox, for example, all integrate with CallSwitch One, giving customers flexibility and choice to best suit their needs. 

CDRs, call recording, and voicemails can all be backed up, which benefits businesses in a number of areas - record keeping, compliance with industry-specific regulations, and even dispute resolution to name a few. It could even be to simply keep customer history on file, in order to make customer service more streamlined and resolve any queries faster with immediate access to previous interactions.

For partners selling a solution with cloud storage integrations, this means they are able to offer their customers not only peace of mind, but substantial resilience of data backups, no matter the industry or the type of information that needs to be protected.

Single sign-on

Single sign-on (SSO) is an identification method that allows users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials. This simplifies origins and ultimately saves the user time. When integrated with a UCaaS solution, SSO allows employees to access a plethora of information centrally, and collaborate with authorised users. 

SSO provides security measures that can also be centrally managed which ultimately makes it easier for administrators to identify any threats and ensure that users are adhering to any compliance requirements. This is particularly essential for industries that may need to handle sensitive information and adhere to MFA guidelines, for example.

Phonebooks

Many businesses use cloud-based office suites that include contact directory functionalities. It’s vital that this contact information is kept up to date, in a central location, and can be treated as a ‘single source of truth’. By integrating with these platforms, information can be kept secure by utilising the likes of Google Cloud Storage security, and data is more manageable for employees.

Collaboration

Collaboration is ultimately at the heart of business proceedings, and a quality UCaaS platform will offer a deep, seamless integration with many of the most popular collaboration tools, such as Teams, and Slack. If a business is using a Cloud Office suite, that again includes contact directory functionality, as discussed above, it’s vital that key information is accessible to the right people and kept up to date.

Again, for IT resellers that already sell Teams, but want to be able to manage the voice aspect of their offering more easily, providing a UCaaS product to customers that offers a deep integration with Teams will mean they can supply an enhanced voice solution, without their customers even having to leave the Teams app. Users are able to make and receive voice calls through Teams while utilising advanced call features from their UCaaS plan, like hunt groups and queues, and even call recording.

Ultimately this offers end users genuine endpoint flexibility as they can choose the tools that best fit their workflows without having to sacrifice any features. 

Data management

Integrations with data management platforms means information can be communicated easily throughout businesses, in a visual way. This means businesses can  effortlessly share insights, case studies, and performance indicators with the correct people, all in one platform, and streamline workflows. 

Some examples of data management integrations could be BigQuery, or Power BI, managed by Google and Microsoft respectively, although depending on the business or industry, there will be different solutions to suit unique needs.

Businesses combining data streams from multiple platforms can see this displayed in the same reports and wallboards, rather than having to manage each set of data separately. This gives end users a comprehensive view of their business data making it easier to understand activities and trends and saving time as all the information is in one place, for simplified management.

Custom integrations

While a comprehensive list of no code / one click solutions is key for a rich offering, managed service providers don't want to be limited just to this. Ultimately, there will always be new customers who use something niche that no other solution integrates with, and the MSP who can offer a solution to this can gain a substantial competitive advantage, and win more business. 

MSPs don’t want to be limited to a list of predefined integrations, however, and want no limits when it comes to what they can offer their end users. There will always be a new customer looking for an integration for something niche that they use, that perhaps nobody else in the industry integrates with. This in turn gives resellers a huge competitive advantage in a broad range of markets. 

The CallSwitch One platform provides partners with the capacity to build bespoke integrations for customers, or incorporate communication fraures into other web apps and services, with ease. This is because it leverages the power of Open-API and webhooks, which is something to look for in a vendor for a high level of granular flexibility and customisation. 

Simplicity of integrations

Simplicity of integrations appeals to end-customers, who want adoption by their users to be as straightforward as possible. No-code, or ‘one-click’ integrations, eliminate the need for complex coding or IT involvement on the customer’s end, which means they can manage their own integrations. 

From within their dashboard, customers can instantly choose the integrations they want to use, click to login and authenticate, and they’re live. For the partner, this approach avoids spending time manually integrating with other platforms, removes specialist knowledge requirements, and is highly cost-effective. Of course, some partners still choose to retain ownership of this process, which remains possible.

Wrap up

Ultimately, the value of a fully comprehensive business communication solution lies in its ability to make life easier and more efficient for users. One key enabler to this is through the breadth of standard integrations the vendor can offer. 

Resellers should look for vendors offering ease of deployment in both out-of-the-box integrations and a route to market for partners who require bespoke offerings. Platforms offering an open-API and who develop integrations ‘in-house’ are likely to offer greater opportunities for partners to bring new and bespoke integrations to the platform.

There is a very clear monetisation opportunity for businesses that can extend customer lifetimes by ensuring they are reliant on their UCaaS solution for more than basic communication. 

If the business has provided their customer with a quality integration solution with their UCaaS platform and other tools used in everyday proceedings, these customers are going to be more sticky and less likely to move to another platform, because everything they use is tied neatly into one user-friendly pane of glass.

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