Posts

Supporting DC Metro Leaders in Education, Hospitality and Retail with On-Premises & Hybrid Unified Communications

The on-prem, private hosted, and hybrid Unified Communications (UC) platforms TCI deploys and supports offer unique advantages for education, hospitality, and retail organizations.

A 2023 Metrigy global survey found 64.7% of those in the hospitality industry are on-premises or private-hosted, 56.7% of education, and 50% of retail. These high adoption rates of on-prem and private hosted UC platforms, coupled with the relatively small percentage of those planning to move to UCaaS, highlight significant benefits for the on-premises, private-hosted, and hybrid models for these industries.

4 Reasons Why Education, Hospitality, and Retail stick with On-Prem and Hybrid UC

1. Reliability – The primary reason cited across all three industries for staying with on-premises and private-hosted solutions is their reliability. In the retail space, with large numbers of distributed locations, stores must be able to operate even if there is a network outage. Individual locations must be able to place and receive calls and ensure that systems such as alarms can always function. Hospitality operates under a similar model. A hotel, for example, can’t tolerate downtime for its in-room communications or be unreachable by those looking to make a reservation if there is a network outage or a UCaaS outage. Educational organizations, too, must ensure reliability, especially for higher education institutions spread out across campuses, and support communications modalities, including emergency calling systems.

2. Cost Savings – Nearly 46% overall, including half of retail and hospitality organizations, say that cost savings are the primary reason they stay with on-premises or private-hosted deployment models. On-prem or private-hosted models can often be less expensive and may already be fully depreciated. They also can allow companies, through hybrid solutions, to add additional cloud-based features, such as analytics and application integrations, without making wholesale changes to UC and contact center platforms. And they can preserve existing investments in endpoints and infrastructure such as gateways.

3. Security and Data Privacy – On-premises and private-hosted deployment models allow organizations to control their own data. Educational organizations may use their UC platforms to manage student data, including potentially sensitive information such as grades and health records. Hospitality companies may hold information related to customer location, travel history, and payment preferences. Retail organizations must process payment information per Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards. Organizations may have sensitive competitive information they wish to ensure isn’t shared with service providers or potentially outside their control.

4. Integrations – Education, hospitality, and retail organizations will likely have extensive and unique integrations between business applications and their communications platforms. In our research, the need to integrate file management, project and task management, HR, CRM, and ERP applications into collaboration platforms is common to all three.

Beyond those drivers, there are several industry-specific examples of how On-Prem and Hybrid UC supports unique requirements, including:

Education:

  • Self-service portals allow students to check their account balances and billing information by phone or messaging app bot.
  • Student management platforms integrated with call centers enable students to click to call for support from within a learning management app such as Ellucian Banner or Blackboard.

Hospitality:

  • Guest management platforms enable customers to check account information, order food, movies, or services, or easily reach a concierge through a single click on an in-room phone or via an integrated mobile app.

Retail:

  • Inventory and order management systems allow customers to check product availability or order status by phone or receive text updates.
  • In-store wireless communications platforms for employees allow on-the-go communications and enable mobile staff to take incoming calls from customers seeking assistance.
  • Marketing automation systems send special offers and updates to customers via text.

Education, hospitality, and retail organizations may also integrate security systems into calling and paging platforms to provide automated notifications in an emergency.

In all these cases, on-premises and private-hosted solutions allow education, hospitality, and retail organizations to customize and control their communications environment.

Furthermore, education, hospitality, and retail organizations can use hybrid solutions to add additional features and functionality from the cloud while preserving their existing investments in on-premises and private-hosted platforms.

TCI has decades of industry-specific expertise. Let’s talk about leveraging the best technology to help achieve your organizational goals.

Contact us at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Phone Systems in the Cloud vs. On-Premises vs. Hybrid Deployments

Phone systems have traditionally been deployed on-site, but the lure of the Cloud is strong. Many multi-site businesses are now using a hybrid combination of both… deploying an on-premises system at headquarters and Cloud solutions for the branch offices – all interconnected and centrally managed in a hybrid arrangement.

Click here for Mitel’s helpful Decision Tree for deciding on Premises vs Cloud

There are many reasons why On-Premises phone systems remain popular…

  • The need to control technology in-house.
  • The need for customized features, integration with other applications, or advanced call center capabilities.
  • The need for uninterrupted communications or compliance with strict regulatory requirements.
  • The need to depreciate equipment costs over time.

The Cloud can be a good fit for small to mid-sized businesses or a larger enterprise with smaller, remote offices…

  • Eliminates need for upfront investment. Costs become operational expenses and are more predictable.
  • No need for in-house staff to purchase, configure and manage your system, servers and storage.
  • Maintenance and support are simplified and upgrades are automatic.
  • Whether your business is growing or needs to scale down in a pinch, a cloud service can easily adapt.

Let TCI step you through all your VoIP deployment options, recommend the best approach for your business model, and manage the roll out for you. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.