Cloud-based technology is not going away anytime soon, but do you know what is?

Expensive, outdated, loud, and not to mention…obsolete hardware-based solutions.

When it comes to videoconferencing solutions, organizations used to spend a large portion of their capital expenses, and IT budgets on legacy infrastructure. After years of collecting hardware and building an ideal system…the expense to maintain these systems have far exceeded the initial cost, and benefit.

To better describe how expensive these systems are, the U.S Government Accountability Office discovered in 2015 that across 26 U.S Government agencies, $60 Billion out of $78 Billion were allocated towards maintenance for these legacy systems. Going even further, the amount spent on these obsolete systems increased for the following 6 years.

The private sector has been seeing the same issues, with the cost of maintenance taking up three quarters of most IT budgets.

The next question is, but if these systems serve the purpose maybe the expensive upkeep is worth it? Especially since there is a large cost to customize these systems for organizations. The problem is depreciation and obsolescence.

Key Disadvantages to Legacy Videoconferencing Infrastructure

-Limits interoperability

-Complicated, negative user experience

-Obsolete/no longer supported

-Expensive to maintain

Enough about the negatives, Cloud-based solutions are here (no surprise). Cloud-based technology isn’t going to be cheap either, but your IT budget won’t be as constrained as it was with legacy videoconferencing solutions.

The advantage of cloud-based solutions is that they are typically SaaS, so there is a recurring cost associated with it, however software updates happen automatically, and you are greatly reducing the cost of depreciation, and obsolescence. Organizations are also saving time when something goes wrong. With cloud-based services like UNIFY, many issues can be resolved remotely. Below is a list of key advantages to UNIFY that legacy videoconferencing technology is lacking.

Key Advantages to UNIFY

-Interoperability with popular UC platforms (Zoom, Teams, WebEx etc.)

-One button join in conference rooms/huddle rooms

–Centralized control and management

-Analytics to make fact based decisions

-Monitoring to manage room performance, preventative maintenance, and support etc.

Questions about your existing AV solution, or how a Cloud-Based solution might be a better fit for your organization? Reach out to us here.