According to a recent Gartner report, it’s expected that worldwide IT spending will remain flat throughout the remainder of 2016. One could take a look at this report and assume that unified communications (UC) services will be on the downswing. On the contrary, businesses are simply refusing to pay for expensive device and application upgrades that only last for a short cycle. Instead, companies are focused on extracting as much use out of their current, aging systems as possible.

Instead of wringing every last drop of usefulness out of existing hardware and software, businesses may be better served by subscription and leasing-based models for UC services. The subscription finance model makes it possible for companies to utilize high-quality services with minimal impact on the bottom line.

Making the Most of an Investment

Unlike large-scale corporations, most small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) don’t have a large war chest from which to acquire funding for equipment upgrades. As a result, they tend to make do with what they have as long as it meets a basic level of functionality. For instance, a business may want to invest in better quality headsets for VoIP calls, but the upfront costs of purchasing new equipment may prevent companies from making the investment in spite of any quality issues employees have with the current headsets.

Subscription-based models help alleviate this issue by mitigating the level of upfront investment required. For many SMBs, striking a long-term lease of hardware and software with reliable support, upgrades, and renewal makes better sense for the bottom line.

Staying Flexible

Companies are always evolving in size and strength, and sometimes they can morph into something completely unexpected. During such times, it’s important for communications to be able to scale alongside the company’s needs. For instance, purchasing cloud desktop virtualization software outright under perpetual licenses can create a significant stumbling block if the business needs to expand.

A subscription-based model offers the advantage of scalability and flexibility when it comes to both planned and unexpected changes within the company. As an example, subscribing to the same software can make it easier to add or remove additional users as the company scales up or scales down its business needs.

Peace of Mind Through Comprehensive Support

A UC solution is only as good as its individual components. If any one of these experiences a failure, it could pose an issue for the entire system. Some of the issues that affect UC services could be beyond the scope of an average in-house support team, while others could exist prior to integration into current systems.

UC providers operating under subscription and leasing-based models usually provide setup, implementation, and support services for a nominal cost. This eliminates the time and expense wasted on routine support while giving businesses greater peace of mind when it comes to their UC solutions.

Outright purchases still have their place in the business environment, and subscription-based models for UC may not be the ideal fit for every company. Nevertheless, the leasing and subscription model offers plenty of concrete advantages for any business interested in taking the initiative.

To learn more about how eXemplify can help fulfill your company’s unified communications needs, contact us for a no-obligation consultation session today.